An Alternative to Strategic Planning: What has God Placed in Our Hands?

Have you read the book or seen the movie The Martian? In the story, crewman Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is unintentionally left behind on the surface of Mars by his crew. How will he survive? The first thing he does it to take inventory of what he has available—what he can use, reuse (don’t ask), or repurpose. With ingenuity and creativity, he uses what he has on hand to survive for 564 days on the surface of the Red Planet.

During the pandemic, we have found ourselves in Watney’s situation and considered what God has placed in our hands that we can use not only to continue but further the mission that God has given to us as churches. In the midst of change and challenge, what are the resources we have available to us? Many churches have been asking this question all along and have made some great discoveries. What do we have to work with?

Of course, we have people. Some of these are mobilized while others are not. Some have hidden gifts and skills that have not been tapped. We are often tempted to just look on the surface or consider what a person’s “day job” is and try to find a parallel position in the church. For example, Joy is an elementary teacher, so we will ask her to teach children’s Sunday School, but Joy really loves art and wants to share that skill in her church. Bob is an accountant, so naturally he should be on the finance committee, but he also is a talented guitarist who would enjoy leading in worship. In recent days, many disciples in the churches have found new and unique ways to use their skills to benefit the church’s ministry,

To take this even further, we have people with particular spiritual gifts that can be identified and used in the life of the church. In the early church, gifts were recognized and leadership arose out of the body itself. A church should have a regular ministry of helping members to discover their “gift mix” and finding ways to use it in the ministry of the church.

Our people resources include clergy and church staff. Over the last year, these folks have stepped up and dug deep to keep ministry going smoothly. They have both learned new ways to minister and unlearned some things that got in the way. The most effective clergy leaders are lifelong learners who continually reassess their skills in order to make sure their capabilities are in line with the emerging ministries in their churches.

Financial resources are important in church ministry, but perhaps we need to reassess how we go about encouraging people to share the finances with which God has blessed them. People give to what they believe in. If a church has members who are designating significant financial gifts rather than giving to the unified church budget, we should ask, “Are we including in the budget those things that people really care about?”

Most congregations are the recipients of buildings that reflect major investment by prior generations. This can be a blessing or a curse! Maintenance of facilities is often a major expense. During the pandemic, churches as well as many businesses have discovered that they don’t need as much real estate as they thought the needed in order to do effective ministry. Perhaps it is time to think about either repurposing or disposing of facilities that are no longer needed for ministry.

With prayer, without biases, and with open eyes, churches need to take the time to clearly assess what has been placed in their hands in order to serve God within their con

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