Is “strategic planning” spiritual?
Read part one of this article: Good business versus spiritual leadership
Is there a place for strategic planning in setting the direction for a church? Or is it better to simply pray and wait for God to answer? The standard tools—analyzing strengths and weaknesses, developing vision statements, setting future goals—seem so corporate. And yet, plenty of spiritually attuned congregations engage in some sort of planning process.
The question is not whether we should plan, but how we should plan. While some might point to James 4:13-15 as an admonition against any kind of planning, the passage is actually teaching that our plans must be God-centered. It concludes, “You ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” Personal plans—the main focus of James 4—are often self-centered. We talk about “my goals” or “my personal development,” and it’s all about “me.” In a similar way, churches can develop plans that seem self-serving.
I’ve never known a church that intentionally left God out of its planning, but I have known some that didn’t leave room for him to work in the process. One indicator of this is a rigid, predictable timeline. Certain steps are done at the same time each year, culminating in the final plan and budget for review and approval before the new year begins. These plans are rarely bold or dramatic, but they set the course for the coming year. I look at such processes and wonder, “Where is God?” If the entire planning schedule is locked in, that implies that we know when God will speak or that we’re prepared to move without him. If planning generates only incremental change, does this suggest that God is predictable or that we’re not trusting him for bolder steps?
When our church was first given the opportunity to acquire the facility that became our second campus, we had already begun a planning process. A $3 million purchase that would radically change our culture was not on the drawing board. As we began to evaluate this possibility, some members challenged us by asking, “When did we make multi-site part of our strategy?” The answer was, “We didn’t. But maybe God has.” Over several months, we convened leadership groups to discuss and pray. Even though we realized this decision had to be Spirit-led, we also analyzed it in detail, looking at financial implications, community demographics, launch plans and lessons from other multi-site churches. After several months, we sensed that we had heard from God and that the congregation was ready and we voted overwhelmingly to purchase the facility and start a new campus. Some might say that our strategic planning process was derailed by this, as our other preliminary plans fell by the wayside. But I think it’s more accurate to say that God intervened in the process in a powerful way and we listened and followed.
Not all Spirit-led planning results in bold moves.Sometimes God may say “not yet.” I facilitated a planning process for another congregation with the stated goal of developing a clear, compelling vision for the future. Yet as I began to see different pieces of the puzzle, it became evident that the church was not ready for a major leap forward. After several years of growth and new initiatives, many leaders were weary and some of the underlying processes for decision-making and communication were frayed. In our planning workshops, leadership readily recognized that the most important priorities for the coming season were “boring,” nuts-and-bolts action items. This decision to pull back from any bold steps was not a “no,” but a “not yet,” and it ultimately set the stage for a more aggressive future.
Many congregations have lay leaders who have been involved in strategic planning in the marketplace and are ready to offer this expertise to benefit their church. Many congregations need a more disciplined approach to setting future direction and priorities. There is great potential in this collaboration, as long as the leaders know that any congregation that doesn’t leave room for God in its planning will be disappointed.
Spiritual and business wisdom
This brings us back to the broader question of when and how to use business principles in a church. It’s clear that the unfiltered, wholesale adoption of best practices from business is not the answer. The church is not a business, and if we run it like one, God might end up on the sideline.
And while it is not a business, we’d be foolish to ignore the many characteristics of churches that can be improved with business-like thinking. This is not only practical advice, it’s biblical. We can’t read Jesus’ parable about counting the cost before building a tower (Luke 14:28-30) without hearing the down-to-earth decisions to be made. Or see Jethro advising Moses to appoint officials to share the leadership burden (Exodus 18), and not recognize the need for a sustainable organizational model. Then there are the lists of qualifications for deacons and elders (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1), which clearly show that it’s important to have “the right people on the bus,” leading our churches.
Business thinking is not the answer, but it is part of the answer. In a turbulent, ever-changing world that desperately needs churches to reach their full potential, one more Collins concept is appropriate. Congregations need to discover the “genius of the ‘and’” —the very best collaboration between spiritual and corporate leadership principles. That’s what makes congregational leadership so challenging and exciting. Because we can’t put God in a box, we can’t prescribe a single answer for congregational leadership. That requires us to be diligent to use all of the leadership gifts that he has placed in our churches.
Photo source: istock
 | Mike Bonem is an author, consultant, speaker, church leader, businessperson, husband and father. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a breadth of experience in ministry and business, including 11 years as an executive pastor, consulting with Fortune 100 companies, and leading a start-up business. This article was first published on MikeBonem.com. Used with permission. Learn More » |
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