I enjoy planning. I get excited about looking forward to the future. How do we build a student ministry of vision?
What I mean by vision is that everything we do has a purpose. When I started in student ministry, my planning approach to planning was to throw events at a calendar and print it. Now after a few years to learn from trial and error I have learned a few ways to plan with a strategy.
1) Vision is the source of the planning process. Vision is the "why and what." What is the vision of the ministry? Ask a lot of questions to get to the heart of what the vision entails.
2) Strategy is how we fulfill the vision. How do we achieve the vision? You first need to know where you are going and then work your way backwards to how you will reach your goal. This is basically the "how" of ministry.
3) Feedback keeps the vision at the center of the planning. Keep the main vision in front of the ministry and refuse to become stuck in the busyness of ministry. If we don't continually cast vision that is as big as God, we can easily sink the mission. Many ministries become focused upon one area of discipleship and become silos instead of channels of God's vision.
What do you think about how vision impacts planning in student ministry? How important is vision?
