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.

There are at least three other easy to understand benefits to having your plan written down:

• Adaptability – when volunteers can’t participate, or when circumstances change – you can adapt the plan.  You can assign tasks differently, or you can choose to not do some less critical tasks.  But you are starting from an established plan, and can make decisions quickly.
• Transferability – When the leader changes, or a substitute leader is needed to run the ministry, there is a simple guide to tell him or her what needs to be done.  This gives him a clear basis for interacting with the volunteers who then are more able to help him execute.
• Extensibility – when you have a base plan to run your ministry events, a different type of event is just an extension of your base plan.  You aren’t starting from scratch every time, you are just adding, changing or removing tasks, and adjusting the schedule.

For those of you who feel overwhelmed by the idea of writing out the plan, let’s walk through the example of creating a plan for a weekly ministry program. 

1. Have a list of tasks that must be done every week before the event.
   • Deciding is a task.
   • Communicating is a task.
   • Paperwork (like attendance) is a task.
   • Rehearsing is a task
2. Have a list of tasks and activities that are done every week during the event.
3. Have a list of tasks that must be done every week after the event.
4. Know how long each task takes.
5. Know who on your ministry team can (is assigned to) do each task.
6. Sometimes one tasks must be done before others can start. Put your tasks in order, starting with the tasks that are dependent on other tasks, and work backward through the “dependencies”. 
   
   • Hint: decisions and communicating usually must be done before other tasks.
   • Hint: buying stuff usually must be done before tasks that use stuff.

I know this sounds really lame. Completely obvious. Why are you telling me this?

Because when your planning is done over group chat: every. single. week. it doesn’t resemble planning, it resembles scrambling.

Ok! Big deal, so we can improve, so what? I’m glad you asked. Well there are times when the plan needs to be changed, because the ministry program is different.  This is extensibility! You know those weeks when you have special events? The big deal weeks? Yeah. They have more tasks, and maybe more preparation and require more lead time. What if decisions or arrangements need to be made two or three weeks in advance, like reservations at a remote facility? Guest speakers? Parents signing permission slips? Arrangements for transportation? 

How do you know how much lead time to allow? This is really the most difficult part. I can guarantee that if I wait until the day before, I won’t get some of it done. Every special event is exactly that, special, and so you may have to call around to vendors and service providers before you even put the event on the calendar. You will learn by doing. It won’t always be perfect, but if you start with written plan, then when you run into problems, you can make notes so next time you can improve the plan.

If the plan is only in your head, you will not remember, and you will not capture the learning.

Think about scramble mode. How frantic things get. Then think about time. Give your team extra time. Stuff happens. Things come up at the last second. This is slack time – or margin. It is the last hedge against scramble mode. Start tasks early, especially new or unfamiliar tasks. Give time for learning or surprises.

Inevitably, some of you are sports fans.  So you understand the concept of a playbook.  Your written plan is your team’s playbook.  When you have special events that you repeat each year, you save the written plan from last year and use that as your starting point.  Keep them in your play book.  This is about execution.  How we execute, shows how committed we are to our ministry objective.  My starting assumption is that your ministry objectives are on point.  The Gospel.  Making Disciples.  Equipping the Saints.  So our commitment is demonstrated through our intentionality.  Our intentionality informs our execution.  Its that simple.

My last advice: Plan with your team. Create a draft. Communicate it to your team. Let your team give you feedback. Revise the plan and communicate. Every time the plan is adjusted, re-communicate to the team. The whole plan, with the changes highlighted. Resist the urge to use group chat only. That is for coordination, not planning. This process connects planning to communication and to team building.