Planning in a Pandemic

So…for churches, businesses and organizations this is the time to finalize vision, plans and budgets for 2021. I don’t know about you but this is the hardest year I have ever had to do it. We can all admit that 2020 has been a dumpster fire and if you read my post “HOLD ON” 2021 isn’t promising to be a whole lot better. I have been beating my head against the wall, as a church our entire budget is based on the faithful giving and generosity of others. That is difficult when you are not sure if half of your congregation will have a job. So, I prayed and whiteboarded (sure that is not a word, but it is what I do) and came up with a few tips to help navigate your strategic planning for next year…admittedly most of these steps could/should be applied any year but here it goes…

STAY MISSION FOCUSED – Your mission statement should be the foundation of your church and thus should be able to withstand economy, time, politics or crisis. If you have a firm mission, then whatever you do or plan, no matter who elaborate will still have the fingerprint of your organization and thus still provide inspiration and vision for your people.
THINK BIG BUT ADAPTABLE – This is probably not the year to plan a HUGE over the top festival where you have to put deposits down months in advance…However, don’t surrender the spirit of the idea. How can you pull off this idea if you had to change the entire thing within a month or even a week. Put checks in place to protect you. When Live Oak Church went into quarantine in March like everyone else…we thought it might be a week or two…however the leadership already began planning as if we would miss Holy Week. How were we going to provide the high level of excellence for this big time in our church IF we were not able to return. We came up with the Home Worship Kits and they were a hit.
GO OLD SCHOOL – You know when I started ministry in 1992, we didn’t have nearly the technology or the production that we have now. This was in the beginning of the “relevant – seeker church”, this was the dawn of Willow Creek and Saddleback. When I started ministry it was me, a guitar, a bible and a notebook with my chord sheets and game ideas in it. Maybe this year your theme is to go “OG” as the kids call it. Strip down the flash and focus on substance…you don’t have to throw away creativity if it feels like you are doing it on purpose.
LEAN IN ON SUPPORT MINISTRY – This has been a tough year, suicide rates are up and the longer this drags on people are going to need the church. People who have never cried out to God before will be seeking you for help. Be ready, train your leaders and most of all pray.

Those are just some of the primers I am using this week as I pray for what God has in store for Live Oak Church and Johns Island so I thought I would share them with you. If you have any others let me know in the comments section.