PRINCIPLES OF STRATEGIC PLANNING:
OUTLINE:
I. INTRODUCTION
II. PLAN 2012
A. Preliminary Work
B. First Steps
III. DISCOVERY
A. Core Values Discovery
B. Mission Discovery
C. Needs Discovery
D. Purpose Discovery
E. Vision Discovery
F. Objective Discovery
IV. Strategy Development
A. Milestone Discovery
B. Idea Discovery
C. Roadblock Discovery
D. Resource Discovery
E. Priority Discovery
F. Ministry Evaluation
V. CONCLUSION
VI. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION:
Sample Church is a Southern Baptist Church of approximately eight hundred and fifty members in small town in the small town of somewhere. In general, the members of the church are concerned about the future of the church and her impact in the community, state, nation and the world. The church is relatively young in that it is now thirteen years old. The reasons for people making Lord of the Harvest their church home are varied and diverse. Some come because of the contemporary worship, children ministry, youth ministry, college ministry or senior adult ministry while other come because of the preaching, friends or life investment. The average worship attendance is between four hundred fifty and five hundred.
The church is at a stage that it must clarify its core values, mission, purpose, objectives and priorities for today and the next five years. The church has core values, a purpose statement and a mission statement in place; however, these need attention to make sure they are the actual values, purpose and mission of the church. “Most leaders wait until the church has plateaued or is in decline before they seek renewal.” This is possibly the case in this situation. The church does not currently have a comprehensive strategic plan in place; consequently, it is time to be obedient to the Lord today in order to make a difference in tomorrow and have a clear plan for implementation. A strategic plan is the envisioning process that a point leader uses with a team of leaders on a regular basis to think and act so as to design and redesign a specific ministry model that accomplishes the Great Commission in their unique ministry context.
Furthermore, the church needs to take the current constitution and by-laws and make sure that they are reflective of the church goals and vision. This process will take between six to nine months for completion and implementation will last the life of the church. The process used will be an expanded “masterplanning arrow”. The pastor will facilitate this process and on occasion an outside facilitator will be used.
PLAN 2012:
Preliminary Work:
It is imperative that the Church takes this giant step toward being the church that God has called her to be. In order for this to be a success, this writer believes that it is going to take what Thom Rainer calls an “Acts 6/7 Leader: The Legacy Leader” . Rainer writes, “These leaders, such as the twelve mentioned in Acts 6:1-7, are quick to give ministry to others and let them take the credit for their work… (they) are not merely concerned about the church during their lifetime; they seek to make decisions that will benefit the church after they are gone.” The pastor is going to have to exhibit this type of leadership. The time has come to bring others along in charting the course for Lord of the Harvest to sail the seas of tomorrow by being obedient today. The church must make the decision to implement the changes that are necessary for clear direction.
The church must enter this time with a concentrated prayer effort by all the church members and staff. This is not an endeavor to be entered into with the understanding of man but with the clear guidance of God. God’s Word is clear that His children are to “trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths (Prov 3.5-6) . Paul’s exhortation is clear that the Christian is to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5.17). These corporate times of prayer would be during the worship services, prayer meetings and small groups. The membership would also be encouraged to make this part of their daily prayer and meditation.
First Steps:
Initially, the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) would be developed from the staff, key leaders and involved members. This team will consist of a diverse group of people who have the heart to glorify God through the work of Lord of the Harvest. “The senior pastor must recruit the team, recruit a leader of the team, and secure a commitment from leaders to be on the team.” He is active in the day-to-day ministry and knows the people better than anyone. Once the team is assembled, they will be introduced to the purpose of strategic planning. Malphurs list of purposes for strategic planning will be use to educate them as to the importance of their work.
Ministry analysis is the first order of business for the SLT. Who the church is and who the community is are two critically important factors. The ministry analysis is two fold: internal and external. The SLT will be divided into two teams. One team will focus on internal analysis and the other will focus on external. The internal analysis team will seek to determine who Lord of the Harvest Baptist Church is and her culture. “We can think of culture as the accumulated shared learning of a given group, covering behavioral, emotional, and cognitive elements of the group members’ total psychological functioning.” Their analysis will be done through two primary means: survey and focus groups. The survey will be church wide and will help the team to gather the needed information and develop focus groups to openly discuss important topics. The external analysis team will evaluate the “community, threats and opportunities”. They will gather this information from the census bureau, community leaders and the community.
DISCOVERY:
Core Values Discovery:
The Church has values that are held by each member. The church currently has adopted a list of six core values: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, worship and prayer. These are all worthwhile values and could be the actual values of the church; however, these were values that were developed by the pastor because his studies revealed that this “should be” the values of the church. With that being said, these could be actual or aspirational values. No one has ever mentioned that these were not areas they valued but they also were not given the opportunity to give their input.
The SLT would be educated on the reasons why it is critical to discover core values (see Appendix 2). In order to determine the actual values of the congregation, each person on the SLT would be able to declare what they value. A pre-determined recorder would record these on index cards. After everyone has been able to make their declarations, like values would be combined. Each value would have to then pass the evidence test. The SLT would have to answer, “What evidence is there that these are actual values and not aspirational values?” After all the values have been narrowed down to actual values, each person would be given six sticky dots and would go to the board where all the value cards are and be given the opportunity to put their six dots on the six most important values they hold for themselves and the church. The six with the most dots are the six core values of Lord of the Harvest Baptist Church.
Mission Discovery:
The Mission Statement is going to be a tool that the church uses to stay on course. Morrisey gives four excellent reasons why the church needs a comprehensive mission statement.
• Establish and maintain consistency and clarity of purpose throughout your organization
• Provide a frame of reference for all major planning decisions to be made by you and your management team as well as by other units within your organization
• Gain commitment from everyone within your organization through clear communication of the nature and concept of your organization’s business
• Gain understanding and support from those people outside your organization who are important to your success
This will be where the SLT determines what the church is supposed to be doing. Currently, Lord of the Harvest has a purpose statement and a mission statement. The purpose statement explains why the church exists and the mission explains what the church is going to do in response to its purpose statement. These statements are good and worthy but one person developed them, the pastor. The mission statement will meet the following four guidelines:
1. Determine what your church is suppose to do
2. Write you mission statement
3. Make your mission statement broad but clear
4. Make you mission statement brief and simple
This work will begin with taking the existing statement and doing some refining work. Upon completion, the mission statement will be given to each ministry area and unit roles will be defined that are unified with the core values.
Needs Discovery:
This brings the process to the “Masterplanning Arrow” (MA). The first step in the MA is needs discovery. “What needs do we feel deeply burdened by and uniquely qualified to meet?” is the question that the SLT must answer first. “Determining needs involves the ‘feeling’ side of planning. Ask yourself, ‘What makes me weep or pound the table?’” Consequently, answering the previous two questions reveals the true passions. The SLT will now take the time to make a “list of ten to fifteen specific needs (they) you feel deeply interesting in/concerned about and uniquely qualified to meet”. The lists will then be complied, reduced and then posted. This list will be reduced by the same fashion that was used with Core Values. Each person will be given a predetermined number of sticky dots and be asked to identify the greatest needs that the church is uniquely qualified to meet. The church cannot meet all the needs of the community but they can begin to meet the needs that they are qualified to meet. Now, the needs have been determined.
Purpose Discovery:
After the needs have been established, it is now time to discover purpose. “In light of all the needs we see, why do we exist as an organization?”Lord of the Harvest currently has a purpose statement that was developed by the pastor and voted on by the congregation. However, it needs revision, for it is not totally representative of why the church exists. The first aspect of purpose discovery is to determine one word that is the focus of the church. Secondly, the SLT would expand step one and determine “two or three words that explain why we exist”. Lastly, a statement would be developed that could easily be used to answer questions as why the church exist. At the completion of the purpose discovery there is now one word, two to three words and a statement to explain the existence of the church.
Vision Discovery:
“Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint” (Prov 29.18a). In Genesis, God gave Adam His vision for the earth. He gave Moses His vision for His people. Joshua received God’s vision for his work in following Moses. Throughout the Word of God, He gave His vision or revelation concerning a persons’ or nation’s existence. The SLT’s next assignment is to know clearly what God’s vision for the church is and articulate that into a statement. The statement should be “clear, compelling, a picture, futuristic, a can be and a must be” . This statement is going to give life to the church. It is one thing to know needs, mission and purpose and it is quite another to have a clear God given vision.
Objective Discovery:
Objective discovery is where the SLT is going to begin to define the specific areas of focus for the church. During objective discovery the SLT are going to answer the question, “In what three to seven areas will we continue being actively involved in the future?” The church cannot be all things to all people; however, it can be great at three to seven objectives. Once the objective discovery stage has been finished, the SLT now has begun to get a really clear focus for the direction of the church.
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT:
Milestone Discovery:
Once all the previous steps have been completed the task should seem to be a high calling. It might even appear to some as unattainable. The SLT must balance attainability and faith. If it can be done without faith, it is most likely not a God given plan that is coming together. This aspect of strategy development might seem unnecessary or just a minor work in the larger picture. However, there are going to be days when the work will seem too great. Milestone discovery is going to remind God’s people has He has worked in the past. As these milestones are remembered, they will become encouragement. If it is a God given vision He will accomplish His work through obedient people. This step will also bring to light God’s past work to those who were not present in the past to see God work mightily through Lord of he Harvest.
Idea Discovery:
An idea is a terrible thing to waste. Many people never share their ideas, for they believe that they either are impossible or they will not be used. The SLT are to bring all their ideas to the table for this step in the strategy discovery. “What ideas do we have that we should consider turning into goals? These ideas are possible solutions to the needs you see. They are possibilities. The ideas will be divided into four different areas: property, people, programs and policy. The ideas will be reduced to the ones that the SLT determine should become goals.
Roadblock Discovery:
At this point in the strategic planning process there are now three to seven objectives that are divided into property, people, programs and policy. It is possible that one or all of these four do not have any roadblocks but not likely. A God given vision is going to be God sized and in most situations there are going to be roadblocks. The SLT’s job is to seek to determine “what three major roadblocks are currently keeping us from reaching our full potential”. This will be done for each objective.
Resource Discovery:
There are going to be people on the SLT that focus on weaknesses instead of strengths. The weakness areas need to either be omitted or someone else hired to handle them. The SLT will be encourage to stay focused at this point on the clear resource strengths. Biehl gives the advice, “do not focus on your weaknesses, instead, focus on maximizing your team’s strengths”. Once the three greatest resources for each objective are determined, they will be recorded.
Priority Discovery:
Bill Owens, a friend of Bob Biehl, said, “I’ve come to the conclusion that a man doesn’t need priorities, if he has not dreams, but, if he has dreams and no priorities he has only despair!” The SLT must set the priorities for the church by answering, What are the realistic, measurable, time-dated targets of accomplishment in the future are we committed to? These will be divided into short-range, mid-range and long-range priorities. Short-range priorities are those areas that need to be accomplished in zero to ninety days. Mid-range will be the priorities that need to be accomplished between ninety days and two years. Long-range goals are those priorities that need to be accomplished in two to five years. In each area the priorities need to be measurable, attainable, reasonable.
Ministry Evaluation:
The world is going through such rapid change that it necessitates a continual review of these priorities. Most likely, some of your priorities are going to change. The SLT should review their work every six months and make the necessary changes to reflect current church and community analysis. If the efforts of the church and the SLT are only a strategic plan that is placed in a file their time will have been wasted. However, if the plan is taken and implemented the value of their work is measurable and energy giving. Time must be taken to evaluate the ministry implementations of the strategic plan. The church must seize the day and not waste any time. Every ministry must be seeking to achieve the priorities set forth by the SLT.
CONCLUSION:
“PLAN 2012” is a tool. The expanded masterplanning arrow and the extensive work of the SLT over a period of six to nine months will give clear direction for Lord of the Harvest Baptist Church. The church will clearly know who they are and who the community is. They will know their core values, mission, needs, purpose, vision, objectives and strategy. The priorities for the present and the future will have been determined and the church can now set sail. Everyone will be headed in the same direction to accomplish the same goals. Unity is birthed and effectiveness is the result. Therefore, set sail Lord of the Harvest for this is your time.
Purposes of Strategic Planning:
1. To discover the church’s strengths, limitations, and weaknesses
2. To build on its strengths and minimize its weaknesses
3. To facilitate congregational communication and build the congregation’s trust
4. To understand and implement spiritual health, Christ-honoring change
5. To get our people-leadership team and congregation-on the same page
6. To encourage and promote spiritual revival
7. To discover and articulate your ministry core values
8. To develop and communicate your God-given mission
9. To develop and articulate an inspiring, compelling vision
10. To understand and relate more effectively to the community
11. To develop a disciple-making process for the entire church
12. To assess, recruit, and develop a strong staff team
13. To mobilize the congregation to serve and do the work of the ministry
14. To make wise decisions about the facilities and their location
15. To inventory and assess current giving
16. To explore new streams of giving to increase current income
17. To design a stewardship strategy to help people be good stewards of their finances
18. To analyze and evaluate the church’s budget, looking for ways to best handle congregational finances
19. To raise additional funds and direct capital funding projects
20. To know how to implement the entire strategic plan
21. To regularly evaluate and improve the church’s ministries
22. To know and work with the latest technology
23. To empower the governing board and pastor to lead with excellence
Why Discover the Values:
1. Values discovery and clarification empower a ministry to know its distinctives
2. Values help people outside the ministry determine if it is a ministry for them. This answers the question, Do we join or look further?
3. Values communicate what is important to the organization. People know where to focus their energies.
4. Values help people embrace positive change. They determine what change will be helpful or harmful to the ministry.
5. Values influence the organization’s overall behavior. They drive the decisions made, problems resolved, goals set and so on.
6. Values inspire people to action. Common values catalyze ministry involvement.
7. Values enhance credible leadership. Leaders who act according to their professed values gain valuable credibility in the eyes of their people.
8. Clarified values shape the ministry’s character-they are character defining. They affect how the organization conducts its ministry.
9. Values contribute to the ministry’s success in that they generate deeper personal involvement in the life of its employees or members.
10. Values determine the ministry’s vision. They are the hidden motivators that guide the selection of the vision.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Biehl, Bobb. Masterplanning: Your Business, Church or Organization, Mount Dora, FL: Aylen Publishers, 2005.
Biehl, Bob. Masterplanning Arrow, Mount Dora, FL: Aylen Publishers, 2005.
Malphurs, Aubrey. Advanced Strategic Planning, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005).
Malphurs, Aubrey. Values-Driven Leadership: Discovering and Developing Your Core Values for Ministry, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004.
Malphurs, Aubrey. Advanced Strategic Planning Method [database on-line],
www.malphursgroup.com/images/PDFs/AdvancedSPMethod.pdf, accessed August 17, 2006.
Morrisey, George L. A Guide to Strategic Thinking: Building Your Planning Foundation, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Rainer, Thom S. Breakout Churches, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing, 2005.