”What’s your vision for Holy Trinity Adelaide?” This was one of the first questions that church pastors in the US asked me when I was there on sabbatical leave around ten years ago. “We want to preach the gospel and see people converted”, or something similar, was my reply. The stock response was: “That’s not a vision, that’s just a wish. For something to be a vision it has to be specific and measurable.” So I would regroup and say something like “We want lots of people to hear the gospel and lots of people to be converted!” At that point my polite host would roll his eyes and add Adelaide to his prayer list, especially the church leaders of Adelaide.
It got me thinking. What is the place of ‘casting vision’ or strategic planning in church leadership? It is huge in the secular world. Every organization worth its salt has a vision and the attendant mission statement with goals, strategies, plans and values. Not only that, it seems to work for them! Books like Jim Collin’s Good To Great are littered with success stories like the vision of Mr Sony in post-World War II Japan.1 Christians have followed this secular lead and there is now a proliferation of books and seminars on leadership, vision and strategy for churches.
How should we think theologically about this issue of vision or strategy? Is it a case of ‘stealing from the pagans’? Has the world stumbled onto something that works because it reflects the wisdom of God and the way God has wired the creation? I want to briefly consider the place of strategy from a biblical perspective.
Each year at Trinity we have what we call our ‘Vision and Budget Month’. It provides an opportunity for the leadership of the church to talk through some of the plans that we have as a church, and ask people to get behind these in prayer and with their energy, as well as financially backing them. When we launched this in 2010, one of our members came up to me and said, “I hate the name ‘Vision and Budget’ month. The Bible never uses the concept of vision that way. Instead you should call it ‘here are some ideas for ministry for the coming year that we want you to pay for’ month.” Not as catchy, but I got the point. What is more, he was right. In the Bible vision language is not used for the ministry plans and purposes of God’s people. This was a good warning about the confusion that can be created through the adoption of language and ideas from the world around us, when they are used inconsistently with the way the Bible uses them.
Putting aside the (important) semantics of language for a moment, we still need to address the value and place of churches having specific communicated ministry plans and strategies. In the evangelical circles that I move in, one of the most common phrases that I hear among gospel workers is ‘strategic gospel ministry’. But I can’t help but wonder if the addition of the word ‘strategic’ adds anything to ‘gospel ministry’. After all, isn’t the gospel by definition God’s strategy for reaching our lost world and growing his people? Isn’t all gospel ministry strategic? This is the point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 when he says “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”. And yet there do seem to be clusters of conversions and growth that follow certain ministries of gifted and godly people which are connected to targeted, planned ministry approaches. What are we to make of that?
God’s (strategic) plan
I came back from sabbatical leave challenged and disturbed by the planning culture of some of the churches and Christian institutions I’d visited. I was challenged by the passion and energy of sincere and godly Christian men and women for evangelism. I was disturbed because, although there was a desire to honour God, the whole vision/strategic planning activity seemed so human-centred. The primary question was “What will we do for God?”, a simple adaptation of secular management philosophy, where the question is “What we will accomplish for our shareholders?”
When we turn to the Bible, we see this is back to front. The Bible is overtly God-centred. God doesn’t passively receive our activity; he drives it. We don’t have to create a strategic vision for our churches because God has already provided and revealed one. When we turn to Ephesians 1 it is clearly outlined. God has blessed us in Christ, he has revealed his purposes for us, and these plans and purposes extend from before the creation of the world to the end of time. In response to his marvelous grace we live for the praise of his glory.
You might be starting to think that this is a just an avoidance of the real issue—what is the place of making specific plans to help harness the energy of the people of God in a particular location so that we can be effective and focused for the glory of God? I will turn to that in a moment. But the point I am trying to make here is that unless our ‘strategy’ as a people of God starts with his grace and mercy, it will essentially be human-centred and deistic. Also, making our strategies the primary focus will create division. We know good and godly people form different views on the most effective or productive ministry strategies. However, we mustn’t divide over strategy. One way to ensure we don’t is by being united around the one gospel of God’s grace and the common conviction of the need to live for his glory. There are many different ways that we can strategize to ‘live for the praise of his glory’, but there is only one gospel.
How does God’s plan shape our plans?
Since we have a God-given plan, how do we make specific plans in our local contexts for the glory of God? We can’t do everything, so how do we make decisions about what to focus our time and energy on?
Pray and plan for the rapid spread of the gospel
In 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Paul says “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good work and every work of faith by his power”. Here is a request to God to cause the plans of his people to be successful so that Jesus’ name is glorified.2 Later in the same letter, Paul asks the Thessalonians to pray for him “… that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honoured, as happened among you” (2 Thess 3:1). Paul’s plan and desire is that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly as they anticipate the return of Jesus.
Faithfulness and/or gifts?
We should use whatever gifts God has given us to this end. My suspicion is that in recent years evangelicals have shied away from talking about gifts for ministry. This is a reaction to the overemphasis on them in some circles. Instead we have placed the weight on godliness and faithfulness, turning to passages such as 1 Timothy 3 and 1 Corinthians 4. Of course it is right to prioritize faithfulness over giftedness. However, they are not meant to be in competition with one another. Gifts are to be exercised in a godly manner.
If we turn to Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12, some common themes emerge about the way we are to understand gifts and their place in the church. They are given according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Eph 4:7), are diverse and are designed to “equip the saints for the work of ministry for building the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12; also 1 Cor 12:7 and Rom 12:4-6). In Corinth, the emphasis had shifted to the individual rather than the building of the church for the glory of God. Paul corrects this imbalance, but doesn’t neglect instruction on gifts and their purpose.
A right perspective on gifts will help us work out how God’s people are mobilized for the rapid spread of the word of the Lord. Authors such as Driscoll3 and Dever4 have attempted to do this. Driscoll has a threefold division of gifts under the headings of prophet, priest and king. He sees the prophet as the one who paints the picture of the future, which enables God’s people to get on board with ministry plans. In his model, the priest is the relational networker and the king provides the organizational grunt. While this is a stretch in terms of what the Bible says, the categories, at a practical level, are useful in identifying gifts that can be helpful in leading congregations. Dever doesn’t attempt to tie his leadership categories to specific roles or sections of the Bible. He identifies four aspects of leadership that are useful for church building: leaders who are out front, teachers, servants, and suppliers. For me, the functional approach of Dever is more useful than the category arrangement that Driscoll opts for (which feels forced). However, their goal is essentially the same.
Godly leaders will aim to identify their gifts and those of the people of God they serve alongside. This is so that we can labor effectively to glorify God by building his church. When we are focused on church building rather than a leader, our concern when it comes to gifts will be corporate rather than individual.
But which plans?
George Barna, in his book The Power of Vision, defines vision for ministry as “a clear mental picture of a preferable future imparted by God to his chosen servants and based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances”.5 There are aspects of this I wholeheartedly agree with. Our plans must be based on an accurate understanding of God and his plans for us in Christ. Having self-awareness and a good grasp of the environment you’re working in is helpful as you plan for ministry. Being able to distil and communicate a clear mental picture of a preferred future enables you to harness people’s energy. However, the importance of God’s ‘chosen’ leader being the funnel for the ‘imparted’ vision of God has inherent dangers.
In my own situation in Adelaide we have many opportunities to do good gospel work. We are located on a street that has over 70% of the tertiary students in the city. Street kids and the disadvantaged surround us. We are part of the CBD, and the spiritual impoverishment of the workers is palpable. People are relocating to Adelaide in ever-increasing numbers. There is a desperate need for more churches to be planted in metropolitan Adelaide. The state government is relocating Adelaide’s major hospital to within several hundred metres of our city campus.
These ‘strategic’ opportunities exist alongside the significant evangelistic contacts that the members of our church have in their neighbourhoods, families and social networks. Will God impart to me a clear idea of which, if any, of these areas our church should pursue? In the end I think this is an area of exciting freedom and wisdom within the plan and purpose of God. For example, in Romans 15:20-21 Paul explains his strategy for evangelism within the framework of his call to preach to the gentiles, saying “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation”.
It is like the situation that my kids found themselves in when they finished high school. Did they want to go to university or head off and get a job? They all decided they wanted to study at university. From there they had to choose a course, shaped by the marks they got in their final exams and what it qualified them to apply for. They then had to think about their gifts and career preferences before making a choice (knowing they could always change their minds if they wanted to). Isn’t it like this with ministry plans? Glorifying God is the aim, but there are many ways in which we can do this and of which God will approve. This is part of the excitement that comes with being involved in serving God.
How to make plans
When making ministry plans there will be things to take into account:
- Circumstances—These can change and affect your plans. Fifteen years ago a university was built a hundred metres away from Trinity. We saw this as an event that should affect our thinking about the shape of our church’s ministry. Over the last decade, the number of international students moving to Adelaide has grown exponentially, leading us to employ a staffworker to make this area a focus.
- Gifts—What gifts do you and the people around you have? For decades we have tried to work out how we could do ministry to people living on the streets of our city. We haven’t done it well. I think this is because, even with the best of intentions, we don’t seem to have many people with the gifts to minister effectively to this group. We have a highly educated congregation and the fit with tertiary students is more natural. If you are a church leader, then it is valuable to have an accurate assessment of your own gifts and personality. You may not be an entrepreneurial big thinker, but love evangelizing and discipling one on one. Play to your strengths and think about others who may be able to supplement your gaps. If you love projects then, once you have seen the need, identify the people required, build the team and implement the idea. Maybe you are a big picture person with a gift to plant a clear and vivid picture of a ministry that doesn’t presently exist in the hearts and minds of others. It will be necessary to gather implementers, evangelists, teachers and pastors around you to enable this dream to become reality. Having some clarity about your own gifts and the importance of others using theirs is a wise outworking of passages such as 1 Corinthians 12.
Which plans? It really doesn’t matter too much. They will change over time. They will vary depending on circumstances and gifts. What mustn’t change is the commitment to glorify God according to his plan and purpose.
Some strategic tips
The following are some things I have found useful over the years in trying to give some shape and direction to our ministry at Trinity, and in helping our church make some choices about where to focus our energy and resources.
Keep communicating the plan
Many books for church leaders emphasize the importance of the senior/lead pastor communicating the vision for his church. Generally they mean something similar to the definition I have quoted above from Barna. We do need to keep restating the plan for our church. However, it is God’s glorious plan to call people to him from every tribe, nation, and tongue, and unite them under the lordship of Jesus at the end of the age (Eph 1-2). This is God’s purpose for our churches, not the plans and schemes of pastors to glorify God. At Trinity, we have found that if we keep highlighting the grace of God to us in Christ as the foundation for our life together, we can then maintain unity and focus while retaining flexibility on how this should work itself out on the ground with ministry plans.
Demonstrate the connection (and distinction) between God’s plan and your plans
Some years ago our church had the opportunity to purchase a block of land adjoining our property in Adelaide. The chance to buy arose suddenly, and we needed to act quickly. I was convinced it would be a good thing for us to have this block of land. However, it was expensive, and land and buildings have the capacity to divide churches. I preached on the Sunday when the leadership announced that we wanted to purchase the land. What to preach on? I chose Joshua 1. Joshua was poised to go across the Jordan with the people of God to possess the land that God had promised them. God instructed them to trust and obey. I asked our people whether this was the land that God was promising to give us. If we trusted and obeyed him would it be ours? The answer I gave was ‘no’. The block was just an ugly piece of dirt and our hope was in the promises of God in Christ and the heavenly inheritance stored up for us. However, I also went on to explain why the land might be a useful resource to enable us to do God-honoring work in the city for decades to come. Given it was just land it wasn’t a gospel issue—it was a question of strategy, and it was possible we could vary in our thinking on the best way to conduct our ministry and to spend our money. The one thing I was certain about was that we shouldn’t divide over it—after all it was just a block of land. From the point of view of strategy I was convinced, and wanted to convince others of the value of the purchase. My aim was to affirm our purpose as proclaiming the unchangeable gospel, and to talk about the tactics we could adopt to do so. It was critical to make clear both the connection and difference between the two. In the end, there was overwhelming support for the purchase, and appreciation for the way it was contextualized as a ‘wisdom’ issue where people were given freedom to assess the proposal.
Articulate specific plans but express them as desires
A few years ago I was holidaying in a country town and visited a local church. The lay pastor of the congregation, in the course of the sermon, proclaimed that God had given him a vision that their church of around 75 people was going to grow into a church of 2000 people, and be a light on a hill. It would have been difficult for anyone in the congregation to disagree—after all God had ‘revealed’ it to him. The trouble was, without massive population growth in the town in question, I couldn’t see how this ‘dream’ could eventuate (though God can bring all things about).
It is good to have specific plans, but it is important to express them as desires, not fixed goals.6 The lay pastor’s desire to see a church grow rapidly with many in the town converted was a good one. However, to lay down a numeric goal as God’s mandated plan for the congregation made it the unquestionable fixed point for this little church.
It would be like me saying to my congregation that God had revealed to me his vision to plant 750 churches in Adelaide through Trinity over the next 25 years. There isn’t much squiggle room with that announcement. Now, I do think there is a great need for hundreds more churches to be planted in our city. I pray that God might do this. That is my desire. As far as I can tell it is a good desire. In our city of 1.5 million, asking people to imagine what it would be like if hundreds more churches were scattered across the landscape helps them to imagine a God-honouring direction for our church. Asking people to pray and work towards church planting then becomes a unifying purpose that can harness energy and resources, rather than a fight to reach a magic number.
Break down the plans
Take the example above. If I talk about our church planting 750 churches, most people either dismiss it because they can’t get their head around it or are overwhelmed by the size of the idea. Only a few with a particular ‘wiring’ will enjoy and get excited by it. However, if the plans are then broken down it can become accessible to everyone. At Trinity in the 1990s, we began by talking about the value of church planting in Adelaide and developed a plan to plant one church. Over the last nine years we have planted four regional churches. Now we are talking about our main church getting to the point where it can plant once a year, and the church plants planting three to five years after they are planted. It is helpful to have the big picture in mind, but for most the next steps are sufficient.
Don’t think too highly of strategic ministry thinkers
Evangelicals have always prized good Bible teaching. At points we have tended to put those who are gifted preachers on a pedestal. It is right to thank God for gifted people, but not to glorify people for the gifts that God has given them. Today, I wonder whether we are at risk of idolizing strategic ‘visionary’ leaders, including pastors of bigger churches, those who are planting churches, and those who have the capacity to excite people with a picture of how the future can be. We should be thankful to God that he gives us these people for building his church, but we ought not exalt these people because of their gifts or the ‘success’ of their ministries. If we do, we are only copying the world around us.
Your plans are provisional
This is what distinguishes God’s plans from mine (and God from me). God will bring his plans to pass whereas mine may or may not happen. God is sovereign and I am not. As a consequence, I need to recognize that when any plan I make does come together it is only because God in his sovereign grace has ruled that this might happen. If my plans don’t come to pass, the reassuring truth is that God is still sovereign.
Ideas aren’t the same as plans
Some church leaders have a lot of great ideas, or a lot of ideas, some of which aren’t bad. These can be like a stream of thought bubbles—they might be interesting, but don’t necessarily affect much. There are dangers with having a lot of ideas. You can exhaust people with too many plans that are constantly changing: “What new ministry are we launching this week?” Too many ideas results in a congregation that becomes change averse: “Not another idea!” they groan. Alternatively, people around you may realize you love talking about possibilities but never pursue them with much intentionality: “Just the pastor with another one of his wild ideas!”
Church leaders need to screen and sift the plans and ideas that they share. It doesn’t mean that strategic plans can only be shared in a final form, which in itself has the effect of not bringing people with you. It is just that the leader normally needs to do a reasonable amount of work shaping them before presenting his plans to the people around him.
Be aware of the inherent dangers of strategic planning
Arrogance—In James 4:13-15 the warning sounds:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring… Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
There is always the danger that in our arrogance we will dispense with trusting in the sovereign Lord, and instead put our confidence in our own strategic plans. One test of arrogance is whether we have stopped praying. In the end, prayerlessness is one of the most accurate measures of reliance on our own cleverness above the power of God to work. This will be accompanied by activism, burnout and overwork.
Success—It is easy to measure success using a worldly grid. It can be the rate of growth of the congregation, the growing budget, the amount of converts, the size of the staff team, or the number of churches a church has planted. Rather than our eyes being turned to God in thankfulness for his grace and mercy, the tendency here is to give thanks for what we have accomplished. An attendant danger is that anything that doesn’t mesh with our concepts of success is likely to get the flick. The weak and frail that God brings to us are marginalized because we know that we can’t build a ‘successful’ church on the backs of the poor, the mentally disabled or the weak.
God and his plan dwarfs our strategies
It is a good thing to dream and long for ministries to grow, and for not-yet believers to hear and be transformed by the gospel. If you have the capacity to lead and successfully strategize to develop ministries that can reach many, then thank God that he has given you these gifts, and use them for his glory and not your own.
In the end, all ministry stems from what God has imparted to us of his eternal plans and purposes to unite all things at the end of the age in Christ. It is this glorious revelation that we need to have cemented in our brains and hearts, so that we will understand and keep remembering that we have the privilege of serving him in this world until the Lord Jesus returns. At that time, every knee in heaven and on earth will bow and acknowledge him. When God’s purposes occupy centrestage, then all our plans and strategies are put in their right and derivative perspective.
Endnotes
1 James Collins, Good to Great, HarperCollins, New York, 2001.
2 DA Carson has a brief but insightful discussion on this verse in A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 1992, pp. 55-57.
3 Mark Driscoll, On Church Leadership, Crossway Books, Wheaton, 2008.
4 Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway Books, Wheaton, 2004.
5 George Barna, The Power of Vision, Regal, Ventura, 2003, p. 24.
6 There is a very helpful discussion of the distinction between desires and goals in Lawrence Crabb and Dan Allender’s Encouragement, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1984.
