Toolbox For Faith

We just finished a retreat with our congregational council and we used an idea that I read about over a dozen years ago that has really helped create action. Over the years, I have been the pastor of congregations that set what I thought were excellent goals but nothing, absolutely nothing, happened. I kept wondering what we were doing wrong. I’m sure that many of you can identify with that problem.

The idea that I have been using centers on creating active language in expressing goals. They key is expressing goals in a “How to…so that…” format which creates action. The statement begins with “how to” and continues with “so that.”

The church I am serving as interim noticed a drop in attendance at Sunday School and several leaders responded by observing, “Our attendance is dropping.” I noted that this was not a goal but simply an observation. They then stated their goal, “We need to increase attendance at Sunday School.” The goal sounded good but was so vague that it did not create any action. Finally, they expressed their goal in the “How to…so that…” format–“How to make our Sunday School exciting and fulfilling so that people can’t wait to come to their classes!” Expressing the goal in that format helped them realize that one of their weaknesses was how unexciting and predictable their Sunday School had become. The plan is to have a series of activities and events to create excitement and increase attendance. When the members of the Sunday School become excited about the program, their enthusiasm spreads to others. The “How to…so that…” format is already resulting in action.

An old proverb says: If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else. The action format lets you know exactly where you are going rather than having a vague statement of your destination and ending up somewhere else.

See if it works for you. Express your goal in a “How to…so that…” format. Action will follow!