3 Ways to Enhance Ministry Planning

Whether you’re responsible for ministry scheduling, training, or another ministry program, you’ve likely discovered it can be challenging to celebrate success and plan for progress amid the hustle and bustle of ministry. However, if you want to be more intentional when creating goals for your ministry, start by taking a look at the past year. Consider taking the following steps to determine where your ministry is strongest and where there’s still room to grow:

1. Review projects

Start by making a list of what you wanted to accomplish and what you actually accomplished in the previous year. This could be anything from cleaning out a ministry supply closet to sending out Christmas cards to your ministry volunteers.

Next, try to identify why some projects were completed and others were not. Was it a matter or priority? Was it a lack of assistance, budget, or time?

Once you’ve identified the reasons some projects were completed and others were not, be sure to create action items to move past any road blocks. For example, if you didn’t send out Christmas cards to your ministry volunteers because you ran out of time, an action item could be to set an earlier deadline to purchase and write Christmas cards to ensure you overcome the issue of timing.

2. Examine programs

Another area you’ll want to reflect on is ministry programs. Begin by listing your programs and identifying what might indicate whether or not those programs were successful. For example, if you began a program to recruit more ministry volunteers, one clear indicator of success would be an increase in the number of volunteers who are serving.

Next, using the indicators you listed, identify which programs were successful and which weren’t. If a program was unsuccessful, try to analyze if it was because the program didn’t resonate with the needs of the church, or if it was held back because of a secondary cause, such as a lack of budget or volunteers.

If it seems that there were secondary setbacks, outline what steps should be taken to overcome each obstacle. If the primary cause was simply that the program wasn’t needed, evaluate if you should redesign the program to be more in line with the church’s needs or if it should be ended.

And don’t forget: if the program was successful, find out why! Was it because of the number of volunteers, an availability of budget, promotion efforts, or something else? Any information you can uncover from a successful program will only help to enhance future projects.

3. Manage priorities

Take a moment to review how you prioritized ministry in the past year. Your method may be adding or taking away from the potential of your ministry.

For example, if you decided what tasks to tackle on a day-to-day basis, you may discover that things often fall through the cracks or important tasks are sometimes sidelined for less important ones. If you find that the way you manage your time and tasks is allowing you to get things done and stay on track, then keep it going! Build on the great work that you’ve done to continue creating ministries that thrive.

If you’re looking for a way to save time and improve your ministries, try Ministry Scheduler Pro to schedule, connect, and grow your ministries. Want to see how MSP has benefited other churches? Read how the number of volunteers doubled in less than a year at Old St. Patrick’s in Chicago after implementing MSP.