Manual
 
Developing a Strategy for Mission: Dreaming Big and Narrowing The Focus
by Ben Cathey

The Dream
Every effective new church begins with a God-given dream, an image in someone's mind. For every new church, there is someone, somewhere who dreamed of that church and set the wheels in motion to create it. If you have been called to plant a new church, then your mind is surely buzzing with dreams about what that new church will look like, who it will reach, how it will worship, and what it will be called. The church is being born in the heart, mind, and soul of its new leader. Congratulations! The journey of a lifetime is about to begin…

These dreams are the beginning of developing a strategy for mission. What is the dream? What is it that God is calling you to accomplish? Dream big dreams. Big dreams are full of the impossible. Big dreams do not consider the path by which they will be accomplished, but only the outcome that they will obtain. Is the dream worthwhile? Is it the right dream? Here are some questions to help test the dream:

  1. Has it been wrought in prayer?
  2. Is it a great accomplishment for God?
  3. Will it help other people?
  4. Will it bring the best out of you?
  5. Is God calling you to it?
  6. Has your life preparation prepared you to accomplish it?
  7. Can you pour your whole life into it?

My dream for The Orchard began with a passion to see nonbelievers find faith in Jesus. As my talents, abilities and circumstances lined up with that passion, it became clear that I was being called to plant a new church. Nonbelievers could be reached without starting a new congregation, but it appeared that starting a new congregation would be the most effective means. Part of my dream was to create a church that "shone brightly as a beacon of faith, hope, and love in East Atlanta; a church made up of real people who actively lead others to a real Savior and a church that meets real needs as compelled by a real God to do so; a church full of people who are so contagious with authentic Christian life that nonbelieving, dechurched, and unchurched people are drawn by the hundreds and thousands to experience Jesus for themselves — many for the first time."

The Mission
You can't develop an effective strategy for mission unless you first have the mission clearly set before you. The mission is certainly the outcome; but just as important, it determines the strategy that will get you there. A mission is simply the crystallization of a God-given dream. It is a communication tool to direct your team. It is a slogan that will attract people to your cause. A mission statement puts "ink to what you think." A great mission statement answers "yes" to the following questions: Is it biblical? Can the average person remember it easily? Can you measure it? Is it easily understood? Does it reflect God's best? Is it true to your dream?

I suggest that you "ink" a mission statement that reflects these qualities before you start recruiting and organizing core team members. This will help attract like-minded people who want to do something great for God. People want to get involved with new church plants for all kinds of unhealthy reasons. Having the mission statement inked before beginning helps point to something tangible that team members can agree upon.

I nailed down the mission of The Orchard while on a three-day personal spiritual retreat about two months before beginning the process of actively recruiting people to help with the launch. The Orchard's mission is to "connect unchurched, dechurched, and nonbelieving people to a growing experience of Jesus." Right up front, I let people know that this church is primarily about Jesus, about reaching those who don't know Jesus, and about spiritual growth. This mission statement is the beginning and ending point for our ministry strategy.

The Core Values
Core values are the guiding principles behind the mission. They give the mission further definition and needed boundaries. Aubrey Malphurs, author of Values-Driven Leadership (Baker Book House, 1996), says that core values affect nothing less than "decision making, risk taking, goal setting, conflict resolution, problem solving, priorities determination, roles clarification, team building, financial management, and resource utilization." Core values tell those inside and outside the congregation what is distinctive and important. Core values dictate personal involvement, inspire people to action, and are a reminder of ministry priorities. A good core value is much like a good mission, only more specific. What core values will serve as driving principles for accomplishing your mission? Write your own values that are based on your mission and your local context. Learn from others, but do not copy from them. Gather examples from many different sources before beginning. A few good examples of core values can be found at the following websites:

The Orchard's mission of "connecting unchurched, dechurched, and nonbelieving people to a growing experience of Jesus" dictated that one of the core values had to be about evangelism. The problem with evangelism is that it comes in so many flavors. Some are good flavors, and some are bad. Our evangelism core value gives direction to our mission and boundary to our activities: "All people need Jesus Christ. Life-giving evangelism will always be our primary cause." This core value describes evangelism as life-giving, which means respectful, helpful, and nonoppressive. It also clearly states our belief that all people need Jesus, regardless of their cultural, religious, or ethnic affiliations. It also calls the people of The Orchard to action by calling evangelism our primary cause.

The Structure
Once your mission and core values have been created, you can begin creating a structure that is aligned with your core values and that will help accomplish the mission. Begin with this question: "What will the church need to look like if it is going to accomplish the mission and stay true to the core values?" In many ways, this aspect of planning is a continuation of the dreaming process. Dream about as many aspects of the new church as possible without getting bogged down by minutiae. Similar to a proposal for a construction project, your plan does not need to include detailed measurements and instructions, but it does need to include general ideas.

Examples:

What will evangelism look like? Will it be intentional or passive? Will the street corner be used? Will preaching, personal invitation, servant evangelism (find out more at www.kindness.com), or some other means be used to reach people? How will church members be influenced to be evangelists? Will evangelism be high pressure or low pressure?

What will discipleship processes look like? How will people be moved from one level of spiritual commitment to the next? What are the goals for disciple making? How will people be involved in all aspects of disciple making beyond mere knowledge accumulation? What about small groups? Will it be a church with small groups or a church of small groups? How will you enable involvement in groups? When will groups meet? Who will lead them? How will they grow?

What will membership look like? What will the expectations for members be? How will they join? What will be special about membership?

What will prayer ministries look like? How will prayer ministries take shape in the church? How will prayer take a place of priority?

What will care ministries look like? Who will be primary care givers in the church? What will be the expectations of the pastor for care giving?

What will leadership development look like? How will you recruit, train, and identify new leaders while nurturing existing ones? How will you align your leaders around your mission?

The Orchard's structure was outlined in a forty-page document that breathed some life into to the mission. This "dream paper" set forth a clear vision for each of the areas mentioned above and for other areas as well. This paper did not plant The Orchard, nor did it serve as a substitute for face-to-face vision casting. It did, however, provide an anchor for decision-making; and it helped me train our core team. I still refer to it to make sure that we are building what we set out to build.

The Plan
A ministry plan includes all the details that will help get the new church off the ground and into full ministry mode. If the particulars of the plan do not do this, then they are not needed. The plan provides the detailed measurements for the construction project. It is the blueprint. If the mission, core values, and structure help guide you and your team philosophically, theologically, and organizationally, then the plan helps guide you day-to-day and week-by-week. What will it take to make all these ideas that you have ironed out through prayer, sharing, discussion, sweat, exegesis, and hard work a living, breathing, vital, dynamic reality? That's what the plan is all about. Fail to plan and plan to fail. This part should come naturally and easily if your mission, core values, and structure are in place. Narrow your focus toward a specific, accomplishable plan. The plan should include every aspect of ministry that can be reasonably thought out. Break the dream into manageable parts that can happen today. Realize that each part is a stairstep toward accomplishing the mission. Remember that big dreams, just like big buildings, have lots of steps.

What human and material resources are needed, and how will they be put together to achieve maximum results? How will solid core team members be recruited? How and when will prayer partners be found for planting the new church? How and when will the core team be trained and discipled? How will others be gathered around the mission? When and how will the community be reached? What methods will be used to teach core team members? Will the church start with a Bible study, vision meetings, outreach projects, private worship services? What about funding needs? How will money be raised for the mission — from other churches or from individuals?

The plan should look like a construction timeline. You are the master builder of this project. What pieces need to be in place at what times in order to move to the next step in the planting process? How many people will be needed? What can be accomplished alone and where will others be needed to get the job done? What kind of funds will be needed? How will each step in the process help accomplish the mission and lead to the next step in the process? Make sure that each step will build toward the next step in the launch process. Here are a few ideas that will be helpful.

Getting Prepared: Tasks that need to start almost immediately are mission, core values, money, prayer, demographic and psychographic research, office set-up, local relationship building, and core team recruitment.

Getting Started: The tasks in preparation for outreach are a name, a logo, a website, possible staff recruitment, and core team training and expansion.

Getting Noticed: These tasks are specific outreach events that will let the community know a new church is being started. Some examples are servant evangelism projects, kids' carnivals, concerts, booths at local festivals, and so on.

Getting Excited: The final parts of this plan must include a strategy for the tasks that will lead directly to the launch or grand opening worship service. How will resources be gathered and built up to launch? Will preview worship, mail saturation, telemarketing, or door hangers be used? When does a spot need to be secured, mailers ordered, and telemarketing arranged? What about music, hospitality, childcare, audiovisual equipment? When is the big day? How will prayer be organized for the launch effort? What kind of follow up will be done? Who will be thanked? Who will be expected to show up the next week? How will people get involved with ministries outside of worship?

At The Orchard, we organized a budget plan and a calendar plan. The budget plan was simply the best estimate based on budgets from a couple of other church plants. The calendar plan is the most important. Our calendar plan was divided into the two categories of "solo jobs" and "team jobs: with twenty-nine different line items that represented specific activities. The plan ran from June to the launch date in March of the following year.

Final Thoughts
You may consider this to be a ton of paperwork, but think about what is being planned. If the church becomes everything God wants it to be, then many people will repent and find forgiveness of sins and salvation through Jesus. Many more will find a renewed commitment to follow Jesus in daily living. The outcome for this effort is nothing less than healthy lives, healthy communities, interrupted addictions, saved marriages, healthy families, financial responsibility, social justice, thwarted abuse, and mature followers of Christ who serve as light and hope in this dark world. Leading the effort that will create a new community to carry this vision forward for generations to come is an incredible gift and an awesome task. It deserves your best dreaming, your best praying, and your best planning efforts. Will everything work out just as it was planned? No. Will God still work through the ministry efforts if you don't plan? Of course! Will you do more, become more, and reach more people if you plan well? Yes. Will God work more effectively through the ministry efforts if you give God your best in the planning stage? That's my experienceÉ

Helpful Books

• • • •

Ben Cathey is the Senior Minister at The Orchard United Methodist Church in Loganville, Georgia.

 
Copyright © 2005 General Board of Discipleship.
All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.