Article by Teresa Chang
In many ways, the story God is writing in your life is a mystery. He is God, which means He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, and He is able to accomplish these things in a sequence all His own. This means there will be seasons when you as a church leader see things fall into place without your help, and it seems like everything is working out on its own. You will look around and realize that God is arranging the story and moving the pieces as He sees fit. In these seasons, it is apparent that He has an agenda and timeline, and He is in the mood to get things done.
But that is just a season. It doesn’t always work that way.
God gave us logical minds and the ability to extrapolate, plan, set things in order and walk out goals and conditions. Scripture tells us to run our races well:
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
— 1 Corinthians 9:24
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
— Hebrews 12:1
Apart from God commandeering our efforts and taking us a whole other direction, it is always wise to have a plan with goals and objectives in mind.
Goals are large outcomes—the end result, the distant target. Objectives, meanwhile, are sub-goals that allow you to achieve outcomes in a carefully executed manner. In football terms, the primary “goal” is winning the game. The objectives are a series of points scored through touchdowns and field goals.
Corporately speaking, many goals and objectives are practical considerations: “What kind of resources do we need? How much money do we need? What kind of facility?” Obtaining those resources could be a set of objectives. Another set of objectives is uncovered as we answer these questions: “What kind of team do we need to accomplish our goal? How long will it take to build that team, and how are we going to build it? What are the different steps and stages of building?”
Each of your goals needs to be broken down into large-to-small sequences that can be prioritized and implemented. If your vision is to secure a building, for example, a set of reasonable factors comes into play: First, you need to start looking for a building and contract a realtor. You need to figure out the necessary square footage and how much money you have available to finish out the building. Those are reasonable steps that enable you to move forward.
Define the things you want to accomplish: Win the game. Lead at halftime. Have great team dynamics. Grow the church. Raise up leaders. Reach the lost. Pay the bills. Once you understand where you’re going and the commitment it will take to get there, it becomes relatively simple to set things in order.
The Kingdom Plan
Every prophetic environment has five general Kingdom goals:
- Receive vision from the Lord and communicate it to your congregation.
- Build the vision, and build your leaders and congregation.
- Reach the lost.
- Create connection and community.
- Communicate truth in a transformational way.
Those are our primary goals, and from these goals, individual churches build objectives that are more specific to their calling and region.
