Three Planning Questions for Church Leaders

When church leaders consider goals and plans for the ministry of their churches, a lot of factors have to be considered. These factors are both spiritual and practical. Yes, a pastor and his leadership team do serve in churches that depend on spiritual direction for the development of strategies to reach God-given objectives. On the other hand, practical issues have to be considered.

This presentation addresses what I consider to be the key questions that church leaders should ask themselves and their ministry teams as they plan for significant ministry in their churches and communities.

Text? Email? Phone?

While I am an endorser of a handwritten note of approval, I’m acutely aware that people communicate in a variety of ways. People communicate primarily through text message, email, or phone calls. The challenge for a business person is to discover how clients and potential clients prefer to communicate; and most people do seem to have a preferred mode of communication.

                                                         

Two ways exist to find out a client’s preferred mode of communication. The quickest way is to simply ask. The other way is to try each mode and see which one the client responds to most quickly. Even after you zero in on what appears to be the preferred method of connecting, you may have to communicate with the client a few times to get a feel for which form of contact to which he responds.

Finally, understand that the nature of the contact determines how you most effectively communicate. Some situations require that you go beyond a text or email contact and make a verbal connection. It may even require a face to face appointment.

Also, consider what the client or potential client is communicating by not responding to your efforts to connect. In those instances, remember that most people will not work with you, but some will work with no one but you. So, keep communicating and connecting to find the people in that latter group.

The Challenge of Change

Change is challenging. Let me rephrase that, “Positive change is challenging.” The world, your world, is going to change often and quickly. You will continually face the challenge of effectively adapting to meet the challenges of changes taking place that affect your business.

As a pastor of churches seeking to take significant steps in effectively navigating the challenges of positive change, I found myself facing two challenges. First, I had to make positive and productive changes in my own thinking and actions. To lead others in making positive changes, I needed to be convinced that the changes were necessary. This required a commitment to personal and professional development for myself. Then, I faced the challenge of convincing others of the needed change and leading them to make the positive changes efficiently and productively. At best, I found change, even positive change, a potentially overwhelming undertaking.

As you navigate the challenges of making positive changes in your business and life, keep these four elements in mind:

 

1.      Keep your vision or dream in focus. A clearly stated vision enables you to navigate the challenges of change effectively and productively. It also keeps your team on the same page.

2.      Consistently evaluate your current reality. Don’t be oblivious to what is happening in the world and your industry that has the potential to significantly impact your business.

3.      Set challenging, yet attainable goals. You and your team need to know where they are headed if they are going to make daily progress.

4.      Develop strategies for moving forward with your professional and personal growth. If you are not consistently becoming better, you may find yourself unable to respond to the challenges of the changes taking place in your industry.

If you do not know where you want to go and lack a strategy to get you there, you will end up going wherever the current of change takes you. Remember, even positive change is challenging.