Thelemic Planning

by Walt Brock

What in the world is strategic planning? It sounds important, and it sounds complicated. If I use the term, my staff may think I have something momentous to say. But, what happens is that everyone gets bored and says, “We’ve heard this before; nothing changed then either.” When they leave the meeting, they go on doing what they’ve always done in much the same way. Boredom, and even some resistance, happens when we spend a little time and effort compiling a wish list for our ministry and then announce it as a “strategic plan” for the future. Strategic planning is much more than writing down a ministrywide to-do list for everyone or pulling unrealistic goals out of thin air. Followers either ignore the list because experience has taught them about such short-term “fizzle and forget” lists, or they become discouraged by looking at all the work leadership has just laid out for them to do. They wonder, “Doesn’t he know how overburdened we already are? Doesn’t he care?”

So how can we plan and then communicate that plan so that our followers are motivated to stretch themselves in service and sacrifice? We do that by going through the process of developing a real strategic plan within the context of an overall thelemic plan. (A thelemic plan is the whole process with the triangle entitled Thelemic Planning and Leadership”). The strategic planning part of thelemic planning comes between a clearly defined, articulated mission statement and operational planning. This brings us back to our original question: “What is strategic planning?”

Dictionary definitions help us a little to understand the root of the idea, but they are inadequate when it comes to applying strategic planning to a Christian ministry. Strategy, according to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.) comes from the Greek word stratēgia which means “generalship,” which is a military commander exercising military skill to accomplish his mission. The English definitions given for strategy include “the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions; a careful plan or method; a clever stratagem” and “the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal.” Strategic planning is the process necessary or important to the initiation, conduct, or completion of a strategic plan. Some key elements involved in the above definitions include—

Meeting of the enemy under advantageous conditions to your troops
A careful plan, but can be an ongoing method as well
Clever or creative in nature
Aim of a goal or mission to accomplish
A process one goes through in developing the plan
Diligent, careful thought and mental exercise
Hard work, both in the planning process and in the continuing implementation and adjustments necessary

Is all of that really necessary? You must carefully consider this question before starting the process, and your answer must be a firm yes. If you are not completely convinced of its value, you will not continue with the process. I have no doubt that the work involved was worth the results in increased effectiveness and efficiency of ministry for us at Ironwood. The time and effort spent has been well worth it.

The Wilder Foundation states that “studies . . . show that both small and large businesses with strategic plans outperform their counterparts without formal plans” (Strategic Planning Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations, page 13). In 2002 I also conducted a survey of about 400 Christian schools in sixteen states concerning the use of such leadership and management tools as having mission statements and using strategic planning practices. The overall results have been published, but some eye-opening results were in relation to strategic planning efforts of the church-related Christian schools. The survey showed that schools without a strategic planning process were twice as likely to experience a decline in enrollment as those who were involved in such a process.

Everyone will have to judge for himself whether the process will be of value to his ministry. As I personally considered the question “Is all of this really necessary?” for the ministry I am in, I spent much time in prayer and meditation on the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14–30), on the Lord’s reaction to faithful servants even in small ministries like ours (Luke 16:10–12), on counting the cost of ministry (Luke 14:27– 33), on the requirement for stewardship (1 Cor 4:1–2, do an in-depth word study on steward and stewardship), and on sowing and reaping (Gal 6:7–9).

So what is strategic planning? Strategic planning is a process that will determine how a ministry will accomplish its mission. The process has three vital parts. First, differentiate between the primary ministry you are in and the primary methodology you will use in accomplishing the mission. This is answering the old business question, “What business are we in and how do we do it?” The best illustration I have read on this relates to the huge railroad empires that existed around the beginning of the last century. If they had figured out they were in the transportation business instead of stubbornly maintaining they were in the railroad business, today’s business picture in the United States might be quite different. The railroads had all the resources they needed to move into the expanding trucking and airfreight segments of transportation, but they clung to a methodology (railroads) rather than a mission (transportation). Consequently, they were on the brink of extinction by the middle of the century. Remember that methodology is subordinate to mission, but methodology determination is a major part of strategic planning.

Second, project by faith into the future within limitations of the following contexts—your internal context (e.g., staff, facilities, abilities, resources); your external context (e.g., economy, prospects, laws, community); and the context of God’s will [“For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (Jas 4:15)]. Failure to project and commit (pull the trigger) by faith will doom the process (Heb 11:6).

Third, establish policies and principles that will act as guidelines for all future efforts, while at the same time guide you today while you go about the work of accomplishing a ministry’s objectives and goals in the will of God. Avoid the extreme of considering policies and principles busy work and thus failing to do them justice and the other extreme of going into too much detail and thus tying an anchor around the neck of progress. This vital part of the process is often replaced in business with the principles of pragmatism and legality; but for the Christian, what is permissible by God and consistent with His Word is of paramount concern and cannot be short circuited.

Strategic planning should only be undertaken

After communication of the purpose and mission
After commitment to the planning process
After commitment of the precious resources
After choosing of the planning team
After coming to God in prayer and Bible study.