LAMPLIGHTER Winter 2019
Why do Strategic Planning? by Pastor Kyle Bitter What do an airplane and a submarine have in common? Initially it might seem like not much, and both are indeed very different. There are similarities, however. Both are cylindric vehicles shaped like a long tube. Both have wings and rudders. Both function by moving through a medium rather than on a surface. Both are pressurized. Both are highly complex. Even though an airplane and a submarine clearly don’t function in the same way, one can observe some basic commonalities. A similar comparison might be made between a church and a business. Initially, there seem to be few points of comparison. A business exists to make money by providing some kind of service that people are willing to pay for. A church exists so God’s people can proclaim the gospel message in worship and in life. Despite such fundamental differences, some common ground does emerge. For example, both a church and a business need to deal with money as part of basic operations. Both have facilities to maintain, update, and manage. Both need paid personnel to conduct their work. And, like a business, a church can benefit from the kind of intentional planning we have been conducting at St. John’s over the last six months. Even though we have borrowed some planning practices from the business world, the idea of planning is not a secular thing. God talks about the value of planning in Scripture more than one might realize. God has made
us stewards of his earthly resources, and good planning helps us manage what he has entrusted us with to the best of our ability (Matthew 25:14-18). We strive to do this because God is worthy of our best efforts (Philippians 1:27). Good plans are not a guarantee of success, but God points out that the two are usually related (Proverbs 15:22). As we make plans, we acknowledge that God might have other plans than we do (James 4:13-15), that his plans are good and we want his will to be done before ours (Matthew 26:39), and that the success of our plans is ultimately in the hands of God (John 3:8). With thoughts like these in mind, our congregation tasked the Strategic Planning Committee with leading the effort to develop a new Strategic Plan to guide our ministry for the next five years. God has blessed the process so far by leading our members to share hundreds of ideas in listening sessions and surveys this past spring. During the summer months, the Strategic Planning Committee worked through these ideas to develop a new Strategic Plan which will be finalized and adopted this fall and implemented beginning in 2020. To read the new Strategic Plan, visit www.sjtosa.org/ strategicplanning. As you read, marvel at the many opportunities God has placed before our congregation. Consider how you might be involved, and pray that God would bless our efforts. May it all bring glory to his name!