The Advice Process: A New Way to Make Decisions
Making decisions together can be tough. If you're the one making a choice in your family, school, club, or church, it can feel like a big responsibility. And I have questions…
Most groups make decisions in one of two ways:
Top-down – One person or a small group decides everything.
Consensus – Everyone talks about it and agrees together.
I’ve seen both ways in action. Businesses and charities usually use the first, while churches often use the second, where everyone prays and decides together.
But both of these ways have problems:
If one person makes the decision:
What if they get it wrong?
What if someone else knows more about the topic?
What if their choice actually slows things down?
What if they don’t have all the information they need?
If everyone makes the decision together:
How do you keep things from becoming a boring compromise?
How can you still be quick and flexible?
How do you let people be creative and try new things?
A New Way: The Advice Process
A while back, I encountered a different approach called the Advice Process. You can read a good introduction about it here.
The Advice Process lets people make decisions without needing permission from a boss or group vote. Instead, they ask for advice from others before making a choice.
Why This Matters for Ocean Church
Ocean Church is still new, and right now, a small group is making most of the decisions. We’ve set up the charity, created a vision, and started working on rules and policies. But I don’t want it to stay like this. I don’t want a small group to have all the power.
I would like ANYONE who wants to help Ocean Church grow to have a say and suggest new ideas and projects. No matter your age, gender, background, abilities, or beliefs, you should be able to take part in shaping this community.
How It Works
If you have an idea to improve, create, or change something in Ocean Church, ask yourself:
Am I the right person to do something about this?
If not, find out who is, and they will become the decision-maker (if they would like to be).
The decision-maker then asks for advice from at least three people:
Anyone affected by the decision (friends, group members, etc.).
Anyone with more experience (people who have done this before).
God (through prayer and reflection).
Advice is just that—advice. People don’t vote on the idea or stop it from happening. Instead, they help the decision-maker think through the idea.
Once the decision-maker has the advice, they share three things at an Ocean Church gathering:
Their idea.
What advice they got.
What they plan to do next.
Then, they go ahead and do it!
Some playground Rules
The Advice Process isn’t a free-for-all. It should help Ocean Church stay true to its mission while allowing people to take action. Here are a few guidelines:
Every decision should match our vision: To reimagine church as a living, breathing adventure.
Every decision should reflect our values: Fun, Relationships, and Adventure.
Every decision should follow our rules, like safety and privacy policies.
We want to put our money where our mouth is:
If an idea costs up to £100, the decision-maker must involve Becky Nixon, our treasurer in the advice process.
If it’s more than £100, they must involve at least one other Ocean Church trustee too.
This is a spiritual process. Praying and listening to God is part of making good decisions.
No leader can block an idea. If the decision-maker has followed the Advice Process, their choice should stand.
This is an experiment. Not many groups lead this way. We’ll need to practice, learn, and trust the process. We also need to be kind, patient, and open—especially when people suggest things we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. Mistakes will happen, but this should be a safe space to try new things.
By using the Advice Process, we want create a church where everyone can lead, contribute, and help Ocean Church grow into the adventure it’s meant to be. Do let us know via the WhatsApp group or give us a call to let us know what you think about it. We will have a chance to think about this in more depth when we next get together.
