I started work a few nights ago on a complete strategy for this church plant. A strategic aim, mission, vision, values, major objectives, goals, tasks. It’s going to be big and it’s going to span 24-36 months when it’s all said and done. (not the paper it’s written on, just the plan) I can’t raise funds until I have a budget and I can’t write a budget until I know what I am spending money on and I can’t know that until I have a list of concrete goals and tasks with a dollar sign next to each one. (side note starting here: The funny thing about my strategy is that the heading at the top reads, “Plant Strategy for   __________ Church”. I don’t have a name for our church! It seems a bit premature to name something that doesn’t exist except in my mind. But when I present this to people it would be nice to call it something other than “this church I want to plant.” side note concluded)

While this is a big undertaking, it’s also kind of fun. One of my strengths, to borrow a  word from our last president, is strategery. I naturally think in terms of a strategy to get something accomplished. It helps me a great deal to sit down and think about what will be happening a year from now and what I will need to do to develop leadership in the church plant at that time, among other projects and objectives. I see pathways very well. I like to plot moves out in advance. It’s one reason I’ve always loved reading about wars. I like to read about how generals think, planning their actions 10 steps in advance. Strangely though I’m not thrilled with chess.

This strategy is also a living document so at any point if it becomes clear that something is out of order or I under or over estimated the cost of something it can be changed. What is more difficult for me is thinking through the mission vision and values portion of the strategy. These are the parts of the strategy through which I filter everything else. If I’m going to raise funds, I must filter that step through my mission vision and values. If I’m going to plan an outreach event I must filter it through those three things. The good thing about this method of planning is that the difficulty is on the front end. For those of you who like to do things by the seat of your pants I’m sure it sounds anal to plan for the next three years. But in the midst of crucial decisions facing our young fledgling church I want to have a baseline to go back to, something that has been prayed over and hashed out. It doesn’t take many mistakes to sink a church start. My hope is to make as few as possible.