Toolbox For Faith

As my wife and I sat eating dinner with several other couples, I talked to one person who was on the congregational council, the governing body, of his church. He told me about the planning retreat that the council was having and concluded by saying, “We are really good at planning.” Then he paused for a moment and added, “But nothing much ever happens with the plans.” I nodded my head in agreement and said, “I understand. I really understand.”

I led councils on about ten planning retreats before I realized we were making a crucial mistake. I led with the assumption that the purpose was developing a plan. The results each time were very disappointing because most years nothing really happened during the next 11 months until we reached the next January and planned again. We became very good at planning.

I finally realized that I needed to change my approach. The purpose of planning should be action. Expectations make a difference. Planning is not an end goal but an intermediate step toward ministry happening in the congregation. When we changed the emphasis from planning to action, new ministries began to take shape as the plans became reality.

I am working with a congregation in March on planning but we are not going to call it a planning event. We are calling it a “Congregational Action Event.” We will be doing planning but the expectation is that action will happen in ministry to make a difference for Christ in our community.

Repeat the phrase often, the purpose of planning is action.