Ask anyone who works for a large corporation and some of the most dreaded words to hear are “A consultant is coming in to work on a strategic plan with us”. Just because strategic plans are often tied to lay offs in the business world, doesn’t mean they can’t add value to our ministries. After all, you wouldn’t try to build a house without a plan. Why would you try to minister to others impactfully without one?
The trick is finding someone who knows how to guide you through a godly strategic planning process – where a plan is made, but room is given for God to lead and adjust it. Assuming you can find that person (btw we have free aids to help you), the next issue becomes time. Most people in ministry – whether volunteer or paid – don’t have a lot of time they want to spend in meetings working on a godly strategic plan. You may get pushback if you even mention it – either because of career PTSD or an unwillingness to invest that amount of time in your ministry.
Getting people to help you can be easier if they understand the value a plan will add to your ministry. Here are nine ways your ministry will be enhanced from having a godly strategic plan in place.
- Focus. Believe it or not, when your ministry has no plan everyone is headed in different directions. You don’t know where to put your focus, so everyone chooses what is most important to them – or nothing at all. Focus keeps everyone on the same page working towards the same goals. That alone can make your ministry more impactful.
- Feedback. Most of us are terrified of feedback that isn’t positive. As a result, we would rather not know what people think at all. You can’t improve your ministry if you don’t know how it is impacting the children, teens, parents and volunteers you serve. Without feedback, you may double down on something that clearly isn’t working or get rid of the most impactful thing in your ministry.
- Strengths. Part of the strategic planning process requires you to list your current strengths. Ministry can be discouraging and hearing about what others perceive as your ministry’s strengths can give you the encouragement you need.
- Weaknesses. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. Yes, not everyone’s idea of a weakness is valid, but they all need to be not only heard, but also seriously considered. Not feeling heard and considered can lead to frustration, anger and eventually bitterness. You don’t have to agree with everyone, but you need to respect their point of view and make them feel heard.
- Opportunities. This is my favorite! This is the place for all of those great ideas everyone has been holding on to or praying about, but not communicating to you for fear you will make them implement it. Encourage everyone you know to throw those ideas at you. You won’t be able to do them all at once, but every idea can add value to your ministry.
- Threats. How many ministries have been virtually destroyed because they didn’t prepare adequately for potential problems? This category may vary as to which natural disasters are most common in your area, but should also include things like a predator volunteering in your ministry and other unlikely but potentially catastrophic events.
- Goals. It’s virtually impossible to achieve a goal in a ministry unless everyone knows what it is and agrees to work towards it. You can write down a million goals, but prioritize them and really focus on only a handful at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed or discouraged.
- Action steps (and due dates). It seems to be human nature that we assume everyone else will do the work towards achieving a goal or that we will do it all ourselves. Neither works well long term. Paul wrote about the Church being a body for a reason. When we all work together we can achieve more and not feel as exhausted doing it. Capturing action steps needed to achieve a goal, assigning due dates and people to each one breaks down goals into bite size pieces with accountability.
- Helpers. There are a lot of members of your congregation sitting on a metaphorical bench waiting to be called up to serve God. They may think they don’t have the talent for ministry involvement because they can’t teach the Bible with confidence. But what if they knew you just needed them to shop for needed items or build something? Breaking down goals into bite sized pieces means there are opportunities for people to serve in their areas of giftedness that they never realized could enhance your ministry.
Our step by step guide to godly strategic planning is under volunteer resources on our website. Don’t let another year go by without a plan for your ministry. ( http://www.teachonereachone.org/wp- content/uploads/Volunteer%20Training%20Resources/The%20ABCs%20of%20a%20God-Driven%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf j