Good Leaders Make Plans

Kidmin Accelerator

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

…Dwight D. Eisenhower

To many, making a plan for your ministry may sound like a waste of time. Many think they can’t plan their ministry because they spend all of their time doing their ministry.

A plan can be as simple as something you write in your journal. You need to start somewhere.

I get how it might look like that. The quote above even seems to suggest as much. (If you don’t read it carefully…) However, Eisenhower also clarified,

“…if you haven’t been planning, you can’t start to work, intelligently, at least.”

Having a flexible and adaptable plan based on your God-given outcomes helps you align your ministry actions in many different ways. Here are two of them:

A Ministry Plan Helps You Prioritize Your Time

If you don’t plan your time, you will waste your time. A good plan, with action steps, helps you know what you need to work on first and foremost. When you know you cannot proceed without finishing ________, then ______ becomes the priority.

Also, when you have a ministry plan, you have a powerful weapon against the invasive “urgent.”

The “urgent” are those tasks and ideas that come out of nowhere, take your time, and leave you feeling like you are working hard and getting nowhere.

Some people call the “urgent” a tyrant. With your plan, you can tell the “urgent” to go bother someone else.

A Ministry Plan Helps You Make Good Decisions

When something comes up, and something always comes up, your ministry plan gives you a built-in decision filter. Without a plan, our default is emotional decision-making.

With a plan, instead of asking, “Do I want to do this?” you can ask, “Does this idea fit the plan?” or “Do I need to alter my plan to include this idea?” (Totally an option, your plan is not made of stone.)

With a plan, new ideas — even those that seem super exciting — have to be great to get you to shift your focus.

Like a map that leads to hidden treasure, a ministry plan helps you focus your energy and creativity to further God’s kingdom in your community.

Kidmin Accelerator explores creative, innovative, and practical ideas that help Children’s Ministry Leaders.