From part 1 of this series, there were three activities that are needed to get out of scramble mode:
- Planning
- Communicating
- Team Building
This post will be primarily focused on planning. The idea of planning is to ensure that all of the necessary work to ensure the ministry “event” goes well is done. If you get that the event is something that happens weekly then there are things that have to be done every week. That is the easy part, but it can still fall over. What I am advocating is having a written plan that you and your team use for every event that your program ministry does. When you are used to “scramble mode”, I know taking the time to write the plan sounds like a luxury (I don’t have time). Additionally, if you have never created an event plan, it can seem like an overwhelming idea. Just follow along for a while. It really isn’t that bad.
Luke 14:28-30 NET
28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. 30 They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’
Planning is the discipline that requires us to decide before we start, whether we have the ability and necessary resources to finish what we start. While this passage from Luke is part of Jesus’ illustration about counting the cost of discipleship, there is an assumption that wisdom involves planning. Hmmm – those, who don’t plan are regarded as…?
Perhaps most motivating reason for having a written plan to follow is so you can improve ministry results. If you have your “every week” plan written down and every team member understands the whole plan and knows what tasks they have to do, then when we do it the same way every week, we can observe ways to improve the plan. If the plan is different, random, or invisible then it you can’t improve it.
Continue reading “How To Lead a Program Ministry without losing your mind – Part 2”