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Tree of Life Christian Fellowship

Strategic Planning

September 23, 2007

Tree of Life Christian Fellowship—where hope grows!

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What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is simply a process to determine:– Where TOLCF is going over the next year

or more– How we are going to get there– How we will know if we got there or not

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Why Do We Need a Strategic Plan? A strategic plan will help us to turn

strategy into action by:– Clarifying who we are and what we do best– Outlining our goals and strategies for

success– Balancing our priorities and allocation of

resources– Measuring our progress

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How Do We Create a Strategic Plan? The planning process involves:

1. Agreeing on who we are and what we are about

2. Determining what we do best

3. Using this information to clarify our goals and develop strategies for success

4. Setting up systems to track and evaluate our performance

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The Planning Process: Who We Are and What We Are About Affirming our mission, vision, and

values– Our mission statement defines why we exist and

describes where we are going now– Our vision statement describes where we want to

be in the future– Our core values reflect our culture and priorities

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The Planning Process: Who We Are and What We Are About (Continued) Our mission

– Tree of Life exists to celebrate Jesus, equip believers, and serve the world.

Our vision– To provide a place where people can

experience God’s love, discover their purpose, and fulfill their God-given destiny.

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The Planning Process: Who We Are and What We Are About (Continued) Our core values

1. Biblically Based• We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is the

Christian’s sole authority for both faith and practice. We believe that relevant teaching based on scripture is a powerful mechanism for positive change in the lives of individuals.

2. Atmosphere of Acceptance• We believe all people matter to God and ought to matter to

the church. We want everyone to experience God’s grace and love.

3. Inspiring Worship• We believe that God deserves our worship. We celebrate His

goodness together with great music, attention to His Word and devotion to prayer.

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The Planning Process: Who We Are and What We Are About (Continued) Our core values (continued)

4. Youth Ministry• We believe ministry to children and teenagers should be

given high priority. We are committed to making TOLCF a center for reaching, encouraging, and developing the youth of our area.

5. Discipleship• We believe that full devotion to Christ and his cause is normal

for every believer. We seek to guide and encourage that devotion with relevant teaching, exciting worship, meaningful fellowship and opportunities for service.

6. Equipping Leaders• We believe enabling people to discover and develop their gifts

is God’s strategy for changing the world.

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The Planning Process: Determining What We Do Best Identify our core competencies

– Core competencies are• Things we do best• Our areas of expertise• Functions critical to our long term growth

and success

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The Planning Process: Determining What We Do Best (Continued) Our core competencies

1. Worship: atmosphere of acceptance, love, healing, and expectation

2. Counseling ministries: individual/family counseling and mentoring

3. Educational ministries: Sunday school, Bible study, educational services

4. Creative evangelism: music, guest speakers, family events, youth groups/events

5. Service: community events, food pantry, hospitality

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The Planning Process: Determining What We Do Best (Continued)

MISSION

Worship

MISSIONCounseling Ministries

Service

Educational Ministries

Creative Evangelism

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies Develop goals and strategies for achieving

success– Goals

• Help translate our mission and vision into a logical set of strategies/objectives

• Integrate our core competencies • Balanced to reflect three perspectives critical to

church success: – spirituality– service– stewardship

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

The spirituality perspective (Spirit)– How can we improve our relationship with

God?• Perspective directs attention to the basis of all

future success—the church's people• Adequate investment in the spiritual well-being

and education of our members is critical to our long-term success

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

The service perspective (Son)– How well are we serving the community?

• This perspective considers the church through the eyes of the community

• TOLCF must retain a careful focus on meeting the needs of God’s people

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

The stewardship perspective (Father)– Are we using the best internal processes to

accomplish our mission?• Perspective focuses attention on our

management over the resources God has provided

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued) Three key perspectives support church

excellence:

It is important to maintain balance among all three perspectives

Church Excellence

Service(Son, meeting

needs)

Stewardship(Father, administration)

Spirituality(Spirit, growth)

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued) Our strategic plan includes a broad goal

for each perspective– Spirituality perspective—Grow a church

body with the spiritual strength necessary to fulfill God’s purpose

– Service perspective—Share God’s love through service to the community

– Stewardship perspective—Build a God worthy reputation

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued) Each goal has supporting strategic objectives

– Objectives are measurable so that we can monitor our progress

– Objectives are put into action through a set of initiatives

Initiatives – Strategies to improve existing programs – New ideas/programs to help meet our goals

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

—Spirituality Perspective

Goal: Grow a church body with the spiritual strength necessary to fulfill God’s purpose

Objectives:1. Promote continual learning2. Support individual spiritual

growth 3. Provide a worship

atmosphere where God’s love, acceptance, and hope are evident

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

—Service Perspective

Goal: Share God’s love through service to the community

Objectives:1. Build name recognition in

the community.2. Provide services that meet

community needs.3. Create an environment that

welcomes and attracts newcomers.

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The Planning Process: Clarifying Goals and Developing Strategies (Continued)

—Stewardship Perspective

Goal: Build a God worthy reputation

Objectives:1. Improve appearance and

maintenance of church building.

2. Develop communication networks to promote information exchange.

3. Improve administrative processes to ensure focus on mission execution.

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The Planning Process: Setting Up Systems to Measure Performance After establishing goals and strategies, we

develop systems for collecting information about our progress

– Critical measures are established for all programs/initiatives

– Potential information sources include• Member surveys• Program participation data• Church growth rates

– Information is used to track progress, review success, make adjustments

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Next Steps1. Review/revise/approve strategic plan2. Align human and budgetary resources with

strategic plan3. Prioritize initiatives4. Organize improvement teams to address

specific areas/initiatives5. Formalize performance measures and

create systems for data collection 6. Launch initiatives7. Track progress/review success/make

necessary adjustments