By George Keralis
Setting goals for the upcoming year in your church is vitally important. New goals set the direction for your church in the near and distant future. Of course, you could just “wing” it. A few leaders might be able to get away with that style, but congregations that impact their communities know where they are going. They have a well-defined idea of what steps they will need to take to move forward.
Goals should support your mission and vision statements. Don’t take steps to become something that you are not or have not envisioned. Prayerfully ask God to connect your goals with your mission and vision statements.
Goals help to bring people to work on the same page. By establishing well-defined goals, leaders can build unity in the body around the direction of goals.
As your leadership team gathers to evaluate the past year, please consider moving into the new year with two or three major goals that will help you move in the direction of your mission and vision statements. Any more than three goals may leave you overwhelmed in need of people to help carry out those goals, in need of available resources to meet the goals and frustrated over having too many irons in the fire.
Below are eight categories that you can use to help chart your goals for the upcoming year.
- Evangelism – Do we see evangelism as a scriptural mandate or an option? How are we instilling in our people the importance of evangelism? What attitudes among our members block effective evangelism? Do our members know how to evangelize people with the gospel? How are we working to help the members of our congregation know that evangelism is everyone’s responsibility? What can we do to help people move out of their comfort zone? Do all individual ministries make evangelism an integral part of their ministry?
- Stewardship – Stewardship begins with leadership. Stewardship is not simply about giving. Stewardship is giving and generosity. Stewardship is about sacrifice. Good stewardship is an attitude developed over time. What are we currently doing to develop giving for current and future needs? Do we have a good system in place to analyze our current giving? What percentage of our givers are carrying most of the budget? Are there givers that have reduced their giving amounts? If so, why have they done so?
- Building and Grounds – Are there areas in our building that need immediate repair? Does our building welcome visitors? If not, what changes should we make to help visitors to feel at home and to help visitors want to return to our services? Are there long-term projects that we should fund annually: parking lot, furnace replacement, bathroom and kitchen upgrades? Is our signage current as to locations of rooms in the building? Is the language on our signs written so non-church members can understand the signs? Is our signage attractive?
- Worship – Does our worship draw us into the presence of God? Are we designing our worship to satisfy the preferences of a few vocal people in the congregation? What changes should we make to our worship times that reach out to non-believers without neglecting the purpose of worship? Can we update our sanctuary to help non-believers feel at home without hindering worship by the Christian community? Do we need to upgrade technology and the sound equipment? What decorations in our building promote worship? Are there some decorations that have outlived their usefulness?
- Missions (foreign and domestic) – Do the missions we support send timely updates about their work? Do these missions show evidence of fiscal accountability? Are missions that we support changing their emphasis? Are these missions in line with our mission and vision statements? Are there other missions that might better align with our mission and vision statements? What percentage of our missions are evangelistic in nature or involved in alleviating human suffering? What percentage of our missions are involved in planting new churches or developing future leaders for those churches?
- Christian Education – How well are we developing our members spiritually? Are we seeing people grow in their relationship with Christ? What metrics do we use to assess and evaluate that growth? What approaches are not producing spiritual growth? Is it time to replace some of our antiquated methodology? Is there new up to date material available that does not compromise our basic belief system? Do we need to upgrade classrooms and teaching equipment to stay current with our culture? Are we aware of different methodologies useful to enhance the spiritual development of our members?
- Leadership Development (volunteers and professionals) – What are we doing to recruit and train volunteers for ministry positions? Do we have the means to evaluate current volunteers and professionals regarding their effectiveness in their area of ministry? Are we annually evaluating our volunteers and professionals? How are we demonstrating our appreciation for our volunteers and professionals? Do our professionals deserve salary increases or must we hold the line? Are we encouraging our volunteers and professionals to continue the development of their leadership skills?
- Small Groups – Do we offer a small group ministry? If not, what hinders us from doing so? Are we aware of the benefits of small groups? What needs are our groups meeting? What percentage of our groups have some focus on outreach? What percentage of our groups represent closed or open groups? What groups are meeting the needs of the community outside our walls? What new groups might we add to attract new people or encourage our present members?
I encourage you to diligently set aside time to seek God’s direction as you set goals for the upcoming year.
What other ideas do you have that would help churches to set better goals? What other significant areas in the work of the church should we include as we set goals? Your ideas are important. What concerns or ideas would you like this blog to address? Drop us a line.
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens another friend — Solomon
