Strategic planning in youth ministry is essential. When we have a clear plan, parents, volunteers and students know where we are going. This gives them clarity and understanding of your goals. When we have a clear mission people feel alive and are willing to sacrifice to see the mission through. So what do you need to know before you can make a strategic plan?
1. Who you are
It’s important for youth workers to know their strengths and focus. As a youth worker, my strength was vision. I knew that I was at my best when I was casting the vision for the ministry. So I had to do a good job of recruiting people to do the admin. This understanding of my strength led me to create a plan based on building a team of people around me. My focus was student leadership development, so my plan had to involve students leading the majority of the ministry. Knowing these two things helped me make a strategic plan that gave me joy and fulfillment. Warning: many of us like to take the plan of a famous youth worker and try and make that work for us. This leads to disappointment – don’t try and lead someone else’s plan. Make one that fits you.
2. How to measure success
We need to know what a student should look like who has graduated from our program. Once we have determined these goals we can make action steps to get there. If we don’t know we want a student to know when they finish in our program then we can’t make a plan. We are just going by the seat of our pants and most likely we will go in circles.
3. Parents’ and church leaders’ expectations
We don’t make plans in vacuums. We must work with the key people in the students’ lives and in our professional life to determine what they want to see happen. Have you asked parents what they want to see happen through the youth ministry program at your church? Have you asked the church leaders? You don’t always know what is best for students. Too often youth workers tell me they know what is best for students. They can be self righteous about it. Drop it, only Jesus knows what is best. Care about parents like you care about students. It will make a big difference in your success.
