Don't Be That Couch- Andy Stanley

• A couch was purchased to have a place to sit- It becomes an emotional attachment over time that lingers around even when it becomes outdated and irrelevant. We keep it around too long.... how does this apply to your church, business, team.... ?


• Leadership styles are going to vary, there is no cookie- cutter- don't spend all your time trying to mirror other people's style- press into your own God-given flavor-
• If we were to start completely over, would we still choose to be doing the things we're currently doing?
• Church programming is created to meet a specific need-
• As programming begins as an answer to a question, over time it becomes part of a church's organizational culture- (makes them difficult to change but may not be needed or is no longer effective any more)
• As culture changes, the methods will need to change but the questions tend to stay the same
• As leaders we're called to lead people to see things the way we see them- otherwise we'll never be able to get them to do what needs to be done to make a difference-
• If we institutionalize an answer, the day will come that it will no longer be an an answer
• "I want to help you think differently"- we need to see the "couch" in our ministry/business differently
• We need to be more committed to our mission than our programming or model. Programming and models can become old, outdated couches we get emotionally attached to...
• Over time, sustaining the model becomes the mission... When you fall in love with anything other than the mission- you can quickly lose focus on God's original mission for you
• The model can begin to work against the mission- as leaders we need to monitor this- when we see this beginning, we need to lead our team/organization back to the mission-
• What have we fallen in love with that's not as effective as it used to be?
• Where are we manufacturing energy? Having to pretend or manufacture enthusiasm for something that just isn't that good...
• If a new person came into our church or organization, what is it that they would scrap and get rid of because they're able to see it for what it really is? No emotional attachment... Do you have the ability to stay objective and pull the plug on things that need to be over?
• What are our organizational assumptions? Leaders must bring these assumptions in alignment with changes in the external environment. The world changes... our assumptions become wrong over time...
• Don't try to tweak things that are broken...they'll still be broken.
• The assumptions a team have held the longest or deeply are likely to be the things that become its undoing- Why churches don't change- What are the things that are "off limits" for debate? Beware....
• What assumptions are false?
• :Example: We assume people want to sit in rows and listen to a speaker.
• Example: We assume Christians love to worship by singing songs they don't know that well.
• Which assumptions are true but are not being fully leveraged?
• To reach people no one else is reaching we need to do things no one else is doing...
• How do you get rid of couches when people aren't on board yet? You need to lead them through the process, may take time.
• Fresh eyes are needed at times to come in and point out the couches in our life, ministry, or organization...