INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS – Strategic PlanningTemplate #1

1. Some say that strategic planning (hereafter: SP) is a trend in the business world and therefore shouldn’t be applied to the church. However:

• The fact that it’s trendy in the business world doesn’t make it wrong. SP should be judged by Biblical and practical criteria, on its own merits.
• Planning, with humility, the fear of God, and faith in God, is enthusiastically endorsed in the Book of Proverbs, as well as elsewhere in Scripture. Proverbs 11:14, 12:5, 14:8, 14:15, 21:5, etc. See my blog posts: Ten Planning Principles From The Book Of Proverbs, and Is Planning Unspiritual?  

Nehemiah made a plan. David left plans and materials for the temple for his son.  Solomon began the project with a “kit” thanks to David’s planning.

• Jesus said we should not be like those who go to war or start erecting buildings without plans (Luke 14:28-33).
• Jesus told us to make something (disciples). He gave us a three-step process for doing this in Matthew 28:18-20.  A good factory, school or training facility has a well thought-through process for making a finished product, whether that product be a widget, a physician or an infantryman.
• The alternative to planning is to bumble forward mindlessly, doing what we’ve always done and hoping we’ll get different results. 

2. SP gets us thinking, dreaming and praying about good things: Our purpose, mission, dreams, values, strategies. It can be a deeply meaningful and spiritual process.

3. There’s an incredible amount of confusion about SP in general and about the individual components of SP. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do it, but we do need to define our terms carefully.  

4. SP is a waste of time if:

• • It is done on only a surface level (going through the motions because it seemed like a good thing to do).
  • It is not done with the “brutal facts” of the church’s actual condition at hand.
  • If it is done hurriedly.  This is the type of work where we must be willing to wait on God.
  • If it is not done prayerfully, with open hearts and open minds. Those involved in the process must be willing to place their own individual hopes, dreams, pet programs, sacred cows, untouchable leaders, sacred objects, treasured traditions, etc. on God’s altar.

5. SP results can be “Biblical” (in conformity to basic Biblical practices and principles) and yet be wrong. God doesn’t want all churches to look the same. Different communities, people groups and generations require diverse “Biblical” methods.  God wants us to follow His Word, AND to be effective (See Paul in I Corinthians 9:23-27).

6. Some evangelical churches have SP components that are not even distinctly Christian. “Our mission is to make a difference in our community” (what kind of difference?).   “Our mission is to show God’s love to the people of Ozaukee County” (but a liberal church could say the same thing). “A value here is to be a real family” (but an extremely dysfunctional family is still a “real family”).

7. SP is easy to do badly. There are many books, three-ring binders with shiny covers and impressive looking packages with workbooks and videos which promise an almost instant, successful SP process.  Too many times churches rush through “canned” processes and end up with:

• • A mission statement which sounds good but which does not match the actual Sunday-Saturday mission of the church
  • Values which are neither the church’s actual values nor even its aspirational values
  • A vision statement that consists of the pasted together goals of the church’s “major players,” the big personalities who dominated the SP meetings
  • A completion or cessation of the SP process before the crucially important component of strategy has been even touched on. Without a strategy which has been sincerely embraced by a significant group of church leaders, little will come of the SP process.

8. SP requires much help from God. You cannot “over-pray” this.  Take heart!  Throughout the Book of Acts we see the Holy Spirit actively guiding the church and the churches. We’ve no reason to believe that He has ever stopped doing this.  We just have to be willing to follow.

9. SP, at its best, can involve lots of Bible study, awesome fellowship, strengthened relationships, passionate prayer, soul-searching, repentance, revival, and a “re-presentation” of lives and churches to Christ.  As with pastor search processes, we can make it a worldly exercise or a spiritual quest which is wonderful for the church!

10. SP, at its best, can lead to a church turning from an inward focus to an outward focus and from a downward trajectory to an upward trajectory.

11. SP is best done after an assessment process. First we come to grips with who we are and where we’ve come.  Then, we turn to the future. A good assessment process is (usually) a “good slap in the face.” People are ready to re-think their church when they can clearly see that it’s not effective.

12. SP is best done periodically, even if it’s just refreshing and rethinking and “re-praying” through the process. Why is this necessary?  Pastors come and go, board members come and go, people change, church members come and go from the church, culture changes, the demographics of the neighborhood change.  “Best practices” often become poor practices within a few years.

13. SP elements, if they are genuinely owned by the church, are connected to each other. If your church genuinely owns any component of the strategic planning “symphony,” it has a great starting point. Values can be projected out into the future, revealing the church’s vision.  Vision can be “projected backwards,” revealing values. A strategy reveals the actual mission of the church.

14. One simple piece of the SP symphony is the best thing to give to the congregation. The shorter it is the more valuable it is.  Longer statements are most useful for board and staff members.