7 Steps to Implementing Church Strategy

Fulfilling a church’s mission requires taking the time to develop a strategy, planning the steps to get it done and management of the process.

Managing the process requires identifying who needs to do what, by when and holding them accountable for what they are responsible for doing.

7 Steps to Implementing Church Strategy

1.  Vision, Mission and Values

The first step is to write a church vision, mission and values statement.  This step is important because it clarifies why the ministry exists (mission) and what it is trying to accomplish (vision).

It also articulates the guiding principles (values) by which it operates and makes decisions. This is arguably the most important step because it sets the direction for the church.  Without clarity of vision, any organization is susceptible to steering off course.

2.  Strategic Plan

After the vision, mission and values are written, a church strategic plan can be developed.  The plan simply maps out the necessary steps to achieve the ministry’s mission and vision.

This kind of plan can be both short term (3-6 months) or long term (1-3 years).

There was a time when strategic plans went as far out as five or ten years, but because of rapidly changing conditions, shorter term plans seem to be more common.

The first step is to identify the outcome – what it is you want to accomplish in three years.

Take some time to brainstorm or visualize what that future state looks like. This will be the beginning of the plan.

For example, strategic objectives or outcomes may be things like building a bible school, planting churches, sending missionaries to certain parts of the world or developing worship leaders – whatever supports the church vision.

Next create a timeline for completion of objectives and determine how many weeks, months or years it will realistically take to complete the objectives.  This is done by thinking through the high-level action steps needed to complete the tasks involved.

Once you’ve identified what it is you want to accomplish (this should line up with the mission/vision) the next step is to start mapping out what it will take to get there.

For example, to plant a church, you need to ask the question, what are the steps that need to be taken?  – ie: identify church plant leader, identify new church location, decide on church model, transition plan for leader, timeline to new church opening, etc.

This detailed planning can be put in the format of an action plan. An action plan is merely a written document outlining the objectives (goals), action steps, responsible person(s), possible team members, due date for each action step and implementation status.

Mapping this out creates a visual that is easy to see at a glance for what needs to be done, by whom and by when.

As you create the action plan document, you will identify objectives or steps that individual church departments need to take to support this strategic objective.  And, as each department identifies their goals and objectives, it provides the information needed to write individual (or volunteer) job descriptions and goals, which support departmental goals, which support organizational goals and ultimately the strategic plan.

When goals and objectives are written to have a straight line influence on the strategic plan it helps to achieve the long-term goals of the organization.

3.  Organizational Goals

Goals are important because they provide direction, clarify job roles, give something to strive for, show how far you’ve come and help make the vision attainable.

Having goals written down makes it more real and achievable.  It allows you to see where you are going and the steps to get there.

Church goals should be written at the organizational level as the first step in strategic implementation.  This involves high level goals that the church as a whole is trying to accomplish.

These high level goals are typically what a Business Administrator is accountable for to the board or governing body.

As the organization works toward accomplishing the strategic plan there needs to be a structured process to take the organization from where it is to where it wants to be.  This can be done by developing annual organizational goals that are written to break the long-term goals into bite-sized pieces.

This step also provides the framework to accomplish them in steps and stages, rather than the overwhelming task of trying to do them all at once, and a tool to monitor its progress.

This is done by spreading the responsibility of the goals to the departmental and staff level.  This step helps to ensure that what staff are doing day-to-day, lines up with the vision and goals of the organization, and keeps employees focused on church priorities.

The structured process should include a cycle that begins with writing goals, communicating expectations, monitoring performance toward goals, assessing performance and lastly ends with the performance appraisal.

This cycle is repeated annually. Once the organization has some direction for what it wants to accomplish during the next twelve months, the priorities can be shared at the department level.

This step ensures that there is a person or group of people with responsibility for completing those goals.

Example Year 1 Annual Church Goals

• Increase weekly attendance by 10% (120 people based on 1200 member church). This supports the strategic objective of growing the church to 1500 people in three years.
• Increase the number of church volunteers by 20% (50 new volunteers based on 250 current volunteers). This supports the strategic objective of growing the volunteer base by 20%, from 250 – 350 volunteers.
• Decrease operating expenses by 5%. This supports the strategic objective of reducing operating expenses by 5%.