I am always amazed at the many church leaders and pastors
that I meet, who do not know how to strategically plan. -Strategic Planning is
not something normally taught in our Bible Colleges. A few can tell me what
they want for their churches right now and can tell me what will happen in
their churches over the next twelve months. But, further than that, they
certainly do not know where they want the church to be in 3 or 5 years time let
alone 10 years time. “God will take care of that” they say.
Reinhardt Bonnke once said:
“That sometimes we sit and wait
for God to move, when in fact God is waiting for us to move”
There are some church leaders who justify their lack of
growth and lack of success on the point that they are simply waiting for God to
move. The problem with this thinking is that when God does move, they do not
have the experience, or the wherewithal to sustain the growth and retain the
converts that result from this sudden move of God.
Other leaders try to plan, but don’t understand the concept
or the detail required. They also find that they do not have the training or
organisational skills to maintain a large healthy church. They use a
“pay-as-you-go” type of leadership.
Then there are leaders who realise that they do not have the
abilities to train others and develop leadership to sustain growth and continue
to increase. This inadequacy can often lead to what I refer to as “paranoid
leadership” because as people try to fill the gap as it were, those church
leaders become suspicious as to the motives of these go-getters.
So, what is strategic planning? How do you set up a
strategic plan? How do you measure a strategic plan? These questions I will leave till a later date. In the mean time let us ask ourselves what sort of leader we are and do we have the skills to strategicaly plan and move our churches forward?
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