Where is your School in its Life Cycle?
As someone concerned and invested in a school ministry, one thing is probably often on your mind: how your school is moving forward - or not moving forward. The first step of helping your school move forward is to understand where your organization is right now. This article will help you complete that first step, so read on!
Organizations follow life cycles just like living organisms. Just as air, food, and water are vital for organisms to survive, vision and strategic planning are vital for organizations to grow and thrive.
Having a clearly articulated, compelling, and agreed-to vision for future ministry draws more people and enhances relationships, promotes the expansion and overall health of ministry, and calls for the development of needed structure to help manage God’s blessings.
Over time, without such a vision, focus and energy are lost and the organization begins a gradual and increasingly painful decline.
The more an organization decreases, the more challenging it is to regroup and recover because so many resources, including people, have been lost.
STOP & REFLECT: Take a look at the graph below:
where do you think your church and/or school is in its life cycle?
The secret to sustaining organizational health is to cast and implement a new compelling vision before the old one fades and dies. The best place to (re)start is at point “A” when time, energy, and resources are all available. Starting at point “B” is much more difficult.
Here is some great news if your organization is stalled, shrinking, or dying: Organizations, including churches and schools, can be revitalized and live!
What it Takes to Kick-start the Life Cycle
1. The first requirement is confidence. If leaders do not believe revitalization can happen, it won’t.
2. The second requirement is focusing on Christ’s make-disciples mission and forming a captivating vision. Be compelled by Christ’s love to put the growth of his kingdom first and plan accordingly.
3. The third requirement is willingness and ability to change. It is not enough to have the desire to change; having the capacity to bring about God-honoring change is also essential.
4. The fourth requirement is team effort. It will take a united effort – by called workers, elected leaders, and other highly committed active members – to accomplish what the Lord is calling you to do or become.
5. The fifth requirement is staying focused on future desired outcomes. Remember, we are serving our Savior (who first served and saved us) when encountering distractions, confronting mounting challenges, or facing temptations to give up. When some blessings become visible because we have invited them by our mission-minded efforts, we will gain momentum.
Informed by a couple decades of consulting, it has become evident to me that most of our congregations and schools wait too long either (a) to engage in or (b) seek assistance with longer-range strategic planning. Most of our congregations are consistent with planning ministry for the upcoming year, usually during the budget process, but that is not strategic planning. Looking forward only a year at a time may help to maintain a ministry or, more likely, manage its regression.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP: Here is a vital question to discuss with your leadership team: Where on the life cycle is our congregation or school, and what are we going to do about it?
Looking for help?
Strategic planning is a valuable process for faith-based schools, especially those that are seeking to move from surviving year-to-year to thriving and sustainable! Schedule a consultation here —we’ll answer your questions about the process, the benefits, and the way forward for your unique ministry.
