Where is your ministry going?

Recently I was meeting with an intern when they asked me the question “what can I do with my group when we meet?” This is a question that I get asked by those who are new to ministry and they are looking for the perfect program. I have learnt to answer with the question “where are you headed?” In order to know what to do when your ministry meets, you have to know where you want to take the group.

Stephen Covey say that the second habit of effective leaders is to “begin with the end in mind.” In ministry the leader has to dream a vision of what the ministry to look like when it is fully established. Once you know where your ministry is headed, you can then work out the steps to get the group there. Andy Stanley calls this the Principle of the Path, the path that you begin determines the destination.

Here are three focus areas to help you determine where you are going:

1. Big Picture Vision – when your ministry is fully developed what will it look like? Some people might call this the five year plan but you need to hold this image up to your group on a regular basis. Also you may take five year or ten years to achieve this vision so dream big and create concrete examples for the vision.

2. Graduation Day – what will an individual leave your ministry with? We don’t often think about people leaving our ministry, yet we know nobody stays in a ministry forever. If you want to know where to take your group think about what skills and abilities do you want them to have when they leave your group. Focusing on one imaginary person, it also makes your big vision practical, a vision for real people.

For example, if you want your high school students to graduate your youth group with a love of the Bible, you will have to teach them how to read and pray the scriptures.

3. +/- One Year – How has your ministry grown n the past year and how will it grow in the next twelve months? Whilst we don’t know how long it will take us to achieve our big picture vision we can make a plan for the next twelve months. Break up the year into months or terms and make a plan based on three types of events:
1. Recruiting: you need a special recruiting phase at least once a year even if you invite new comers to each meeting. You also need a period to teach the new recruits the culture of the ministry.
2. Leadership: in each twelve month period you should also offer a leadership development program to raise the next leaders for your ministry. The best phrase to describe this is “do yourself out of a job”.
3. Celebration: “all work and no play” is a bit boring so make a plan to celebrate and have fun. Celebrations are not just “nights off”, they are really important events where people share the successes of the ministry and feel ownership.

So the next time you are wondering what to do with your ministry night or training session, think about where are you going and how will this meeting take us closer to where we want to be. Leave a comment about ideas that help you determine where you are going.