How Do I "Shift" My Church's "Resource Base" to "Change the World"?

I found a video clip of George Barna asking an important question - "Do you need to shift your "resource base" from "maintenance" to "changing the world in ways you've never seen in your lifetime"? This is a question we all need to give serious consideration to. So . . . how can you tell if you need to shift your resources in your church, what does it mean to shift your resource base and how might you do this? Consider the following -

First of all, does your church need to shift it's resources?

• If the children's ministry is mostly "out of sight" of the church, you may very well need to "shift" your resources.
• If the people in your church - including church leaders - are not able to share with others the vision for your children's ministry, you may very well need to "shift" your resources.
• If your children's ministry is not a place where children want to be, you may very well need to "shift" your resources.
• If you family ministry is pretty much non-existent, you may need to "shift" your resources.

Secondly, what does it mean to shift your resource base?

• Take a serious and honest look at where you spend your resource of money - budgets are tight, but take a close look at where you spend money and honestly evaluate as to if the money is being spent in the most effective manner. If a program/expense is not really needed or not really effective, then seriously consider what you might do instead with this resource to reach children and families and "change the world"!
• Take a serious and honest look at where you spend your resource of people/volunteers - you need people to accomplish the things you want to accomplish in your ministries. You can only ask so much of them - we are all busy with work, families, and all the other things we do, so you need to know what the people/volunteers are doing in your church and what do you need them to do?
• Take a serious and honest look at where you spend your resource of time - you only have so many hours available each week . . . what do you do with these hours? What ministry opportunities do you offer to children and families? What would you like to offer? 

Finally, how can you shift your resource base? 

• Clearly if you want people to see the value of children's and family ministry, you have to be firmly convinced of their value yourself. How do you communicate it's value to those in your ministry? 
• Consider the impact it could have on your ministry and on your ability to "change the world" if you were able to get the people in your church to refocus their attention on the value of the children's and family ministry. If they were able to "catch" your vision for the children and families how might this change everything? For one thing, they might become involved, and if they are involved in serving children and families, wouldn't they grow in ways they might never grow with some of the other things you are currently doing? 

Shifting your "resource base" from "maintenance" to "changing the world in ways you've never seen in your lifetime" does not have to come at the "cost" of other areas of your ministry . . . it can instead breathe new life into your church as a whole! What will you do to "shift" your focus?