Strategic Planning & Visioning

Our experience working with The James Company in a visioning/strategic planning effort for our congregation was positive, productive and spiritually uplifting. The James Company’s expertise helped us devise a detailed multi-step approach to obtaining broad congregational input and involvement in the listening and discernment process and supported our work in each step. The final result was a living, faith filled, working document that now is a guide for our congregation to be in mission and ministry to our community. We would recommend their services to any congregation seeking an experienced partner in a visioning effort.

Tom Gemmer

Associate in Ministry, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Naples, FL

What is your congregation or ministry’s vision?

Congregational and ministry strategic planning is about clarifying your vision – who you are and how you want to live out your vision of ministry. The James Company can help you clarify goals and objectives. There are numerous examples in the Scriptures that illustrate the correlation between vision and the faithful utilization of God’s gifts to God’s people, i.e., stewardship.

 

 

The Solution

The James Company approach to leadership is based on effective techniques and principles for visioning, planning and stewardship. Effective planning, when guided by the Holy Spirit and coupled with skillful plan implementation, brings results that honor and glorify God. Our strategic planning process is modeled after these techniques and principles. Our practical approach considers the congregation or ministry’s vision and incorporates past planning efforts as we help develop an updated ministry plan. We involve the congregation in the process which ensures that plans and strategies are based on a broad perspective. This process can provide a sound basis on which the congregation or ministry can develop ministry plans, building campaigns and financial projections.

Proverbs 29:18 teaches us that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

In Luke 14:28-30, Jesus speaks eloquently about the importance of planning when he says, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.”

Key deliverables from our process include:

  • A documented ministry plan
  • Defined objectives/priorities for each major area of ministry
  • A summary of policies, procedures and other governance processes to be developed/revised/documented
  • An integrated financial plan that defines budgetary requirements for achieving long-range objectives and implementing key ministry initiatives
  • A communication strategy for keeping the congregation informed of progress/results

The James Company

We have the experience you need

We’ve been serving congregations and organizations since 1986 providing the expertise they need to achieve their goals.

 

Just ask our partner clients

Through 1,500 fund-raising programs and over 1,000 clients, we’ve built a reputation that you can count on.

 

We support your organization every step of the way

We offer a wide range of development and fundraising services and materials to help your congregation or organization cultivate and gather your financial resources.
The James Company - St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Naperville, IL