Putting It All
Together
Producing a written strategic plan is no quick
and easy task, but it is a vital one. A written plan
represents the research you have conducted and the
conclusions you have drawn about your church and
community.
A written plan forms a
playbook to direct your
ministry efforts.
It tells you where you should spend your time and
invest your money.
It offers guidance about what leaders to train
and what ministries best connect with your target. Most
importantly, a written plan provides answers to what
contextual ministry means for your church both now and
in the years ahead.
Some strategies will stay the
same from year to year, while others will
change or be dropped in favor
of new approaches.
The tactics you write will also change, of
course, completely dependent on the strategies they
feed.
Commit to make strategy planning more than a
one-time process—make it an annual part of your church’s
growth game plan.
Create a strategic plan for a one-year period and
then come back to consistently pray over and evaluate
the results.
Then, set aside time to make adjustments and
renew the plan for successive
years.
Presenting Your
Strategic Plan
Most strategic plans are the result of many
hours of combined work on the part of the church’s
pastor, ministerial staff and volunteer leaders. Once that
essential work is done, the task of presenting the plan
to other leaders, church committees or teams, core
members and the congregation begins. As you begin to
communicate the plan to all of these groups, your
strategic plan will probably take several different
forms:
