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Group Process/Notes
Participant's Guide
Ministry Planning
Your Purpose
Successful accomplishments in ministry rarely
happen accidentally. They are most often
outcomes of God supernaturally empowering a
success pattern. Ministry planning is the
process of laying out your ministry team's
success pattern. This kind of planning is
based on the Biblical principle of well
thought-out preparation before action.
Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to
give thoughts to their ways, but the folly of
fools is deception.
Your Plan
Ministry Planning involves a logical sequence
of actions. These actions involve first
discerning where God would have your ministry
and then determining the most appropriate steps
to get there. To develop a ministry plan, your
team will complete the following steps:
1. Review the mission of your ministry team
(pg. 2-7)
2. Identify goal possibilities (pg. 8-11)
3. Develop specific goal statements (pg.
12-13)
4. Select which goals to pursue (pg. 14-15)
5. Formulate action plans to reach top
priority goals (pg. 16-17)
Your Goal
At the conclusion of the ministry planning
phase, you and your team members will have
developed a plan for effectively fulfilling
your mission and addressing the issues
identified through your Team Analysis.
Your Resources
Most importantly, the planner in your midst is
the Holy Spirit working in the minds and hearts
of you and your team members. You will be
utilizing the input of each of your team
members as well as your group facilitator and
the worksheets on the following pages. But
what will make these tools work is the
empowerment of God. Pray for His guidance as
you pursue development of this plan.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Step #1 Review the mission of your ministry
team
Reviewing your ministry team's mission is an
important first step in the ministry planning
process. If your mission and sense of
direction are either unclear or not seen in the
same way by all parties involved, it will be
difficult to move forward.
A mission statement explains your team's
"reason for being." It enables you to clarify
your purpose for yourselves and others who are
interested.
Notes from the Front Door ministry team can be
reviewed in the Appendix.
Record your ministry team's current mission
statement here:
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Clarifying your current mission statement now
will help you effectively aim your goals for
the upcoming year. Next, you will review your
mission statement by considering the
ministry focus as well as
criteria for effective mission
statements.
Ministry Focus
When reviewing the focus of your ministry,
consider questions such as:
* Has your burden shifted, expanded or narrowed?
* How have the insights gained from your Team
Analysis affected your view of your team's
mission?
* Do you sense God leading your team toward
different areas of service?
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Record below your thoughts and reactions
regarding your own ministry team's focus.
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Also, in reviewing the focus of your ministry,
consider these issues:
* Are there other Xenos ministries addressing
these needs?
* If there are, how is your team unique or how
could your team work in conjunction with them?
Now complete the same process for your team.
Other Xenos Ministries Ideas & Issues
__________________________ ________________
__________________________ ________________
__________________________ ________________
__________________________ ________________
__________________________ ________________
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Four Criteria for Effective Mission Statements
Now, review your team's current mission against
the following four criteria. An effective
mission statement of a Xenos ministry team:
1. Clearly states the nature of the team's
cause.
2. Defines the team's area of concentration.
3. Fulfills a biblical precept, principle or
example.
4. Aligns with the mission and vision of Xenos
as a whole.
Check each box once your team's mission
statement fulfills that criterion.
__ Clearly states the nature of your team's
cause.
What has your ministry team set out to do?
What kind of service is actually being
performed by your team? What kind of special
opportunities has your team set out to create?
What is it that you, as a team, are about?
Current or clarified nature of your team's
cause:
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
__ Defines your team's area of concentration.
Who is your intended target group, recipient,
or audience? What area or segment of our
culture do you feel God has called your team to
reach and work in? This defines your specific
niche of service.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Current or clarified area of your team's
concentration:
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
__ Fulfills a biblical precept, principle or
example.
The Bible provides the essential drive behind
our directions for ministry. Consider specific
commands addressed to the church (precepts),
descriptive statements about the nature of the
church which have universal relevance
(principles), and examples of ways that the New
Testament church gave expression to biblical
precepts and principles.
List the passages that have inspired your
team's mission.
Reference Key Words or Phrases from Text
_____________ _______________________________
_____________ _______________________________
_____________ _______________________________
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
__ Aligns with the mission and vision of Xenos as
a whole.
Your team's mission should be aligned with
Xenos' mission and vision statements.
Xenos' mission statement is as follows:
God has called on the church to cooperate with
Him as He reconciles the world to Himself
Corinthians. 5:19). Therefore, Xenos Christian
Fellowship exists to help people learn how to
draw close to God. This work begins by
inviting people to receive the gift of
forgiveness offered through Christ.
We are committed to fostering spiritual growth
by encouraging people to respond to God's love
through loving service toward God and all
people. Specifically, we direct our resources
to serving the family, the non-Christian
community locally and internationally, and the
broader Christian community.
Xenos' vision statement summarizes what the
Elders discern the church's focus should be for
the following year. For 1994, it was stated
as:
Xenos has set out to build a highly trained,
sophisticated, caring, leadable, cohesive,
committed, and flexible work force of Christian
servants who continually strive to serve the
Lord and do his will.
How does your team's mission align with or
fulfill the greater mission and vision of
Xenos?
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Mission Statement Summary
Now, conclude your mission statement review by
incorporating the insights gained into a
clarified mission statement.
Now, based on your reflection on the focus of
the ministry itself and review of the criteria
listed above, record your ministry team's
clarified mission statement here:
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Your mission is an umbrella statement under
which you develop your goals and related
actions.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Step #2 Identify Goal Possibilities
Having clarified your ministry team's
mission, you are ready to begin identifying
how to take your team from where it is now
to where God would have it be.
The object of this step is to identify
where your ministry team wants to be or
what your team would like to accomplish
over the next year. Identifying goal
possibilities is the first step in giving
substance to what would otherwise be ideas
and desires.
Goals provide direction and motivation
necessary for growth and success in
important ministry areas. Goals are the
end toward which your ministry team will
direct some specific effort.
To generate possibilities for goals you
will be incorporating the "
raw materials"
you have already developed, tied with a
knowledge of three different goal types
(described below).
The Raw Materials
Possibilities for goals will be stimulated
by reviewing the "raw materials" of your
issue and mission statements. The issue
statements capture your team's Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Your "reason for being" is summarized in
your clarified mission statement. So, goal
possibilities should point to future
destinations that not only survey where
your team has been and is now, but also
combine this knowledge with the vision of
your team's mission.
Goal Types
When you generate goal possibilities from
these "raw materials," it is helpful to
consider the various types of goals. Three
types contribute in different ways toward
fulfilling your team's mission.
Goal Type Level of Need
Essential Must achieve
Problem-Solving Ought to achieve
Innovative Nice to achieve
Essential goals are necessary for
continued, ongoing ministry.
An essential goal identifies the recurring,
and necessary ongoing activities of your
ministry team that must be fulfilled to
ensure successful results. They are
required for the operation of your
ministry. They are essential to continued
success.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Problem-solving goals propose a more
appropriate or desired condition.
A problem-solving goal identifies a current
weakness, threat or less-than-ideal condition
and a proposed solution toward a more
appropriate or desired condition.
Problem-solving goals improve your team's
effectiveness. They are vital to growth, but
may not be detrimental if not accomplished.
Sources of problem-solving goals include:
* Aspects of your team's ministry that can be
improved such as strategy, quality
organization, efficiency.
* Less-than-effective use of time or resources.
* Obstacles in your field of ministry that can
be eliminated.
Ask yourself, "What's involved in solving these
problems?" The answer to this question can
provide the seeds for developing
problem-solving goals.
Innovative goals make something good even better.
An innovative goal improves the current
condition. These goals do not address
problems, but consider how ministry activities
can be done better, faster, more thoroughly,
economically, easily, more fruitfully.
By considering these goal types, you may be
better able to identify the many goal
possibilities that are all around. You will
also be better able to determine their relative
importance to your ministry team. The key is
to remember that some goals
must be achieved,
while others ought to be achieved,and still
others would be nice to be achieved.
In this goal identification phase, it is not
important to include all the elements of an
effective goal statement or to determine the
exact objectives needed to succeed. Those
aspects will be completed later.
For some examples of goal possibilities, see
Front Door's in the Appendix.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Now, generate several goal possibilities which
address your issue statements and fulfill your
team's mission.
Think of essential goals that your team must
accomplish on a regular basis. Think of
problem-solving goals that ought to be
accomplished. Think of innovative goals that
would be nice to improve conditions even though
there may be nothing at all wrong with the
current situation. Indicate whether the goal
type is essential (E), problem-solving (P)
or innovative (I) in the space to the left.
Type Possibility
1. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
5. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
6. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
7. ___________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Step #3 Develop Specific Goal Statements
One way you and other key team members will
decide if a goal possibility is worth achieving
is through the planning and analysis of your
goals. This is a form of "counting the cost."
Luke 14:28,32 "For which one of you when he
wants to build a tower, does not first sit down
and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough
to complete it? ...Or what king, when he sets
out to meet another king in battle, will not
first sit down and take counsel whether he is
strong enough with ten thousand men to
encounter the one coming against him with
twenty thousand?"
A written goal statement calls for a clear
calculation of your intent and the results to
be achieved. Effective ministry goals include
these elements:
* An accomplishment to be achieved
* Success indicators
* The time factors
* The resources
The questions that follow further define the
meaning of each of these goal-setting elements.
An ACCOMPLISHMENT to be achieved
"What will the outcome of our team's actions be?"
Goal statements indicate an activity, a
performance, an operation or something that
produces results. In most cases you will
express this accomplishment beginning with an
action word, a verb. Goals statements tell
what is to be done to reach the goal. Here are
some examples of action verbs:
Investigate Influence Provide Inform
Increase Coordinate Create Deliver
Develop Expand Generate Implement
Set up Simplify Start Streamline
Strengthen Train Transform Uncover
Win Establish Teach Produce
Present Recruit Reorganize Research
Maintain Organize Plan Promote
Improve Introduce Launch Lead
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
SUCCESS INDICATORS
"How will we know when our team has reached the
outcome desired?"
A goal statement clarifies the expected results
that indicate completion of the goal. Success
indicators are signs or measures you must see
to know when the goal is reached. The
indicator of success helps your team visualize
what success would look like.
By picturing the situation surrounding the
accomplishment of a goal, you can identify
effective measurement criteria - simple,
identifiable indicators of success. Define
these criteria in terms of observable behaviors
or qualities, and measurable units. Pushing
for specificity will go a long way to develop a
solid understanding of what is to be achieved.
The TIME FACTORS
"When exactly or at what frequency do we want
to have the goal accomplished?"
Just as important as the other elements is a
specific date or time by which your team will
want to be able to say you have accomplished
the goal. For recurring goals, the frequency
or regularity of activities is also important
to define.
The RESOURCES
"How much will our efforts cost (money, people,
facilities and other resources) when we say
'It's accomplished'?"
The resource constraints lead you to place a
relative value on the outcome. Resources that
may be available include facilities, people,
money, tools, equipment expertise, information,
spiritual gifting and knowledgeable people
inside and outside your team.
Using these four elements, develop goal
statements from the goal possibilities you
generated.
See samples of Goal Statements developed by the
Front Door ministry team in the Appendix.
Ministry Planning Sheets are then provided in
the Appendix to guide the development of your
own goal statements.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Step #4 Select Which Goals to Pursue
The next step in developing your ministry plan
is to determine the most significant goals to
achieve. Prioritizing and choosing which goals
to pursue is easier now that you have created
specific goal statements.
Classify Goals
To decide which goals to pursue, it is helpful
to first classify and prioritize the various
goal possibilities drafted by you and your team
members. Setting these priorities results in a
list of goals that ensures that the most
important goal will be acted on first.
The first criterion for prioritizing goals is
by their type (Essential, Problem-Solving, or
Innovative). No problem-solving goals will
have a higher priority than the lowest
essential goal. Goal statements may overlap
into multiple types. When this occurs,
classify overlapping statements by the highest
level of need. If a problem-solving goal
("ought to be achieved") appears to warrant
higher priority than the lowest essential goal
("must be achieved"), then one or the other
goal statement may have been classified
incorrectly.
Prioritize Goals
Using a simple numbering system ("1" being
highest), prioritize the goal statements within
each type, essential goals first, followed by
problem-solving goals, and finally the
innovative goals.
Here are some examples of criteria for setting
priorities within a given goal type:
Relative Importance: The achievement of
essential goal B is objectively more important
to the church than achieving either essential
goals A or C.
Time Sequence: Essential goals A and C cannot
be achieved until essential goal B is
completed; therefore, B must have the highest
priority.
Cost-Benefit Relationship: Essential goal B
can be achieved at a lower cost than either A
or C and will produce immediate benefits;
therefore, B should have the highest essential
goal priority.
Other criteria can be used as well to establish
priority within goal types. The key is to
establish a criteria that is meaningful to your
team's specific situation.
Choose Goals to Pursue
You are now ready to select which and how many
of the goals to pursue.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
A number of other criteria (including those
listed above) can be used to determine how many
goals to pursue, but consider that for a
ministry plan to be a positive motivation, it
must consist of a realistic number of goals.
A realistic number of goals ensures that your
team's ministry plan is practical, achievable
and motivational. An unattainable number of
goals can de-motivate and defeat the ministry
planning process.
At the other extreme, goals should represent a
challenge or stretch and call upon a degree of
faith as well. Goals that present a challenge
can stir motivation and inspire dependent trust
in God to empower.
A realistic number of goals strikes a balance
between what is hard and what is easy to
achieve. The number of goals in your plan
should be prayerfully and carefully calculated
to require a "stretch" that reaches beyond what
is easily achieved without inducing a "snap"
that causes your team members to fall into
defeat or abandon the plan. Stretching creates
the necessary balance between faith and effort
required to achieve the goal and the
probability of success.
On the Ministry Planning Sheets, mark the goals
which you discern are most appropriate to
pursue in the upcoming year.
Group Process/Notes Participant's Guide
Step #5 Formulate Action Plans for Top Priority
Goals
The final task of the ministry planning process
involves putting selected goals into workable
action plans. Action plans detail the
activities necessary to accomplish a goal by
organizing ideas into logical and executable
actions. They describe the tactics to
accomplish each top priority goal statement.
When objectives and tactics are incorporated
into a workable action plan, goal achievement
is more likely to occur.
The order and organization of action plans
using the Ministry Planning Sheet in the
Appendix helps to create a road map to goal
accomplishment. Consider having the person
responsible for coordinating achievement of the
goal complete the Action Planning section.
There are three separate entry areas on the
Ministry Planning Sheet.
Person Responsible:
This identifies who is responsible for
achieving the goal. It has been well said
that, "Everyone's responsibility is no one's
responsibility." Many individuals participate
in achieving specific tactics, but only one
person should be held accountable for goal
accomplishment.
First Action:
This lists the first step, task, or assignment
that must be completed to reach the
accomplishment. This is the most important
aspect of the action plan because it triggers
the implementation of this goal.
Starting Date:
This date indicates the targeted time to start
this action.
The completed Ministry Planning Sheet organizes
the various elements of the goal into a
systematic, workable road map for goal
achievement. It provides a visual
representation (and ongoing reminder) of all
the actions, tactics, expected results, timing,
benefits, responsibilities and contingencies of
a well-planned goal.
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