We Christians sometimes struggle to identify concrete ways to fulfill our charge to be holy (perfect) as our God is holy (perfect). This charge is given to us both in the Old (Lev. 19:2) and New Testaments (Mt. 5:48). How can we as Christians respond to this most challenging charge? Strategic planning can help.
There’s an adage that says when people plan, God laughs. We believe this to be true only if God is not included in our planning process. God should be consulted for guidance before beginning to plan, for clarity of thought during the planning process, asked to bless the final plan resulting from that process, and to give us strength and perseverance to execute it. Involving God makes the difference between having a plan and having a good plan.
While strategic planning plays an important role for organizations seeking to achieve a worldly goal, it can also be useful for individuals and families in their pursuit of heavenly mission and vision.
Basic components of a strategic plan are:
- The mission statement, which defines why the organization exists and what it does.
- The vision statement, which defines the destination the organization aspires to achieve.
- The identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), noting:
- Areas where we are strong so that we can capitalize on them.
- Areas where we are weak so that we can strengthen them.
- The opportunities and threats of the environment in which we exist so that we can capitalize on the opportunities and overcome the threats.
- Plans to fulfill the mission and achieve the vision, given our understanding of the internal and external environments within which we exist.
Mission
Our God-given mission in life can be summed up by the greatest commandments given by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40:
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.
- Love your neighbor as yourself, which is further clarified in John 13:34-35, where Jesus instructs us to love one another with the same sacrificial and unconditional love with which He loves us.
Your personal mission should begin with these two commandments but can be added to and elaborated upon based upon God’s response to prayer for insight.
Vision
We believe that, as Christians, our vision of the destination we aspire to achieve is to spend eternity in Heaven with Our Lord. As St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If we have hoped in Christ only for this life, we are of all men most to be pitied.” While our personal vision should be heaven-focused, it might be augmented based on insight gained through prayer of what God wants from you while you are on the journey to achieve your vision.
SWOT Analysis
The benefit of analyzing our strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats within our environment is to provide a basis for planning the rest of our lives so that we might better fulfill our mission and achieve our vision.
- Strengths: What are we currently doing in our daily lives that we believe brings us closer to God? What God-given talents can we utilize to better live our mission and stay on the narrow path to achieve our vision?
- Weaknesses: What personal characteristics do we possess that might cause us to lose focus on God? What sinful thoughts that dwell within us cause us to stray from the lives we feel called by God to lead?
- Opportunities: What within our daily lives offers opportunities to engage in activities that enable us to live out our mission and work toward achieving our vision?
- Threats: What temptations of the world and the flesh lead us to stray from the activities that enable us to live out our mission and work toward achieving our vision?
Plans
When engaging in the planning process, we must constantly refer back to our mission and vision. After all, the purpose of the plan is to enable us to fulfill our mission and achieve our vision. The plans should also address the results of the SWOT analysis. How do we capitalize on our strengths, deal with our weaknesses, take advantage of opportunities, and mitigate threats?
We might ask ourselves how committed we are to the Lord. What place does He have in our lives? First? Second? Farther down the list? If we are not satisfied with the answer, what specific actions might we take to move God to the top of the list?
How much do we love our neighbors—the ones who frequently irk us as well as those we like to be around? What about those we do not know personally, but with whom we share the Lord’s earthly kingdom? If we are not satisfied with the answer, what specific actions might we take to increase our love for all these neighbors, regardless of our relation to them?
Some Aids to Planning
There are guides to assist us in transforming our unique strategic analysis into specific operational plans. These plans are the concrete steps we can take to help us carry out our mission and achieve our vision while recognizing our own unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
The aids that have been most effective for us are the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy which lead us to increasing acts of charity. These acts respond to both of Jesus’s commandments. As Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40).
We recognize that we cannot achieve our vision of eternal life with Our Lord by works alone, but we are reminded of St. James’s teaching that faith and works are inseparable: “faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:26).
The Corporal Works of Mercy are:
- Feed the hungry
- Give drink to the thirsty
- Clothe the naked
- Shelter the homeless
- Visit those in prison
- Comfort the sick
- Bury the dead
The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:
- Instruct the ignorant
- Counsel the doubtful
- Admonish sinners
- Bear wrongs patiently
- Forgive all injuries
- Comfort the sorrowful
- Pray for the living and the dead
While these works appear to focus exclusively on the second commandment of Jesus to love our neighbor, doing them also addresses the first commandment to love God. So, by practicing the Works of Mercy, we are serving both God and our neighbors. For if we are doing God’s work, we are showing our love for Him.
Make it a Plan for Action
We have helped many organizations over the years develop strategic plans. Unfortunately, we remember examples where those plans did not translate into action, but instead sat on a shelf gathering dust. To prevent this, it is important to put your strategic plan into action directed toward mission and vision—directed toward becoming holy as God is holy.
And finally, drawing from my Army experience, the plan is the plan until the battle starts. As you translate your plan into actions, continue to pray and be open to the Spirit who might redirect your efforts in ways for which you have not planned.
