What is the present state of
• your ministry?
• your target group?
How do you go from now to then?
In other words, what activities / programs will help reach your goals?
What would you like to see existing at a specific time in the future?
In other words, what are your goals / objectives?
THEN deals with aim setting - Establishing objectives or purpose should be the starting point in planning. Purpose directs our ministry efforts and motivates us to press on.
You need to visualise what God would want you to accomplish in line with your organisation's mission. As a general guideline, do not deviate from your organisation's mission. Keep it in focus.
To many people, planning is merely filling a calendar with activities or programs. In some of my workshops where I teach the use of the above worksheet, participants listed activities such as a training institute under the "Then" column. Establishing objectives is not determining activities or programs to be executed for the year. What should be listed under the "Then" column is the state of affairs that should exist at a specific date e.g., 100 people to be trained by the end of 2007 in how to share the gospel with children.
A institute to train 100
(a) An activity
(b) Method of achieving introduced into the objective
You ran a training institute but only 90 participants came. Would you say that your objective was reached?
- Yes, you ran a training institute.
- No, 90 (not 100) were trained.
100 persons to be trained
(a) A state of affairs
(b) Method(s) of achieving (the objective) NOT specified
You ran a training institute but only 90 participants came. Would you say that your objective was reached?
- No because 90 (not 100) were trained.
- But if time permits, a small training workshop (or one-to-one training) may be organised with the goal of training 10 more.
Here are some criteria that your objectives (AIMS) should meet.
Achievable ... realistic yet faith stretching
Inspiring ... challenging your people to give of their best
Measurable ... quantifiable including scope and target date
Shared ... declaring your conviction in and commitment to themScope - Designate who or what will be affected and in what ways they will be affected. In the above objective (1), the scope defined is not training people how to share the gospel but training them to share the gospel with children. A modification of the objective might be training 100 children to share the gospel with other children.