Implementation: Uninformed people are ill-informed people
Pastor John and his staff spent six months planning the upcoming changes and adjustments to their worship service. After months of prayer, searching, reading and studying a multitude of options, they began settling on what would fit their particular ministry setting. The team researched and contemplated every angle of each potential adjustment. They were certain they were ready and this is where God had led them as a church staff. Now it was time to pull the trigger, so to speak. The date to unveil the new service had arrived and Pastor John was particularly excited about the potential to expand their ministry through the new approach.
One thing the Pastor and staff failed to do was prepare the people, the church members for the implementation of the upcoming change. And this would prove to be disastrous. Uninformed people are ill-informed people. And in a situation like this, the execution of change could bring about the ministry execution of the pastor or ministry leaders. While thorough strategic planning is essential to a successful event or ministry, without proper implementation, you could be planning your own execution.
Though your church may conduct planning and even strategic planning as discussed in the previous post, strategic planning is only the beginning phase for any event or adjustments in your ministry. Perhaps the more strenuous challenge and the area of greatest difficulty is implementation and execution of your plans. Planning needs to include identifying potential drawbacks and reasons people might not embrace the adjustments. If you do not consider and plan for these possibilities, you will not be ready to properly manage them should they arise.
Planning also needs to include instruction and training everyone involved (in the case above, all church members).Uninformed people are ill-informed people. When planning any event or change in ministry, those involved in planning must remember though they have exhausted all possibilities and perhaps spent countless hours studying and preparing for the adjustments, everyone outside the planning team is in the dark concerning the upcoming change. The planning team has investigated and wrestled with the various components and possibilities. The general membership has not. Everything is new and foreign to everyone not on the planning team.
Therefore, you must begin slow and early to introduce the potential adjustments that “may” be coming. You do not need to give too much information as you begin to identify to the members what is being considered. However, you do want to give enough to allow them to begin to process the possibility of change (perhaps without using the word change) needed to improve or redirect the ministry. It is best to try to build in excitement and intrigue as to upcoming enhancements or redirection of ministry. As the calendar moves closer to the date of implementation expound more and train everyone on what is coming and how it will benefit everyone individually, the ministry as a whole, and God’s kingdom.
As you move forward, drawing closer to the implementation, you will want to involve more and more people. Be certain everyone who has a role to play in the implementation is on-board, equipped, and informed with the implementation count down. This may not give you a flawless implementation, but it will cut down on some of the errors many churches incur in leading change, and beginning new ministries.
For more on strategic planning and implementation contact George L. Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.