Non-Strategic Planning
Bill Ireland, Pinnacle Associate
Most ministers are accustomed to crafting three to five-year strategic plans. Doing so requires thoughtful discernment, much conversation, an honest assessment of strengths and opportunities, and the development of measurable goals. Once the process is completed, the church has its playbook for the next several years, complete with timelines and accountability assignments. By and large, this is a healthy endeavor that allows a congregation to live into its vision and own its future.
Underlying the creation of a strategic plan, however, is the assumption that the world is stable and predictable. We can plan for the future because we imagine that tomorrow won’t look all that different from today. The COVID-19 pandemic has absolutely shattered that assumption! The pandemic is still very much with us, and uncertainty reigns. We have no idea when the scattered church will be able to gather. We have no idea how long the shelter at home restrictions will be in place. And, we have no idea if we’ll have to repeat this process in the fall should we get a brief respite during the summer. The only thing we know for sure is that we know nothing for sure.
In this environment of instability, I think it’s time for the church to engage in some non-strategic planning. This kind of planning has a different starting point than regular strategic planning. This kind of approach operates out of a completely different set of assumptions:
Non-strategic planning assumes that our world is more unpredictable than we ever imagined.
Non-strategic planning assumes that the only constant is change.
Non-strategic planning assumes that the default position for churches from now on will be timely adaptation.
Non-strategic planning assumes that agility is more valuable than stability.
What does non-strategic planning involve? Here’s a brief sketch.
Non-strategic planning will require churches to become more improvisational. In the wake of the pandemic, minsters and churches have had a taste of this as they scrambled to develop new platforms for everything from worship to pastoral care. Ministers and churches have had to do what they never envisioned themselves doing. As a result, they have broadened their repertoire of gifts and unleashed the power of imagination and creativity. This crash course in making it up as you go along is the template for the future. By all means, do some strategic planning. But hold those plans loosely.
As well, non-strategic planning asks ministers and churches to take risks. My frame of reference is limited, but I have rarely seen churches take on something they weren’t sure would succeed. Having absorbed the “success mentality” pervading our culture, churches tend to be extremely risk averse. Non-strategic planning requires that we embrace the uncomfortable notion that failure is indeed an option! And, if we can learn something from that failure and grow from it, it’s a good option.
Thirdly, non-strategic planning involves letting go of our infatuation with control. Who could have imagined that a virus measured in nanometers and invisible to the human eye would turn the entire planet upside down? Its rapid emergence revealed that there’s an awful lot out there that we can’t bend to our will. In response to the rising tide of uncertainty, churches and ministers will have to learn to surf the wave and ride with it instead of trying to stop it. We have to learn to be more at home with not being able to manage every possible circumstance. Non-strategic planning requires that we take whatever a season brings us and do what we can with it.
A final note. Non-strategic planning requires a tenacious and stubborn belief that God is always working. The book of Revelation sums it up beautifully: “Behold! I am making all things new!” None of us would have wished this pandemic on anyone. No one would wish for millions to suffer and die. That said, God is at work in the midst of this pandemic. God has not abandoned this world—not at all! Non-strategic planning means we have to keep a sharp lookout for the signs of God’s presence in the midst of this pandemic and other complacency shattering events that are sure to come. Let’s look for those signs and jump in with both feet when we see them!