A Planning Model for a Smaller ChurchRobert J. Young
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CHAPTER 1
The Need For Planning

The need for church planning should be apparent. In Management for the Christian Leader, Olan Hendrix lists planning first among four management headings. (16-17) Alan Lakein says any activity demands planning. (Lakein, How to Get Control, 45) It is a paradox that many small and middle-sized churches do not plan.

Several reasons for lack of planning exist. Some churches do not plan because they do not recognize the need to plan. Other churches do not plan because they do not know how to plan. Church leaders without planning skills are either abusive of their congregations or foster significant levels of misunderstanding. Some churches do not plan because they have given up on being effective. Many small and middle-sized churches have assumed a maintenance stance, generally associated with small churches. (Schaller, Middle-Sized Church, 125). This is one factor suggesting a planning model applicable to both small and middle-sized churches. Other factors inhibiting planning include a lack of purpose or mission (or a lack of definition of that purpose), lack of understanding of members' roles, a poorly defined or undefined philosophy of ministry, lack of prospects for growth, split congregational personality, and mixed core values. These will be expanded later.

Some churches do not plan effectively because they think they are growing when they are not. A friend worked in a church which was the subject of a periodical article entitled "From 50 to 770." In fact the church did not increased fourteen-fold. The church began a bus ministry and had a goal day with 770 present. The next Sunday found less than half of the 770 present. The bus ministry was later dropped, and that church returned to an attendance of about 50. Students of church growth and church planning must use statistics consistently to measure real growth. Misuse may cause a church to believe it is growing when it is not.

In the same way that many factors contribute to lack of planning, numerous factors demand planning. We live in a changing world. About 10 years ago, John Naisbitt isolated ten major societal trends: (1) from industrial society to information society, (2) from forced technology to high tech and high touch, (3) from a national economy to a world economy, (4) from short term to long term, from centralization to decentralization, (6) from institutional help to self-help, (7) from representative democracy to participatory democracy, (8) from hierarchies to networking, (9) from north to south, and (10) from either/or to multiple option. (Naisbitt, Megatrends) Such changes challenge the church. Six years before Naisbitt's work, Peter Wagner was using decentralization to describe trends in the church. (Wagner, Your Church Can Grow, 127)

Movement toward an information society and high-tech world depersonalizes, bringing new felt and real needs. A move toward self-help has obvious implications for a helping institution and its strategies. Persons experiencing participatory democracy in the workplace are more apt to expect the same in the church. Expectations in the church are altered when members work in a business world depending upon networking more than hierarchical structures. These factors, and others like them, present special challenges to the small and medium church.

These changes must influence church planning. Unfortunately, many churches do not assess such changes rapidly enough to use them constructively. In many, if not most, churches with less than 250, little change occurs regardless of surrounding cultural changes. Other churches, open to change, follow the methods of larger churches without evaluating effectiveness in the local church setting. Follow-the-leader planning which merely tries what is working in other churches usually ends in frustration and disappointment.

A survey of evangelistic methods over the past forty years illustrations what often happens when churches follow methods unsupported by specific planning strategies. In the 1950s, crusade evangelism was characteristic of most evangelistic efforts. City-wide crusades and revivals were considered the most effective methods. In churches of Christ, this was the dal of successful gospel meetings. In the 1960s, saturation evangelism came into vogue to help correct the follow- up gap in crusade evangelism. Mass mailings and mass contacts were the rule. "Key ‘73" in the Protestant world and "Evangelism ‘73" among churches of Christ represent efforts of this type. It was thought that if enough people were contacted, some would be interested. The anticipated results never developed. During the 1970s the focus shifted to body evangelism. The belief was that a strong church (body) would draw people. This was the genesis of much of the small groups emphasis. The inward emphasis and focus caused many to lose sight of the goal--growth of the body. (Wagner, 137-40) The 1980s say evangelistic fervor in increasing emphasis on cults, and in churches of Christ, on the "discipling movement." The body evangelism message of the 1970s was changed to require each member of the body to reproduce. In more recent years, evangelism studies have focused on various tools, methods, approaches or activities (i.e. conversational evangelism, friendship evangelism, and worship evangelism). These changing areas of emphasis reflect our changing world. They must have an impact in our planning? What shall one say to churches who still depend primarily on gospel meetings for evangelism? Planning that does not consider the present and changing needs is not effective planning. Church who plan effectively must understand the forces helping or hindering growth. Effective planning must consider our changing world with its changing attitudes and changing needs. (Peters and Waterman, Search of Excellence, 12)

The need for a planning strategy is suggested by the general decline of small and medium churches. Slowing growth and eventual decrease must cause concern. The need for a planning strategy in rural churches is suggested by the increasing shift toward rural sub-suburban areas. Rural churches must be prepared to meet the growing needs of growing communities. This factor is significant because many small and medium churches are in rural communities. The need for a planning strategy is apparent when smaller churches attempt to become mini-megachurches, often with disastrous results. The focus must not be on methods, but must ask about the core values that undergird the smaller churches. These factors, and others, demand that planning follow a thoughtful, relevant model. A church wanting to grow and influence a changing world must meet people where they live with the needs they bring to that contact. This requires planning.

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