Overview: Priority Ministries

Status

Implementation status: Approved by Servants Council

Date: 2026-05-30

Summary

Mayflower has named five priority ministries that we will protect and strengthen above all others. These are not "programs" so much as the primary channels through which Christ ordinarily builds His church. When capacity is tight, these are protected first.

1. Ministry of the Word — faithful preaching and teaching of Scripture as the central ministry of the church.
2. The Lord's Day Gathering — a Word-shaped, prayerful, welcoming Sunday service.
3. Gospel-Driven Prayer — corporate prayer as a real ministry of the church, not a private preference.
4. Disciple-Making Pathways — a coherent disciple-making spine forming believers in doctrine, obedience, mutual care, and leadership.
5. Membership and Shepherding Care — guarding the "front door" and the care of souls.

Missions & Outreach is treated not as a supporting ministry but as the church's outward calling that overflows from the five priorities.

Principle (from Streamline)

Lukaszewski's principle (placeholder — to be populated from the Streamline book): A healthy church names a small number of priority ministries that receive the bulk of staff time, volunteer energy, and budget, rather than treating every ministry as equally weighted. Clarity about priority prevents mission drift and volunteer burnout.

Mayflower's Current Practice

The decision was finalized in January 2026 and documented in Five Priority Ministries We Guard. The decision does three things:

• Names the five ministries we will guard (this page, above).
• Classifies remaining ministries as supporting, seasonal, or scalable — with explicit permission to simplify, rotate, or pause them.
• Grants leaders explicit permission to say "no" or "not yet" to requests that do not clearly strengthen the five priorities.

See the chapter's detail pages:

• The Five Priority Ministries We Guard — full descriptions with which teams fall under each.
• Missions, Outreach & Supporting Ministries — outward calling, seasonal events, and the decision question.
• Permission to Say No (and Not Yet) — governing commitment, decision rule, guardrails, scripts, and biblical rationale.

Governance & Document References

• Five Priority Ministries We Guard — source decision document (January 2026), 4 pages
• Mayflower Constitution and Bylaws
• Current mission statement: Building a discipleship community rooted in the knowledge of Christ, driven by faith, empowered to share the Gospel, and committed to welcoming and equipping others in Love and Truth.
• Scripture anchors: Eph 5:15–17; Acts 6:2–4; 1 Pet 4:10–11; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4:11–16

Open Questions

• Annual review cadence: when and how do elders re-examine whether these five remain the right priorities?
• Where does the source PDF live for staff access?
• How are new ministry proposals routed through the "one-paragraph proposal" process described under How we say no?

Page template: Principle + Mayflower Practice. Part of The Streamline Admin System, adapted from Michael Lukaszewski's Streamline: How To Create Healthy Church Systems.