13+ Church Strategic Plan Templates – PDF, Word
No matter what kind of organization one plans to start, there always has to be some sort of plan which points out what the organization’s goals are and how they are going to be met. One important example of an organization that will need a lot of planning would be that of the church. You may also see IT strategy plan templates.
- 44+ Strategic Plan Samples
- 40+ Strategic Plan Templates
If you’re the person that’s in charge of your church’s success and growth, then that means you’ll need to come up with a well-thought strategic plan template. This article is going to teach you all that you need to know in order to create a proper church strategic plan.
Simple Church Strategic Plan
Community Church Strategic Plan
Christ Church Strategic Planning
Sample Church Strategic Plan
Why Does a Church Need a Strategic Plan
Although a religious organization such as that of a particular church would not always need a sample strategic plan, you’ll find that having one will make success so much easier to achieve. This goes the same for just about every organization that has its own strategic plan as the point of having one is to come up with an outline on what goals have to be achieved, who will be in charge of making sure that they’re achieved, and the methods that need to be taken in order to achieve them.
Steps for Church Strategic Planning
As mentioned earlier, the point of the strategic plan is to know what the organization’ goals are and how they will be met. If you can’t come up with a strategic plan which is able to show detailed information of what everyone needs to know in regards to meeting with the church’s goals, then don’t expect everyone to coordinate properly or even worse, straying further away from these goals.
So if you want to be able to come up with a sound strategic plan for your church, then here are a couple of steps that should be able to help you out:
1. Create a Vision, Mission and Values Statement
You won’t be able to put time and effort into anything if you don’t even know where they should go. The first, and arguably most important, a step of the strategic planning process is to create your church’s vision, mission, and values statement. You want to have a clear idea as to what your church embodies so that you can come up with the goals that will compliment it.
So first, you’ll want to know what your church does when it comes to religious practices as well as its beliefs. Next is that you will have to understand what it is that your church wishes to accomplish. Knowing all that will tell you all that you need to know so that you can come up with the strategies needed in order to fulfill your church’s goals. Take note that this process allows board members and church leaders to clarify why the church exists (mission) and what the church is trying to achieve (vision). You may also see research strategic plans.
Church Strategic Planning Example
Peace Lutheran Church Strategic Plan
Simple Church Strategic Plan
Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Strategic Plan
Catholic Church Strategic Plan
2. Do a SWOT Analysis on Your Church Organization
It’s not just business organizations that tend to benefit from this as even religious organizations should go through these analyses in order to assess their current level of progression in terms of meeting their goals. A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is what will tell people all that they need to know regarding a particular organization and how it’s doing in the industry. So if a church were to undergo a SWOT analysis, then it may just prove useful in seeing what areas of the church will need to be focused on.
So what you will want to do first is assess the strengths of the church. This can be anything from the number of people that attend the religious activities which your church holds or even the religious activities themselves. By knowing what these strengths are, you can come up with ways in your strategic plan that should be able to take advantage of them. You may also see HR strategic plans.
Next is that you will have to see to your church’s weaknesses. Try to look into any problems that church organization is going through. Does the church have difficulty in appealing to a particular crowd? Is it not able to acquire the donations it needs? You’ll have to look into these problems so that you can come up with an efficient solution. While this isn’t always an easy thing to do, it’s best to be aware of the church’s weakness so that they will be looked into or even fixed as soon as possible. You may also see strategic sales plans.
Then you will have to look into the areas of opportunity that your church can take advantage of. This is where knowing your church’s strengths will come in really handy. By knowing what these strengths, you can see if they are able to take advantage of other opportunities that they thought they wouldn’t be able to. Look out for conditions outside the church that could potentially increase the number of followers or even the amount of money that the church makes within a particular time period. You may also see free strategic plan templates.
And lastly, see what threatens the very existence of your church organization. These would be all of the different conditions that could provide problems. So what you’ll want your strategic plan to outline would be what these problems are and the ways in which they should be dealing with. If you think that it’s best to avoid these problems, then you will have to state that in the plan. However, should they be encountered, it’s best to come up with a detailed explanation of how they should be prevented. If the church is prepared for the worst, then you can expect it to survive for a long time. You may also see hospital strategic plans.
Example of Church Strategic Plan
Printable Church Strategic Plan
Standard Grace Lutheran Church Strategic Plan
St. Bridget Church Strategic Plan
New Church Strategic Plan
3. Perform a Gap Analysis
A gap analysis basically tells you the current state of your organization. This can show you where the church organization is at the moment and you can then compare it to where you want it to be in the future. Basically, you’re coming up with an idea as to what the church’s future should look like, then you compare it to where the church is now.
The analysis can be in relation to ministry program development, discipleship, financial viability or even the experience of the followers. All areas will be identified and targeted for strategy through the sample gap analysis process. In short, look into the different parts of the church to assess if they’re all doing their part to reach the organization’s goals.
4. Write Down What These Goals Are
When you already understand everything that there is to know about the church, you may then figure out the specific goals that it should achieve. This means you will need to list them all down in your strategic plan so that highest members of the religious organization can decide on what has to be done. Make sure that all of these goals are realistic as well as achievable as there would be no point in coming up with goals that cannot even be reached. You may also see academic strategic plans.
If there’s a specific time where you want them to be achieved, then you’ll need to set a reasonable amount to ensure that they can be met. The more you know about your goals and the more achievable they are, then more time and effort will be placed into them. You may also see school strategic plan templates.
5. Come Up With the Plans and Strategies to Achieve Them
Now that the church has come up with the goals that it needs to be achieved, the next step is to know what plans and strategies the church should come up with to guarantee that the goals are met. Take note that this will require a lot of time and effort and there are still things that could go wrong even with a proper plan. But you will have to remember that having a plan is still better than none as you’re giving everyone something to do and work for, airing out that sense of accomplishment of the church’s goals is actually met. You may also see church strategic plans.
As you’re writing down how what strategies should be done or what plans should be made, then be sure that you’re detailed as possible. This means pointing out things such as the resources that will be needed, who will be in charge of overseeing the plan’s progress, where everything is going to take place, etc. The more information you are able to present, the better. You may also see personal strategic plans.
If you would like to learn more in regards to how you should go about in creating a strategic plan for a church organization, then all you have to do is go through our site. It has all of the different articles that you need that should be able to help you out. Just make sure that you read them thoroughly so that you can make effective use out of the information they carry. You may also see business strategic plans.