I’ve never done this in our 280(!) posts. Seriously. So give me a little grace.
This is a commercial. Sort of.
After pastoring at the same church for nearly thirty years, I stepped down from leadership and into the unknown. I spent a couple of years distilling everything I had observed, learned, studied, been mentored in, and practiced about leading into a book that boiled effective leadership down to four core elements. It was from that draft that my business partner Tom Thatcher and I began building online assessments to measure church health and effectiveness based on those four traits.
We knew we had stumbled onto something really good and practical.
We also had a slightly subversive plan: to disrupt the “church consultancy” business. Not that it was bad, but rather it was out-of-reach financially for the average church…and today the median church size is sixty people. For instance, some friends of ours have a fine consultancy for churches and do great work, but at a price: It typically costs around $18k for their services. That’s fine for megachurches with resources. And yes, I had those kind of resources when I was pastoring.
But there had to be a better way for the average church.
Our little startup is now a company that’s grown quite a bit. And frankly, we’ve kept our overhead low by design—all our staff are in the field and work remotely. Our primary church program is team-based, curriculum-driven, and based on multiple online assessments and hard data uploads. Avoiding a cookie-cutter approach, we do a bit less hand-holding in order to make consulting affordable. The Elemental Inventory delivers a 13-14 page report based on what your team has told us about their church, what your leadership team has discovered, and what God may be saying to you and your church’s specific calling, along with our well-analyzed recommendations.
That’s also why we developed stand-alone tools that were extremely cost-effective. For instance, our most requested product is FOCUS, a revolutionary strategic planning game that needs no consultant, can be played in six hours with a team, and leaders walk away with an 18-month game plan of four goals connected to strategies with assignments and timelines. Likewise with EnVision—a values, vision, and mission discernment tool built on game theory practices. Vibe is a team-based assessment tool to measure how visitors experience your church and social media.
But we’re not done.
In 2025 we’ve launched our new Church Scholarship Initiative and are currently receiving funds from donors who love the local church and want to scholarship under-resourced churches with our Pathway Program that uses all our tools in one comprehensive package. We know there are Kingdom-centered ways of helping churches with what we call “organizational discipleship.”
Why am I telling you all this? Because we want church leaders to know that they’re not alone…and there are varieties of resources out there that are accessible and Jesus-centered. Just take a moment to visit us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube—like and follow us—and you’re helping us help others. Pass on these weekly posts to your friends. And if you occasionally get these emails from a friend, subscribe at our website for free downloads and a weekly encouragement for leaders.
And I haven't taken any time to talk about our work with faith-based nonprofits...including having five grant writers on staff along with advancement planning experts.
Anyway, thanks for allowing me to tell a little bit of our story. And because I still believe that the local church is the hope of the world, I just want you to know we believe in you and your ability to change your corner of the planet.
That’s why we exist.
Dave Workman | The Elemental Group
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