Developing Values, Mission, & Vision for Christian Ministries

A graphic of many inter-mixed black arrows pointing left and right, with one red arrow pointing straight up. Used with permission.

• A Theology of Strategy Development
• A Kingdom Perspective: Strategic Planning for Christian Ministries
• Divine Leadership: Strategic Planning and the Holy Spirit
• Faith and Risk: Strategic Planning That Will Amaze Jesus!
• Strategic Statements and Christian Ministries
• Developing Values, Mission, & Vision for Christian Ministries
• Converting Mission & Vision into an End Statement
• Value Propositions for Ministries
• Planning for the Unpredictable
• Checking for Blind Spots
• Corporate History – Resource or Constraint?
• How Far Out Is Your Planning Horizon?
• The Untapped Power of Your “Mission” Statement
• How to Release Your Mission Statement’s Power
• Theory of Change: A Step-By-Step Guide to Developing a Customized Plan For Your Ministry
• Strategy Maps Adapted for Charities
• The Measure of Our Success
• What to Do with Hard-to-Measure Mission Statements

Here are a few considerations for developing the three major strategic statements I’ve previously described (values, mission, vision) and some suggestions for how you can discern them in a God-honouring way that is faithful to your Christian identity.

Values

Corporate values should be assessed on two levels. First there are the biblical values that should be present in every Christian ministry and then there are the other values held by the people called to serve together in one particular ministry.

As an example of biblical values that might apply to your ministry, in The Church At Work I developed four biblical values related to relationships between ministries (the book’s subject):

• Love – In John 13:34-35 Jesus commanded his followers to love one another and Paul affirms it in Romans 12:10;
• Order – From Genesis to Revelation, we see that God is a God of order, not confusion. Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:40 and 12:16 is that “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way….Live in harmony with one another;”
• Unity – Our God is one, and he is Lord of all. Christ is not divided and neither should his church be divided (Ephesians 4:4-6 and 1 Corinthians 1:13); and
• Voluntary mutual submission – We see voluntary mutual submission modeled in the life of Jesus in John 13:5-10 (who made himself a servant to his own followers) and made explicit by Paul in Ephesians 5:21.

Also, over time, your staff and board gain more insight into the possibilities for what might be, and the vision could become more detailed or more expansive. A new or revised vision could cause a review of the mission, and the mission might be redefined, tightened up, or expanded to better fit the vision. So don’t change your strategic statements every year, but do be willing to change them as circumstances warrant.