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Church Strategic Planning - Framing the Process
Church strategic planning requires insight, hard work, and follow-through. Some church leaders find planning a formidable exercise. In reality, the planning process is very simple - conceptually. It can be described through a series of seven key questions that need to be answered by every leadership team. Getting your team to agree on the answers to these questions may or may not be so simple, depending on the specific circumstances and the health of the relationships of the leaders in your church.
Church strategic planning is vitally important. The strategic plans you agree on together - under the leadership of the Holy Spirit - will shape your church's effectiveness in the months ahead. It's worth the effort - guaranteed!
Church Strategic Planning - Seven Planning Questions
In church strategic planning, the seven major questions that must be answered by you and your church leaders are:
- Spiritual Needs Assessment - What are the greatest spiritual needs of our church and our community?
- Strengths and Weaknesses - What are the greatest strengths and weaknesses of our church?
- Opportunities and Threats (or Barriers) - What are the most significant ministry opportunities for and potential threats (or barriers) to our church, given the answers to the first two questions?
- Ministry Options - What appear to be the most viable options for strengthening the ministry of our church?
- Ministry Platform - What is the primary ministry platform on which our specific ministries should be build? Included in the ministry platform are statement of faith, vision statement, mission statement, philosophy of ministry, and ministries.
- Ministry Goals - What goals is the Holy Spirit inviting us to strive for to enhance our church's ministry over the next year? The next two to three years?
- Action Steps - What action steps must we accomplish to achieve these goals?
You may notice that the first four questions are all information gathering or "listening" exercises. We can't stress enough the importance of listening as the prerequisite to any strategic planning process. You've got to have accurate information upon which to dialogue and discern.
For more on Church Strategic Planning, click here.
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