Developing Missional Values, Programs, Budgets, Goals
I am continually trying to work out how to better think through and organize our community in a natural and semi-organic way so that we can best live out or mission and our values.
I spend a lot of time thinking about this “organizing for mission” concept and as part of my thinking I brainstormed a generalized flow of thought for how we develop programs, ideas and even budgets. In fact, what you will see below came mostly from a conversation around budgets in our leadership team. We were working through some questions such as:
- What is a good use of the churches finances?
- What is a poor use of the churches finances, where do we prioritize our finances at the church?
- How do we make sure that we’re giving and putting our money into things that are helpful and help us live out our mission?
You know, fun questions like that.
So, here is a little, “flow of thought” that I came up with. Note, this is probably not good for all times in all places, but I think its a helpful start…
Our Strengths lead us to discover our Values and Mission.
I think this is a key piece that we miss. While we all have a general mission to make disciples and share the love of Jesus, I am a believer that the diversity of the body of Christ is global as well as local. My church is gifted for things that your church isn’t. Your church is gifted in ways that my church isn’t. So, as we are looking at our specific mission, we have to ask first and foremost, what are our strengths? What are the ways that God has distinctively gifted our specific community for mission in this specific location at this specific time…
Our Strengths help us look at specific, present needs in our community and in our neighborhoods.
I think this is a piece we all too often miss. We often run forward with ideas and ministries without ever asking whether our community or neighborhood even needs what we are trying to offer. A classic example is the church that wants to start a coffee shop. Now, that’s a great idea. But, the question that is often not asked is, “Does our town need a coffee shop or do we just think it would be cool to have one?” This is perhaps the longest part of this little flow here. It takes a LOT of listening and a lot of patience and then it takes some more listening and some more patience. This is usually the unglamorous process of sitting in township meetings, PTA meetings, etc.
The needs plus our values and mission help us discover our specific priorities that God is calling us to focus on.
Once we are aware of the specific ways that God has gifted us and we are aware of the needs of the community and our neighborhoods, we are better able to look at specific priorities and goals. I think far too often we don’t get specific enough with priorities. At least, in churches like mine, we don’t get specific enough. In the churches I grew up in, maybe we were a little too specific and programmed. I guess I am not talking about 10 year goals and priorities but more short term, specific, tangible goals that relate to our mission, our values, our strengths and the needs of the community. An example, for us at The Well, we want to be involved locally, and we’re doing our best to get involved in the local neighborhood around Feasterville. Priority: Go to at least one town meeting a month.
Our specific priorities help us discover important programs.
When we have specific prorities, we can then creat programs, plans or relational environments to help meet these goals. We don’t create programs up front and then see what happens. We create programs to help us meet goals. These programs are goal based so once they help us meet our goals, they might just end. I think this is the best way to look at programs. Its not a programs for the sake of programs approach. Rather, its a programs for the sake of mission approach.
Our specific programs guide us to the support structures and systems we need in place.
When we have programs or relational environments that are driven by our mission we can look at what kinds of structures and systems we need to have in place for these to thrive.
All of this together helps us decide our budget.
It’s only at this point that we decide our budget. We don’t make a budget adn then fill in some ministries and goals that fit into what we think we can do. We make a budget based off our mission and we invite God to provide the resources that will help us live the mission he has called us to.
Here is a visual representation of this (click on it to enlarge it)…
Tim said...
105/12/08 7:46 AM | Comment Link |
Hey Todd -
Not only do our strengths lead us to discover our values but our weaknesses as well. We can only know how strong we actually are when we align our strengths next to our weaknesses - weaknesses help us to know our limits and our boundries. They help us understand where we lack in our values.
The only other part that I would challenge you with is the importance of programs. Do we really need “programs” as most churches have? I don’t think so. What I think we need are people to express their love and heart with the world. I think we need to spend more time developing a people who want to see God’s Kingdom on earth - His “will on earth as it is in heaven.” When we live in that fashion, we can and will grow structures built on the willingness of people who give and love others rather than something that looks good on a piece of paper. Once we have people who have an open heart, we can build a much larger budget because those who are apart of the vision will give more.
I understand that there needs to be something put on paper. There needs to be something that we can visually see.
Thom said...
205/12/08 8:04 AM | Comment Link |
Todd—
As our church plant leadership team begins to finalize our kick off in July (which is so soon!), we have been thinking thru a lot of the issues you raise.
In my own thinking, I tend to agree with Tim in his comment above that the purpose of “programs” should be questioned. I see small groups as the better place for programs, and that small groups should be empowered to do “programs” and not a church at large. I don’t think a church should be in charge of certain aspects of community as much as a small group should.
Todd said...
305/12/08 8:10 AM | Comment Link |
Tim/Thom, I dont think i am using “programs” the same way you are. I am more thinking of “environments for people to serve.” For example, at The Well, we have a homeless ministry that meets on monday night, we have a Liturgy team, we have some small groups, we have a arts / concerts stuff.. these are all, for lack of better words, “programs.”
really, programs are unavoidable and actually necessary. They are merely the things that we “do” together as a community. its the addiction to programs that causes the problem. or the programs that aren’t helpful for mission that are the problem.
but, like i said, once we get together to serve in some way, we have a program. even if the program lasts one night.
now, i don’t need to use the word program for this, but really, its the only word i have that makes sense. I’d rather call them “missional environments” but that’s not what we’ve called them and I am not sure that would be helpful for most people who aren’t familiar with missional language…
Tim said...
405/12/08 2:26 PM | Comment Link |
Todd - I tihnk the thing that separates “programs” from the “things that we do” is the motive of our hearts. We do not do a “homeless ministry to pat ourselves on the back and receive an “at a boy” from friends and family. We do such things because we believe people sleeping on park benches, having little to eat, and so on makes God mad. To put it another way, “The things that we do” are things we are called to do because we believe, as 1 Corinthians tells us, we have the mind of Christ - Thus: The things God cares about are things we should care about and the things that bring God joy are things that should bring us joy. We are hotwired to the heart of God for lack of better terms. Therefore, I find it hard to use the word “program” within the ministry. When I hear it, I think of an “AA” group or something. Maybe it is a semantics issue that I struggle with, but I think the things that we do are all apart of being the church. As I said, maybe it is just semantics but I have been gone to several churches that boast in their programs and yet have no fruit outside of it. I believe the things that we do line up with the heart of God and the goals that The Well has - Discipleship, Unity, Justice, and Locality. These 4 valus/goals/intentional areas line up with the what I believe, and I am sure you would agree, what God calls us to do and be.