How to Draft a Ministry Plan

An Intentional Guide to Four Phases of Planning for the Local Church

We kicked off ministry planning for our whole staff yesterday. It’s the fourth and final piece in an intentional process of discernment. This is a process that has evolved over the years and has been through several different iterations. I love how steeped in prayer it is and how dependent on the Holy Spirit we are at every stage. And I love how detailed and intentional each step is. It allows for consistency across ministry areas in the way we develop plans and people toward a common horizon. At Rockharbor, our ministry year begins in July and ends in June, though most of our ministries and initiatives kick off after Vision Sunday in September.

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Phase 1: Elders Retreat

The process begins in October or November with an elders retreat, where we pray and have guided conversations to determine a few broad priorities for our church in this season.

At our elders retreat last Fall, the first day was focused on “board education” sessions and presentations about key projects in the church. We began with a presentation reviewing the results of our recent church survey, providing valuable insights into the congregation’s perspectives and needs. The board then participated in a focused development session with my leadership coach, exploring the Working Genius framework to enhance our team’s effectiveness. I also presented a framework for public conversations about current social issues, equipping us for thoughtful and constructive engagement in what could be a contentious political season.

On the second day, our focus shifted toward prayer and high-level visioneering. We spent time in devotions and listening to God, seeking spiritual direction. We split into work groups to have discussions around Vision Horizon 1, discerning priorities and direction for the next 1-2 years. This was followed by a big group conversation around Vision Horizon 2, where we considered our vision and goals for the next 3-5 years.

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Phase 2: Pastoral Discernment

After that, Holly and I take some time in January to prayerfully distill what emerged from the elder retreat. This step is not about deciding on an initiative or even a specific focus. It’s more about discerning what season the church is in. This helps us know what kind of work to be doing. Is it time to turn outward? Is it time to go deeper? Is it time to prepare for growth?

The truth is, good work done in the wrong season is bad work.

In ministry life, there are lots of good things we can give ourselves to. The question is whether the work matches the season we’re in.

For example, here’s some backdrop of the different seasons we’ve been in at Rockharbor over the past few years. Since October 2022, we have been taking new ground. We developed a ministry philosophy centered around three key words: Encounter, Formation, and Mission. In year one, we focused on strengthening weekend services and our groups ministry through the lens of Formation. In year two, we turned our attention to rebuilding worship, youth, and family ministries with a continued emphasis on Formation. In year three, we stoked the fires of fervent prayer, intentional care of our leaders, and we began awakening our engagement around local and global initiatives. This was about cultivate a culture of Encounter, while sowing the seeds for a focus on Mission.

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Phase 3: Lead Team Offsite

Then, the Lead Team goes on an offsite in February to narrow the focus on one or two specific initiatives that match the season we’re entering into. The specific agenda varies from year to year, but maybe it would be helpful to outline four key components:

1. Connection and Recreation: Intentional time for shared meals, games, and activities helps foster genuine relationships and trust among team members.

2. Presentation: The leader casts vision, shares a guiding word for the season, and sets the tone for the retreat, aligning everyone around a common purpose.

3. Conversation: Focused work groups dig into specific areas, evaluating what’s working, what’s broken, what’s confusing, and what’s missing. Teams synthesize their findings, report back, and further refine insights together.

4. Ideation: A facilitated, open-ended group brainstorm encourages creative thinking and fresh ideas, with no pressure to reach immediate conclusions.

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Phase 4: Staff Ministry Planning

But all of that is just laying the groundwork for the real planning done by staff teams with their volunteer lead teams. This process is the brainchild of our amazing Associate Lead Pastor, Kit Rae (pictured above and below!). You can see the six steps below. The 1-2 specific initiatives from the Lead Team form the template for step 4 below. This process takes about a month for each staff member to complete.

• Step 1 – Team Review & Collaboration

• Step 2 – Prayer & Reflection

• Step 3 – Personal Development

• Step 4 – Write Your Ministry Plan

• Step 5 – Leadership Development

• Step 6 – Calendaring & Budget

Here is the document each staff member or lead volunteer will fill out. Their supervisor will review it and approve it. Kit compiles them all and gives feedback as needed. And then the ministry directors will revisit it with their team throughout the year.

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One final caveat: There is a tendency to assume that all planning is about growth. But “ministry planning” is not code for “how to grow bigger”. All living things have cycles of growth and death.

Part of ministry planning is discerning not just which things are growing, but also which things are decaying.

This is all part of the work of ensuring that our work matches the season. At Rockharbor, we developed a simple framework for evaluating every ministry, project, and initiative that we call the “ministry life cycle”. The cycle moves from “seed” to “sapling” to “tree” to “fruitful” to “decay”.

What stands out to you? What is your process like?