Sharing about a Christian Ministry's Goals ZZ fwi

Sharing about a Christian Ministry's Goals ZZ fwi

TO: All Interested Onliners FROM: Jim Bramer. Retired Auditor-CPA
FILE: 0936-07/fwi

RE: Sharing about a Christian Ministry's Goals Originated in August 2007

    Today's "Ax to Grind"

                Goals help you be specific about what God wants a Ministry to be/do. They help you to look forward instead of licking the wounds of the past. They're like "posts or stakes" in the distance that help you plow a straight furrow. Goal-setting should not be man-made strategy for a "bigger and better" Ministry, but a serious attempt to discern the will of God for His Ministry and people.

                Properly understood, goal-setting accomplishes a number of tasks. For instance, It helps people discover where they are now, in terms of their relationship to Christ, to each other and to their efforts. It also helps a Ministry to place priorities on its concerns and make "measurable, accomplishable" goals for a short-range period. And it provides a basis on which to select or create programs to achieve the goals and know exactly when they have been achieved. Here are some more thoughts about how it works.

                >> A goal should be a response to a need. Needs are multi-dimensional and usually come in bunches, but they can be identified without too much difficulty. The experts speak of "felt" needs and "real" needs. As I understand it, "felt" needs are those which people recognize themselves, like a new summer coat or a salary increase. While "real" needs are more basic and fundamental, but not always recognized by people. Accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior is a basic need. Goals should take into account all types of needs.
                >> A goal is often described as a picture, or image, of what/how the future might be. This image should stir the imagination. In helping Christian Ministries, one writer uses a chart in which constituents describe where they are now and where they believe God wants them to be. This "imaging" is a major step in the process.
                >> If goals are to be accomplished. they must be measurable. They should have a time factor and a description of what is expected when the goal is achieved. Here goal-setting gets tougher because people have to start "pinning things down." This exercise can be a healthy experience for a Christian Ministry. Instead of living with fuzzy generalities, you can see some practical expressions of basic biblical guidelines. Once the goal is measurable, then the progress toward the goal can be accessed.
                >> A complete goal setting endeavor often specifies intervening steps that can be used to measure progress toward the ultimate goal. One Church Ministry used goal-setting to determine its most significant needs and took steps to meet them. A first step was to emphasize the family for an entire year. Getting families together and helping Fathers take leadership were the goals. The program to meet the goal included evening service messages on all aspects of family life, neighborhood discussion groups for parents, and a church sponsored family activity each month.

                A real danger in goal-setting is that "people can become goal-centered instead of Christ-centered -- goals then become idols when they need to be servants." Ministries that utilize these servants will discover that obeying the Lord in practical, tangible ways brings glory to God and deep satisfaction to the believer and to the Ministry. Goal-setting Ministries will uncover a new enthusiasm as they discover who they are, what their mission is and how to accomplish it in a timely fashion. Remember, the purpose of organizing is to accomplish something. Goal setting is an important part of doing this. Jesus said, "I am come to seek and to save them that are lost." His was a "mission by objective." Let us follow in His steps.

                A Christian Ministry's finances (Yea, it's Budget) MUST be consonant with it's goals. Some have said that a budget (usually the time frame is annual) is an expression in dollars of it's goals, or a personification in dollars of the Ministry's Mission Statement and plan of action in furtherance of its purpose.

K E E P L O O K I N G U P !!

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UPTD: April 27, 2008

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