Navigators start with their destination port in mind and then determine how to get there - that is simple strategic navigation. This is done through mission (knowing where you are going) and vision (seeing where you are going). Now the question is how will we get there? How will we have to act? So in preparing for the strategy process you have to conduct a careful ministry analysis. This reveals inadequacies and motivates asking what could be.
You have to ask: how will you get where you want to be? In this you devise a strategy backwards from the future not forward from our past. This chapter teaches leaders how to develop a strategy to realise the missions they have articulated and the dreams they see. Moses led the Israelites strategically through the wilderness. Nehemiah had a strategy in chapters 3-6. Jesus strategically trained disciples and gave them a mission.
How will we get where we want to be? How will we realise our ministry dream? How will God use this ministry to accomplish his ends? How will we successfully sail to our port of destination? We need a biblical strategic structure to guide the operational and strategic decisions of daily life and direction in the church.
Malphurs suggests that there are 5 stages (strategy activities) to this each of these take a chapter of the book (we shall not have time to cover them in class). 1. Discovering the ministry community 2. Making mature disciples 3. Building a ministry dream team 4. Determining the best ministry setting 5. Raising the necessary nances
As ever you have to be convinced you need this otherwise eort and results will be half hearted at best!
Malphurs has said the mission of the church is the Gt. Comm. A church has to regularly ask3 questions of itself: 1. What are we supposed to be doing? 2. Are we doing it? 3. If not, why not? Malphus suggest many churches have become niche churches specialising in one area of the GC but ignoring the whole of it.
A Process - a strategy moves people from pre-birth through birth to maturity or christlikeness (in spiritual terms) - this has to be done for the whole church using programmes which include all not only some. The How - a good strategy asks the how questions (vision and mission ask about what) - how will we do what we are supposed to be doing? E.g. How will we make disciples, how will we reach the lost...
The kinds of strategies - your personal strategy enables you to accomplish Gods plan for your life. The churchs corporate strategy does not remove a personal responsibility to mature. Additionally each department, youth etc. will need to have their own strategy which ts into the umbrella of the churchs strategy.
Values mission and vision are pretty much timeless and the core elements of strategy will not change (community, disciple making, team building, ministry setting, nances).
Community for ministry will always exist - but it will change as culture changes - so your structure, practices, systems, policies etc. will change in line with this but still being rmly grounded in values, mission etc. If a ministry freezes and stops making changes then it starts to die. Malphurs general church strategy has 5 components as we saw earlier, and for each there are key strategic questions to be answered:
1. Discovering the ministry community 2. Making mature disciples 3. Building a ministry dream team 4. Determining the best ministry setting 5. Raising the necessary nances Each of these asks key strategic questions:
1. Discovering the ministry community 2. Making mature disciples 3. Building a ministry dream team 4. Determining the best ministry setting 5. Raising the necessary nances Each of these asks key strategic questions:
1. Whom are we trying to reach? 2. What are we attempting to do for them? 3. Who will do this for them? 4. Where will this take place? 5. How much does it cost?