Goal Setting & Accomplishment – Ministry Models

Join us Wednesday December 7, 2016 at 1pm Central Time as we discuss Goal Setting & Accomplishment on our Ministry Models Teleconference. Call 515-604-9000; Access Code 540330

Here are 3 Ministry Models to set goals and accomplish them that I have found helpful. Feel free to use, adapt or discard them in your ministry. Remember, a MODEL can Make Our Difficulties Easy & Light!

Usually around October or November I take some time to pray and reflect on the current year – what has gone well and what hasn’t – as well as what I believe the Lord wants me to commit my energies to the following year. I begin to formulate goals along with how to accomplish them. Here are three Ministry Models that have helped me in this process.

1. Make SMART Goals and supporting strategies. For goals to have any real value they need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART). They also need to have supporting strategies. For example…
   • Goal: 20 Baptisms/POF for the year.
     • If I pastor a church with 200 in attendance this is a realistic goal if I focus and mobilize the church toward its mission. The goal is specific, measurable, attainable (with God’s help), relevant (e.g. “Biblical” and in harmony with Spirit of Prophecy counsel) and time-bound. Here are some supporting strategies…
       • Fill the Baptistry Sabbath bi-monthly (1st Sabbath of Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov). See item #1 here.
       • Challenge every group in the church (Sabbath School, Ministry, Recreational, etc.) to prepare someone for baptism each Fill the Baptistry Sabbath.
       • Add “Prepare for Baptism” as an option on our Communication Card, highlight the card each Sabbath and quickly follow up any interests with a phone call setting up a plan of preparation such as the 8-week prep plan listed as item #3 here.
       • Here are some other ideas and notes for supporting strategies.
   • Goal: 20 Homes of Hope for the year.
     • Once again if I pastor a church with 200 in attendance it is realistic to find 1/10 of our members willing to open their homes to be a light in their neighborhood. Again, the goal is specific, measurable, attainable (with God’s help), relevant (e.g. “Biblical” and in harmony with Spirit of Prophecy counsel) and time-bound. Here are some supporting strategies…
       • Prepare a packet of materials that each Home of Hope can use (e.g. GLOW tracts, small group materials, Bible study lessons).
       • Preach a series for a month on the Book of Acts in January, identifying all the home-based fellowship, evangelism and ministry and calling for members to commit to being a Home of Hope.
       • Provide Homes of Hope training after potluck on the first Sabbath afternoon of February.
       • Recruit five Church Board Mentors who will each mentor four Homes of Hope leaders (visit with them briefly each month for prayer, encouragement, etc. and give updates to the Church Board about their Homes of Hope).
   • Goal: 10-10-10 Each Week (Make 10 phone calls, 10 visits and 10 Bible Studies each week). See if you can come up with some supporting strategies to make this happen.
   • Share some SMART Goals you have or would like to make.
2. Make Both Personal & Ministry Goals.
   • Many people make only work-related goals. This is a big mistake. If our personal health, home or finances are falling apart it really doesn’t matter is we are achieving work-related goals. Why not set some personal goals for this coming year? Here are some examples…
     • Read the Bible in a new version.
     • Listen to the Desire of Ages on my EGW Writings app
     • Walk 500 miles.
     • Lose 10 pounds by eating a healthy breakfast, drinking water instead of soda/coffee/tea and not eating after 6pm.
     • Eliminate $1,000 of debt per month or save $1,000 per month.
     • No computer after 9pm.
     • Take Communion Service seriously and restore any broken relationships before participating.
     • Begin regular family worship at least 5 times per week with each family member being in charge for a week at a time.
     • Here is more on this idea of personal goals.
3. Build Your Calendar, Team & Budget.
   • Once I have my personal and ministry goals written down (not just in my mind) I need to make sure they can be accomplished by building my calendar, team and budget.
     • Building my Calendar. I use Google Calendar to keep myself organized. Since it is free and cloud-based I can access it on my computer and phone instantly. Our church secretary can also add appointments to my calendar for days I tell her I’m available. The first Sunday of each month I schedule an appointment with myself to review all my goals and see what progress I’m making. I also add any major activities that move me toward my goals (e.g. Fill the Baptistry Sabbaths, Sermon series, etc.).
     • Building my Team. Life is so much more fun if it is lived as a team! This is where I follow Jesus’ example and spend time in prayer asking the Lord who I should ask to be a part of the team for each major project. In the church it is often a group of elected leaders (e.g. elders, church board members, etc.) but sometimes it is emerging leaders or unnoticed future leaders. I make the list and find a way to invite each one to join me in a specific project or projects. The team will help fine-tune the strategies to accomplish the goal(s).
     • Building my Budget. Many great goals cost nothing or almost nothing. But for those that do cost money I build a simple budget, listing major expected expenses and possible sources of income. Many times I have seen the Lord provide in the most amazing ways to accomplish the goal once it has been prayerfully set, with calendar dates and an enthusiastic team unitedly moving forward together.
   • As we move through the year we celebrate milestones toward the goal and cheer each other on when we see baby steps in the right direction. Even if we don’t cross the finish line with the goal we celebrate major movement in the right direction with God’s blessings.

Inspired Insights on Goal Setting & Accomplishment

1. “Success in any line demands a definite aim. He who would achieve true success in life must keep steadily in view the aim worthy of his endeavor. Such an aim is set before the youth of today. The heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation is the noblest that can appeal to any human being. It opens a field of effort to everyone whose heart Christ has touched.” {Education 262.1}
2. “It is the duty of every Christian to acquire habits of order, thoroughness, and dispatch. There is no excuse for slow bungling at work of any character. When one is always at work and the work is never done, it is because mind and heart are not put into the labor. The one who is slow and who works at a disadvantage should realize that these are faults to be corrected. He needs to exercise his mind in planning how to use the time so as to secure the best results. By tact and method, some will accomplish as much in five hours as others do in ten. Some who are engaged in domestic labor are always at work not because they have so much to do but because they do not plan so as to save time. By their slow, dilatory ways they make much work out of very little. But all who will, may overcome these fussy, lingering habits. In their work let them have a definite aim. Decide how long a time is required for a given task, and then bend every effort toward accomplishing the work in the given time. The exercise of the will power will make the hands move deftly.” {Christ’s Object Lessons 344.1}
3. “That which is needed now for the upbuilding of our churches is the nice work of wise laborers to discern and develop talent in the church,—talent that can be educated for the Master’s use. There should be a well organized plan for the employment of workers to go into all our churches, large and small, to instruct the members how to labor for the upbuilding of the church, and also for unbelievers. It is training, education, that is needed. Those who labor in visiting the churches should give the brethren and sisters instruction in practical methods of doing missionary work.—Testimonies for the Church 9:117.” {Christian Service 58.1}
4. “God expects His church to discipline and fit its members for the work of enlightening the world. An education should be given that would result in furnishing hundreds who would put out to the exchangers valuable talents. By the use of these talents, men would be developed who would be prepared to fill positions of trust and influence, and to maintain pure, uncorrupted principles. Thus great good would be accomplished for the Master.—Testimonies for the Church 6:431, 432.” {Christian Service 58.2}
5. “A decided change must be made in the management of the office. Words of reproof have been uttered on the impulse of the moment, without any definite aim. Much has been said that is vague. The result of this vagueness and generality is that no one in particular is helped or enlightened. True soul conversion is needed. A deep and wide interest should be manifested in helping one another. The Lord is not pleased when His people draw apart. This is one defect in the office. Some of the workers are not willing to help and instruct their fellow workmen. Another evil is that those who are inexperienced do not wish their ignorance to be known. They make many mistakes, at a cost of much time and material, because they are too proud, too self-willed, to ask. This ignorance could have been avoided if those in the work had shown kindness and love to one another.” {Manuscript 54-1899.8}
6. “Paul feared lest, having preached to others, he himself should be a castaway. He realized that if he did not carry out in his life the principles he believed and preached, his labors in behalf of others would avail him nothing. His conversation, his influence, his refusal to yield to self-gratification, must show that his religion was not a profession merely, but a daily, living connection with God. One goal he kept ever before him, and strove earnestly to reach—“the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Philippians 3:9.” {Acts of the Apostles 314.2}
7. “It was this singlehearted purpose to win the race for eternal life that Paul longed to see revealed in the lives of the Corinthian believers. He knew that in order to reach Christ’s ideal for them, they had before them a life struggle from which there would be no release. He entreated them to strive lawfully, day by day seeking for piety and moral excellence. He pleaded with them to lay aside every weight and to press forward to the goal of perfection in Christ.” {Acts of the Apostles 315.1}
8. “In the races, the crown of honor was placed in sight of the competitors, that if any were tempted for a moment to relax their efforts, the eye would rest on the prize, and they would be inspired with new vigor. So the heavenly goal is presented to the view of the Christian, that it may have its just influence and inspire all with zeal and ardor….  All ran in the race, but only one received the prize…. It is not so with the Christian race. None who are earnest and persevering will fail of success. The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. The weakest saint as well as the strongest may obtain the crown of immortal glory, if they are thoroughly in earnest and will submit to privation and loss for Christ’s sake.” —The Review and Herald, October 18, 1881.

Future Topics

The topics for our Ministry Models teleconference listed below will rotate between these general categories – Personal/Family, Soul Winning and Pastoring. We will post notes for each topic/teleconference.

2016

• September – Time Management
• October – Increasing Your Baptisms
• November – Planning Your Church Calendar
• December – Goal Setting & Accomplishment

2017

• January – Baptism Preparation
• February – Nominating Committee
• March – Family Time
• April – Finding Interests
• May – Church Board Meetings
• June – New District – Starting Well
• July – New Member Orientation
• August – Mobilizing Members in Ministry

Please join us by phone (whether walking, driving, eating or studying) and let’s see what the Lord does to help us each succeed in our daily walk with Him, all our relationships including our families, and in our ministry and mission.

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