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What are "best practices"?

The Church Wellness Project is built on the concept of "best practices," a widely accepted concept in many fields.

Briefly, the concept means that some methods and processes are better -- more effective, more productive, more likely to achieve desired ends -- than others.
In medicine, for example, complicated surgical procedures tend to follow widely accepted best practices. In sales, best practices include prompt response to inquiries, consistent follow-through on commitments, and tracking interactions with prospects and customers. In singing, it is a best practice to do stretching and vocal exercises before rehearsing or performing.
The same is true in congregational life. To attain health, a congregation needs to adopt the best possible practices for doing its basic work. With some allowance for context, it is possible to name best practices for such basic tasks as greeting visitors, handling church communications, training leaders, serving young adults, and so on.
If best practices are consistently employed in the Key Factors affecting congregational health, the congregation will tend to be healthy and to function effectively.
Adopting best practices isn't easy or automatic. For reasons that are deep in our history, many churches tend to resist best practices. They cling to inherited ways even when they demonstrably fail to work.
In the Church Wellness Project, our premise is that many congregations want health and effectiveness, and are willing to let go of practices that aren't optimal. Further, we think more congregations are ready to measure their efforts and to be guided by outcomes.The Church Wellness Project is built on the concept of "best practices," a widely accepted concept in many fields.

Briefly, the concept means that some methods and processes are better -- more effective, more productive, more likely to achieve desired ends -- than others.

In medicine, for example, complicated surgical procedures tend to follow widely accepted best practices. In sales, best practices include prompt response to inquiries, consistent follow-through on commitments, and tracking interactions with prospects and customers. In singing, it is a best practice to do stretching and vocal exercises before rehearsing or performing.

The same is true in congregational life. To attain health, a congregation needs to adopt the best possible practices for doing its basic work. With some allowance for context, it is possible to name best practices for such basic tasks as greeting visitors, handling church communications, training leaders, serving young adults, and so on.

If best practices are consistently employed in the Key Factors affecting congregational health, the congregation will tend to be healthy and to function effectively.

Adopting best practices isn't easy or automatic. For reasons that are deep in our history, many churches tend to resist best practices. They cling to inherited ways even when they demonstrably fail to work.

In the Church Wellness Project, our premise is that many congregations want health and effectiveness, and are willing to let go of practices that aren't optimal. Further, we think more congregations are ready to measure their efforts and to be guided by outcomes.