015. Vision Planning for Ministry

Preparing the Church for the Harvest

In today’s episode, we talk about preparing for the new year and how I shifted from a Planning process to a Visioning Process.

It’s a New Year!

Every ministry, business, and individual are probably thinking about their vision during this time of year. If you are listening in real time it is the beginning of 2023.

Some of you may have already sketched out your plans for the new year but my guess is many of you wait until after the holidays to begin this process.

When I was leading our women’s ministry I would always take some time between Christmas and New Years to pray and plan for the coming year. I had a worksheet that I used that was broken up into 12 sections, one for each month. We had some recurring events that were a tradition that I would fill in first, such as Mothers Day event and our Annual Christmas party. Then I would pray, research, and plan other events throughout the year.

Disclaimer

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” ~Proverbs 16:9 NIV

Sometimes we make all these plans with all the details figured out, then the Lord changes our course. And that is OK because the Lord's plan is always better than our plan.

I used to feel like I failed or didn’t do something right when things didn’t stick to the plan. I would look back at my worksheet and feel awful because I didn’t accomplish everything that I had ideas for. I didn’t follow through on a social gathering idea or I let things get in the way of that fun thing we were going to do. I finally realized my plans and God's plans didn’t look the same. Oh sure, He let me make all these plans, I think, because it kept me motivated and excited about doing Ministry. And I enjoy the planning process! But the interruptions in my plans - well I’m confident most of the time it was Him saying, “it’s not time for this yet” or “I have something more important for you this month” or “I’m shifting your focus and that’s not important anymore “.

It took me a long time to start visioning instead of planning. Now my process looks different.

My Vision Process

I start by asking the Lord what His plans are.

What does He want Me to be in the new year?

Is there something within myself I need to work on?

Then I think about my whole life, not just my Ministry life.

Are there relationships I need to tend to?

Are there people or things that need more attention than I’ve been giving them? (Some examples of this might be visiting family, budgeting finances, meal planning, decluttering or organizing.)

I write down the things that come to mind. I try not to overthink it but just write it down and give myself permission to come back and process it later.

After doing this exercise then I shift to ministry. This could be the same day or you may want to allow some time to process your thoughts before this step.

How does the Lord want to use me in ministry?

Sometimes we know the answer to this and sometimes it’s worth thinking through. There may be something new the Lord is stirring inside of you.

Then, how does this fit into your current role?

Does it line up or do you need to pray into it more?

Once you get past this step you can begin visioning for your ministry.

Visioning for Ministry

What is the mission?

How can you reach that mission?

Think about the goal or end result then think about what needs to happen to reach that goal.

For example, if your mission is to feed 500 hungry families you would need to find families that are hungry, determine how you are going to provide the food, and enlist some helpers to prepare and serve the meals. That’s the big picture. Then you work on the smaller details.

If your mission is to be a more welcoming church, you might need to preach a sermon series on the subject, develop a hospitality team, recruit and train members for the team, develop a way to track visitors, and create a process to follow up.

Look at the big picture first then determine what tasks need to be done.

Shifting

This is definitely a shift in the planning process. Instead of planning out your calendar, envision your mission. Then plan out your mission. Let the Lord lead in your scheduling!

Now I can look back and see how an idea I had didn’t happen because it didn’t fit with the vision.

But I can also see how what we did do fulfilled the mission and how it moved us forward in ministry.

Having a mission and a vision can also help as ideas come up. You can ask yourself, does this fit the mission? How will it help fulfill the vision?

Vision is important.

Proverbs 29:18 says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

A vision can help a ministry move forward.

It can inspire and motivate those involved.

It can help accomplish the Lord's will for your ministry.

Free Resource

If you are interested I have a free resource:

The Jump Start Guide to Vision Planning.

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This episode was originally published on effectiveministrysolutions.com/episode015.