Torch, Winter 1993

Prepare a Mission Statement The firs~ step in strategic planning is preparation of a mission statement. I The purpose of a mission statement is to keep everyone focused on what they believe God wants them to accomplish as an organization. This will ensure that their activities have sig~ficance rather than being frmtless expenditures of energy and resources. The mission statement should be simple, short enough for everyone to re~ember, and strong enough to gmde the entire ministry of the church. Preparing a mission statement should involve more than just the pastor or a few church leaders. Rather, leadership should prepare the initial statement. Thereafter, the size of the congregation should determine how many people participate and to what degree. Ultimately, the entire congregation should have the opportunity to refine the statement with much prayer and honest ' discussion. In general, a congregation fully involved in the preparation of a mission statement will be committed to behavior designed to implement the goals that flow from the statement. A mission statement might be as simple as: "The mission of Corona Bible Church is to glorify God, reach the.unchurched, and build up the believer." A slightly longer one might be as follows: The mission of Calvary Baptist Church is to glorify God by: • Attracting the unchurched of West Michigan to Christ and His Church, • Building believers into completely committed Christians, equipped for lives ofworship, witness, and service, • <:a~i~g for the practical needs of individuals and families, both in the church and the community. Plan Strategically to Succeed Given the mission statement, how can the church plan strategically? Str~tegic planning cannot take place until a systematic organizational analysis has occurred. Managers use several schemes or tools to analyze their organizations. One of the more popular tools is SWOT analysis. The acronym stands for areas of one's organization (in our application, a church) that should be assessed on a regular basis for the purpose of strategic planning or decision– making. Specifically, these areas of analysis are: Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The following diagram explains the elements of SWOT analysis . The two rows of the model focus on factors internal and external to an organization. The first row (Interna Factors) stresses the need to assess strengths and weaknesses within an organization. The second row (External Factors) stresses opportunities and threats in the 1 environment. Usually organizations cannot change their environments but must Areas For Areas That Growth Can Hurt Us Internal Factors Strengths Weaknesses (Things sw inside the church) External 0 T Factors (Things outside the church)* Opportunities Threats * External factors can range from the immediate demographic environment of the church (population characteristics) to the national economy. For more.information about using SWOT analysis m strategic planning, see: Arthur A. Thompson and A.J. Stnckland ill, Strategic Management Concepts and Cases, Plano TX: Business Publications, 1984. ' For example, because of their position, leaders may choose to believe their organizations have no threats or weaknesses. After all what is happening is usuall the result f y 0 adjust to them. Examples of envir~:mmental phenomena might be the kinds of families that are in the neighborhood of a church or regional economic conditions that may have an impact on the finances of the church. In the first case analysis should cause the lead~r to recognize the opportunity to bring in new farnilies with programs that meet their needs . In the second case ' their sincere efforts and leadership. However, sincerity does not necessarily mean a pastor will objectively assess internal and ~xtemal aspects of his church. Also, if the pastor has a strong charismatic personality his advisors may essentially "rubber stamp" his stated desires, plans, or analysis without objective scrutiny. Therefore, the members of the body who should be providing accurate analysis of the church may be silent about negative factors . In the secular world this is called groupthink2 and results when almost everyone in a group feels a necessity to agree with everyone else, often without an objective analysis of the facts. The result is that significant facts are often not considered when important decisions are made. a more conservative approach to costly programs or projects might be mandated. Another way to consider the SWOT diagram is in terms of the two columns. These vertical dimensions focus on areas where the ~hurch can successfully grow and improve (strengths and opportunities) as well on areas that have the potential to harm the church (weaknesses and threats). The key to meaningful SWOT analysis is objectivity. Problems arise when an organization does not honestly recognize its current status on each of the SWOT dimensions. ~en this failure occurs it is rarely mtended or by design. People don't plan to fail. More often, they fail to plan to succeed, and part of this failure involves an overreliance on their biases. Various methods of information– gathering can yield a truly objective appraisal which will serve as a guide for merging the mission of the church with action-oriented goals. For example, leaders could ask representative groups from the church to prepare lists of ideas for Torch 13 I ' I I I I I