The document discusses developing a ministry strategy. It explains that a strategy is needed to accomplish the mission and vision by determining how to move from the current state to the desired future state. A good strategy involves assessing the ministry community, making disciples, building a leadership team, choosing appropriate settings, and securing finances. Key strategic questions are asked in each of these areas to guide the strategic planning process. Developing a strategy is important for providing momentum, properly investing resources, and displaying what God is blessing in a ministry.

1. INTRODUCING THE MINISTRY STRATEGY
The final step in the strategic planning
process
Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning, Chapter 7

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 finances

6. The overall process has been:
Values discovery
Mission development
Vision development
Strategy
development ( the
area we are now considering)

7. THE IMPORTANCE OF A
STRATEGY
As ever you have to be
convinced you need this -
otherwise effort and results will
be half hearted at best!

8. STRATEGY ACCOMPLISHES THE
MISSION AND VISION
A church strategy is reflected in
what it does - ask if your
strategy is a good one to
accomplish your mission and
vision? Malphurs suggests you
can see a bad strategy when
people are going through the
motions but accomplishing
nothing much apart from
maintenance.

9. STRATEGY ACCOMPLISHES THE
MISSION AND VISION
Good strategy moves the
congregation from where they
are spiritually to where God
wants them to be. So it delivers
in ensuring the church
accomplishes what god has said
to it.

10. STRATEGY FACILITATES
UNDERSTANDING
In many older, established churches
no one asks questions about why are
we doing this? Often people just
assume this is the way we have
always done it.
Ministry strategy ties all areas
together and gives them meaning -
programmes are built around
strategies. Within this each
programme builds to the whole, not
standing on its own.

11. STRATEGY PROVIDES A SENSE OF
SPIRITUAL MOMENTUM
Malphurs cites a survey of over
4000 Christians which found more
than 65% said they were static or
sliding back in their walk as a
disciple. People who understood
and were involved in their church’s
strategy showed the opposite trend.
Rick Warren’s church use the
baseball diamond shown as their
pattern for strategic growth - there
is no “stationary” time.

12. STRATEGY PROVIDES A SENSE OF
SPIRITUAL MOMENTUM
Malphurs cites a survey of over
4000 Christians which found more
than 65% said they were static or
sliding back in their walk as a
disciple. People who understood
and were involved in their church’s
strategy showed the opposite trend.
Rick Warren’s church use the
baseball diamond shown as their
pattern for strategic growth - there
is no “stationary” time.

13. STRATEGY INVESTS GOD’S
RESOURCES PROPERLY
People have talent’s time and treasure
that God has given them.
“To invest our talent’s time and
treasure in a ministry that has no
disciple making strategy and
therefore is going nowhere is a poor
use of God’s resources...investing
one’s blessings in such a church may
serve to hinder God’s plan by
keeping their doors open”
Does your church need to close?

14. STRATEGY DISPLAYS WHAT GOD IS
BLESSING
Evangelism, fellowship, worship,
teaching etc. Are timeless activities
that the church has to engage in -
how these are performed changes
over time and therefore they will not
be done in the same way in 2012 as in
1812. Times change, culture changes
and the church has to adapt its form
at times to these even if the function
remains the same. What forms is
God blessing in your church?

15. THE DEFINITION OF A STRATEGY
A strategy is the process that
determines how your ministry will
accomplish its mission.
A Mission
Every strategy needs a mission. No good
navigator sets off not knowing where he
is going. Unfortunately many churches
do not have a strong sense of direction
(mission) though they do have a strategy
of sorts. They can answer function
questions but not mission ones.

16. 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.

17. 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...

18. The kinds of strategies - your
personal strategy enables you to
accomplish God’s plan for your
life. The church’s corporate
strategy does not remove a
personal responsibility to
mature. Additionally each
department, youth etc. will need
to have their own strategy which
fits into the umbrella of the
church’s strategy.

19. THE STRATEGY FOR YOUR MINISTRY
The preparation stages
looked at previously will
have a powerful impact in
the way your strategy is
developed.
Discovering the core values
- drives the strategy
Developing a mission -
directs the strategy
Creating a vision - energises
the strategy

20. THE STRATEGY FOR YOUR MINISTRY
Values mission and vision
are pretty much timeless -
and the core elements of
strategy will not change
(community, disciple
making, team building,
ministry setting, finances).

21. 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 firmly
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:

22. 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
finances
Each of these asks key
strategic questions:

23. 1. Discovering the 1. Whom are we trying to
ministry community reach?
2. Making mature 2. What are we attempting
disciples to do for them?
3. Building a ministry 3. Who will do this for
dream team them?
4. Determining the best 4. Where will this take
ministry setting place?
5. Raising the necessary 5. How much does it cost?
finances
Each of these asks key
strategic questions: