Pressures in the start-up lifestage

When a ministry is small and growing quickly, people often wear many hats, decisions can depend heavily on a few individuals, and there may be little time to step back and build systems for the future. The same flexibility that helps a ministry move quickly can also make it difficult to establish consistency.

Some common pressures include:

Pressure	What it can look like
Too much dependence on key people	A small number of people carry most of the responsibility and decision-making.
Unclear roles	People step into whatever needs doing, making responsibilities difficult to define as the team grows.
Growing faster than your systems	The ministry's activities and responsibilities increase faster than its processes and structures.
Limited resources	Time, money, people and skills may all be stretched.
Difficulty letting go	Founders or early leaders may struggle to delegate responsibilities they have always owned.
Maintaining the original vision	As new opportunities emerge, it can become difficult to distinguish between what supports the calling and what simply adds activity.

These pressures do not mean that something is wrong. They are often natural signs that the ministry is beginning to outgrow the way it has operated to date.
The goal is not to eliminate the strengths of the start-up stage. It is to build enough structure to support those strengths without allowing them to become limitations.