planning

Critical strategies and key objectives drive the development of Personal Plans for each ministry staff member. Personal Plans contain objectives and tactics, each directly connected to Strategic Plan Key Objectives.

Personal Plans are formally reviewed with each ministry staff member on a monthly basis. Updates are documented and filed in the ministry staff member’s personnel file.

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The “actionable” part of the Strategic Plan consists of critical strategies, each broken into key objectives. Critical strategies are the highest-level objectives that begin to break the plan down into different and distinct areas of focus. Key objectives are the detailed actions identified under each critical strategy.

YOUR CHURCH’s critical strategies and key objectives are outlined below:

(1) Numerical Growth — To increase YOUR CHURCH’s reach in the local community and beyond and fund more ministry activities, numerical attendance growth must continue to be a major focus. The goal is to grow average weekly attendance by 10% annually, reaching 2,000 by the end of 2025.

(1.1) Commit to planning and executing 12 “big Sundays” every year that will function as a “parallel” to what’s happening programmatically in adult, student, and children services.

(1.2) Focus on and invest in getting the word out about these 12 “big Sundays” by advertising in as many ways as possible (banners, step stake signs, newspapers, billboards, etc.).

(1.3) Knowing that the most effective “advertising” method is encouraging the congregation to invite a friend, continue the emphasis on “invite a friend” (invite cards, stage pushes, etc.) pushes in support of the 12 “big Sundays” growth key objective.

(1.4) Execute the “Pray For One” initiative (#PrayForOne) as a tool to get the congregation actively praying for one person (co-worker, friend, family member, etc.) to “cross their path” that they can connect with, invite to church, and help them cross the line of faith.

(1.5) This year, Execute one direct mail campaign (Christmas Eve). This direct mail campaign should include four pieces with QR codes linking to trailers for the three or four messages of a sermon series leading up to the Christmas Eve service.

(1.6) Funded by the campus facelift capital campaign, form a “task force” focused on radically improving everything about the “entrance to exit” experience.

(1.7) Identify a Campus Pastor and launch a 2nd YOUR CHURCH campus by the fall of 2026.

(1.8) Drive YOUR CHURCH’s growth in numerical attendance by developing growth objectives (Personal Plans) in each ministry area.

(2) Conversion – YOUR CHURCH’s strategy continues to be reaching people who are not yet Christ followers. Therefore, helping people to cross the line of faith continues to be a high priority. The goal is to baptize 2,000 people by the end of 2025.

(2.1) Constantly present the need to be baptized and YOUR CHURCH’s aggressive “public” goal of 2,000 baptisms to the congregation.

(2.2) Share the gospel, including drawing the Bridge, as part of church services at least once per month.

(2.3) Plan and execute at least two church-wide “spontaneous” baptism services this year.

(2.4) Focus on connecting people and forming relationships with others, with an emphasis on spiritual growth, through volunteer teams and groups.

(3) Discipleship – After conversion, engage new believers in developing themselves into fully devoted followers of Christ, fueling YOUR CHURCH’s growth through an ever-expanding base of growing believers. The goal is to grow small group attendance to 50% and volunteer participation to 75% of average weekly adult attendance by the end of 2025.

(3.1) Improve the weekend service as a tool for developing believers by significantly improving it and investing in teaching and moment creation.

(3.2) Help new believers understand what it means to follow Christ and begin living out the 5G’s through regular Foundations Classes, facilitated by staff and lay leaders and scheduled to accommodate everyone.

(3.3) Develop, document, and implement a Donor Development Strategy that continuously increases giving per capita.

(4) Organizational Effectiveness – Strengthen and enable YOUR CHURCH to execute this plan through focus on leadership development and organizational infrastructure.

(4.1) Establish leadership development and personal growth plans and goals for staff (Personal Plans), which will increase overall organizational effectiveness.

(4.2) Improve “operational readiness” by creating a new staff volunteer coordination/operations leadership position and establishing a separate operations department.

(4.3) Renew YOUR CHURCH’s focus on Leadership Evangelism as the primary means of identifying and deploying new leaders.

(4.4) Improve YOUR CHURCH’s ability to grow by developing infrastructure-strengthening objectives in each ministry area.

(4.5) Take development, documentation, and implementation of all ministry and church business processes to the next level, with continued emphasis on development and expansion of the Management System.

Working with the Ministry Staff, the Executive Staff adds or modifies critical strategies and key objectives as part of the annual planning process.

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Core values are those key beliefs and/or statements of fundamental principles that are “non-negotiables” for the church. They are the values the church will literally “die on the hill” over. Everything the church does must be consistent with its core values. The core values will rarely, if ever, be changed or modified.

YOUR CHURCH’s Core Values are …

Biblically Based – The Bible alone dictates what we believe and practice.
Culturally Relevant – To be effective, the church must remain culturally relevant.
Evangelistic – Followers of Jesus are passionate about evangelism.
Church Planting – We will be a church planting church.
Community – Life change happens best in community with other Christians.
Discipleship – Followers of Jesus obey his teachings.
Excellence – Excellence honors God and inspires people.
Grace – We will foster an environment of love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
Stewardship – We will give our time, spiritual gifts, abilities, and finances to extend Christ’s kingdom.

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The 5G’s describe the key practices of the fully devoted follower of Christ. They are taught to new believers and are continuously referenced in the development of fully devoted followers.

A fully devoted follower is someone who …

Grace – Gives away GRACE to lost people.
Growth – Is committed to GROWING deep in their walk with Christ.
Groups – Is a part of a GROUP.
Gifts – Uses their GIFTS in ministry.
Giving – GIVES of their financial resources to extend Christ’s kingdom.

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