I write as thorough of content as I can about the subjects I cover. I also have a lot more helpful posts that I want to write.
But once I’ve written all those posts, there will still be other valuable resources out there. I’ve built my material off of some of these great resources and someday, if I’m fortunate, somebody will use my material to create content that’s even better than mine. And so it goes…
I still have to cover operational budgeting and financial budgeting in my series on church strategic planning. In the meantime, however, I thought it would be helpful to point you toward some other resources for church strategic planning that I’ve found helpful when putting this material together.
I hope these resources will make your church’s strategic planning task more efficient and will help fill in some of the gaps in my material.
Not all of these will revolve specifically around churches. In fact, most will be geared toward for-profit business. Don’t let that discourage you though. A lot of the principles are the same no matter what industry you’re in. Plus, it can be helpful to look at things from a different perspective.
Mission statement
MissionStatements.com
This is a good resource to get you warmed up for drafting a mission statement of your own. Ideas might come more naturally to you once you’re in a “mission statement” mindset. You could be browsing this site while you’re brainstorming on your church’s mission statement.
This site displays mission statements for companies big and small across many diverse industries. Plus, there are mission statements for non-profits, schools, and even personal mission statement examples.
Oh yeah…there’s example church mission statements too! Remember when I mentioned in my mission statement post for churches, you can search the web for “[insert state here] church mission statement” to give you ideas? Well, before you spend all that time and effort, check out the dozens of examples here.
Each mission statement is rated by users. Think about why some might be rated higher than others. Jot down some notes about what you like and what you dislike.
With the diverse array of examples, you should have a general idea of what constitutes an inspiring mission for your church. That, coupled with everything else you know about drafting an effective mission statement should help you nail this step of the strategic planning process.
ChurchConsultants YouTube – Developing a church’s mission statement
If you’ve done any searching online regarding church strategic planning you’ve come across Aubrey Malphurs and/or Chuch Consultants.
I’ve referred to Aubrey’s content frequently as I’ve put together my own strategic planning posts. I figure Aubrey has more hands-on experience than I do in this arena (particularly in the “soft skills”). So I appreciate what he’s put out there.
This video is very short, but it offers some good tidbits on drafting a church mission statement. For instance, I like the emphasis on keeping it short while also stressing the importance of detailed language.
Set aside 6 minutes and 39 seconds to watch this.
SWOT analysis
BusinessBalls – Swot Analysis
This is not the most coherent page ever. I get the impression that this site is run by a non-English speaker. Which is fine, but you’ve just got sort through some non-sensical material to get to the good stuff.
Nevertheless, if you’ve got the patience, there is some good food for thought here. I particularly like the downloadable (Word) template. It gives a lot of great examples of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Also good is the 2×2 matrix that outlines how the four components of the SWOT analysis can interact with one another.
RapidBI – SWOT Analysis History, Definition, Templates & Worksheets
This is another site that gives a lot of great examples of factors to consider when doing a SWOT analysis for your church.
In particular, I like the use of the USED acronym for each component of the SWOT. E.g. How can we:
Use each Strength?
Stop each Weakness?
Exploit each Opportunity?
Defend against each Threat?
Also, RapidBI provides a thorough example of a SWOT analysis. It’s for a for-profit business, not a church, but it gives you the opportunity to see one in action.
Strategy formulation
Reference for Business – Strategy Formulation benefits
This is a six-step guide to formulating a strategy that shares a lot of the same philosophies as my strategic planning and strategy formulation post.
I like the focus on the first step about defining your organization. In particular, I think that the emphasis on the customer (member) makes some really good points.
The post also raises the important point of managing the implementation of a strategy. Drafting a solid strategy is fine and good, but if it can’t be acted upon it really has no value. If Reference for Business has more content on the subject, I wish they would have linked to it.
marketing MO – Competitive Positioning
This well-formatted and well-written post focuses on the competitive sub-strategy. This is especially valuable for churches. While a lot of people will be bound by their preferred denomination, there are others that are not. Understanding how to best position your church and make it stand out can help you get people in the door and in the pews.
Marketing MO emphasizes the need to understand what your organization’s identity is. You need to carve out an authentic niche and not try to be everything to everyone.
They go on to provide steps that your church can take to solidify its competitive position. These steps include defining your market, clarifying what value you’re providing, looking at the competition, and pinpointing where you want your church positioned in a complex environment.
Capital budgeting
University of Florida – Capital Budgeting for a New Dairy Facility
What in the world do church management and dairy farming have in common? Admittedly, not much. But, when it comes to capital budgeting, both industries (in fact, all industries) should approach it in the same way.
This document goes into tremendous detail about all of the considerations that must be made when preparing a capital budget. One thing, in particular, I like is the suggestion that “what-if” analyses be run. Using a spreadsheet to make a capital budget makes this easy. You can simply make a copy of the original file and then start playing around with all the numbers. See what happens to the NPV if cash flow amounts and timing are changed. Make a best-case, worst-case, and most likely scenario so that your church can have a plan no matter what ends up happening.
Another great point that the author of this document makes is that the drivers of cash inflows and outflows should be considered. Sometimes thinking about the cause and effect can help in making more accurate forecasts. It can also help to serve as a reality check and to provide context to a situation.
Drivers are the factors that influence the amount of cash coming in or going out. An example cited in this document is using herd size, milk sold per cow, and the market price of milk as a driver for the amount of revenue received from the sale of milk. In other words, milk revenue is a function of these three variables.
Operating budget
AAUP Wiki – The Operating Budget
Link (Note: as of the time of this writing this link was broke. If that link won’t work, try this)
I haven’t been able to find many quality resources for church strategic planning related to operating budgets.
This document is written for managers in the printing and publishing industry. It’s certainly not a bad source of information, it’s just that since it’s written for a manufacturing organization, there are few parallels that can be drawn with church management.
Nevertheless, it is a detailed document that walks through the steps necessary to prepare a comprehensive operating budget. One aspect I really like is the emphasis on engaging those lower in the hierarchy when putting together forecasts for expenses. The people who work with these expenses day in and day out can provide valuable input when it comes to understanding how these costs might change over the coming year.
Financial budget
Amergy Bank of Texas – how to prepare a cash budget
A bank understands that cash flow is the lifeblood of any organization – regardless of industry. This is a relatively short and simple PDF that walks readers through the process of creating a financial (cash) budget.
Financial budgets share a similar format no matter the industry. So, while the example used in this PDF isn’t for a church or non-profit, the principles are the same.
Not only is step-by-step guidance provided, but definitions are also given, and help in analyzing the cash budget once it’s completed is made available at the end of the document.
Wrap up – resources for church strategic planning
I strive to provide the information and tools I would want if I were in your position. What I would want or need might not include everything you would want or need, though. Fortunately, a lot of other people have produced material on these subjects (some of what’s been created is actually useful!). Just know that it might take a bit to wade through the superficial and unauthentic material to get to the good stuff.
I hope that these additional resources for church strategic planning will help fill in any gaps that are left after reading my posts. If there’s something you’d like me to cover in more detail – leave a comment and I’ll take it into consideration.