The Enemy of Strategic Thinking

What is it that church leaders do?  I wonder how you answer that question.  I guess many will go for an Acts 6 model based on the apostolic pattern of ministry: preaching the word of God and praying, others will add 2 Tim 2:2 about entrusting the word to other faithful men, there is also the call to shepherd the people with its focus on pastoral care, protecting, guarding and so on.  I wonder how often we think of church leaders as strategists?

Jesus had a grand plan in mind for his ministry.  He strategically does things so that he can fulfil his and his fathers eternal plan.  He leaves certain places, tells people to be quiet, sets his face to go to Jerusalem, and so on.  Then he passes that on to his disciples and through them to the church, they are to make disciples of all nations.  And the Acts shows us the Apostles following God's mission and using God's strategy in preaching and following where God leads, but it also shows them thinking strategically.  That is why in Acts we see leaders and churches seek out other leaders as Barnabas seeks out Saul/Paul - because he thinks he will be strategically significant.  Paul trains up Titus, Timothy and so on because he is strategically applying God's big strategy.

Its seen in Paul's focus on the major cities and how he sees them as strategically important gateways to the rest of the province and the further advance of the gospel.  Thus in preaching to them Paul is really strategically aiming to reach a whole province.  The apostles apply and implement small scale strategy as they fulfil God's global, eternal, cosmological strategy empowered by God Father, Son and Spirit.

Yet we rarely thinking of our church leaders as strategists.  I wonder if that means that we rarely free our leaders up to have the time to think strategically.  To think strategically means needing to step back from the front line fighting and evaluate the lie of the land, or the trajectory of the battle.  Yet too often the tyranny of the everyday; admin, preparation, visits, committees, and so on preclude any strategic thinking.  Looking back one of the most exciting times I have enjoyed in ministry was in planning to plant because we got to do some strategic thinking, in fact we had to do it, we had to think how and when and where, what resources do we have where are they best deployed and so on.

But the problem is that so often we then launch out in ministry, or plant the church and then do not stop, or plan in times of stepping back from the front line to learn, and relaunch.  To stop and think again about our strategy and tweak it, shelve it, or bin it as necessary.

We need to do this as church leaders, as local leaders, as gospel partnerships, and even more widely afield than that.  Leaders we must ensure we plan in time to think strategically, try saying no to something so you have time - apparently its liberating!  Church members we must ensure we encourage and facilitate (force if necessary) our leaders to take time to stand back and think strategically.