Comments on: Stop Making Goals for the Future

By: Vision and Strategy Church Trends for 2011 and Beyond – Will Mancini

Vision and Strategy Church Trends for 2011 and Beyond – Will Mancini — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 04:03:35 +0000

[...] year ago at New Year, you could digest Tony Morgan’s Stop Making Goals for the Future and scan Michael Hyatt’s leadership reflections on wanting to do more strategic planning. [...]

By: General Henry

General Henry — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:10:52 +0000

I believe in your thought! I think yearly planning is the best and long term dream is good. You are blessing to the body of Christ. I will like to invite you to Africa. Let me know your mind.

By: Goals, Vision, Planning…Blah, Blah, Blah: How about some Clarity 101 – Will Mancini

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:00:44 +0000

[...] for static to fill the airwaves. The same day this week, you can digest Tony Morgan’s Stop Making Goals for the Future and scan Michael Hyatt’s leadership reflections on wanting to do more visioning and strategic [...]

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:32:37 +0000

Great post. As a church planter, it didn’t make sense to have a five year plan. Or a three year plan.

Your post reminds me of Andy Stanley’s book, The Principle of the Path. As a leader, my job is to make sure our organization is headed in the right direction.

By: Bill (cycleguy)

Bill (cycleguy) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:45:39 +0000

I am glad to see that I no longer have to feel guilty for not setting out long range goals of 5-10 years for myself or the church I pastor. I have even stopped planning my sermons for the whole year. I used to have the whole year planned out and only under extreme duress would I veer away from it. I plan a series or two and try to scope out the landscape and ask God where He wants me to go from there. I do think it is valuable to have goals for the church but definitely feel that 3-5 is way too far reaching. My .02 worth.

By: Ron Edmondson

Ron Edmondson — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:24:29 +0000

Tony, I agree in theory here and certainly agree the weighting of planning has shifted to more of an at once type of planning, but I believe it is still important to plan 5 years out, if for nothing else than to dream , set stretch goals for the organization and maintain the long-term direction of the organization, which I do not believe is a changeable as weekly planning could entail.

As an example, we have annually had a “dream session” at one of our staff retreats. The staff is divided into teams and encouraged to dream long-term, where there are no limits financial or otherwise. We have been amazed looking back over the last few years how much our church has headed in those directions, simply because we voiced them out loud.

While this is not planning, it’s simply dreaming, I believe the principle is the same. I believe we must continue to pick our head up from the week in front of us and look towards the long haul or we will find ourselves headed in directions we didn’t intend to head.

I love your thoughts…stretching me.

BTW, I’ve figured out the Fewer constraints = Less Creativity thought from an earlier post. Love it!