Your Annual Ministry Plan

?Guide for creating yourAnnual Ministry Planand yourIndividual Growth Plancenter8572500March 29, 2021Your Annual Ministry PlanSEND's International Manual says, "All members will develop clear ministry related goals with their supervisor or team leader based on their ministry assignment." (p. 26). This guide seeks to give some direction to the process of developing those ministry related goals.The Annual Ministry Plan (AMP) is different from the Individual Growth Plan (IGP).Both are a set of goals for the coming year. Both will help you grow and develop as a disciple of Jesus. Nevertheless, they focus on different things. The AMP describes your new ministry priorities for the coming year. The IGP on the other hand describes what you plan to do to nurture your own personal growth and development so that you can be better equipped to fulfill your ministry goals. The IGP is a plan to better equip us so that we have the training and coaching to fulfill our AMP and our job description.What is the difference between the Annual Ministry Plan (AMP) and the IGP?AMP (Annual Ministry Plan)IGP (Individual Growth Plan)Determines new ministry priorities for the coming yearDetermines learning priorities for the coming yearFocused outward (on ministry tasks)Focused inward (on developing the minister)The goal is to impact/serve othersThe goal is help yourself grow Like planning to chop firewood for the winterLike sharpening the axe used to chop firewoodThe team has a team AMP and each team member also has their own AMP.IGP is only individual.e.g. Start 2 Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) this yeare.g. Learn about how to lead a DBS by observing a teammate lead a DBS and then asking that teammate to coach me when I lead my own DBSe.g. Communicate more regularly and effectively with my donors (at least 4 times this year) using stories about what God is doing in the lives of peopleRead “God and Elephants: A Worshipper's Guide to Raising Support”Annual Ministry Plan goals should focus on new initiatives, not just a list of ministries that you will continue from the past. Research shows that the best learning happens through hands-on experience when we take on challenging assignments. So, the Annual Ministry Plan is not just a plan for our upcoming ministry; it can also be a powerful tool to help us learn and grow.Your AMP goals should be things that require some new initiative on your part - not things that happen automatically every year because they are part of your job (already on your job description). For example, the team leader would not put "Lead team meetings" on their AMP, because the team leader would be required to do this regardless of whether it was on his/her Annual Ministry Plan or not. Do not write AMP goals for things that will happen regardless of whether you set a goal or not. So, the AMP is not a complete list of everything you will be doing in this next year. Instead, it is a short list of the new things you plan to prioritize on top of all the other things that are required by your regular job description.How many annual goals should I set?There will always be more good ideas than you have the capacity, time, and strength to accomplish in the coming year. The process of setting goals is a process of setting priorities for the limited energy and time that you have.You should set no more than 7 annual goals. Fewer is better. It is much better to set 2-3 critically important ministry goals than 12 goals. If you have too many goals, you will lose your ability to focus on what is most important.The number of goals you set in any year depends to some extent on how many ongoing commitments you already have. If you are already committed to many ongoing ministries, you will not have the capacity to add many new initiatives. If you do not yet have a job description, then of course your AMP will be much longer.Process of developing your Annual Ministry Plan: (to be done at the end of each year in preparation for the coming year)Spend some time in prayer, asking God to direct you as you take a good look at yourself and plan for ministry in the coming year. Listen to what God is saying to you about where He would like you to work.Consider SEND’s, your area’s and your team’s mission and vision statements. Your AMP indicates in what way you plan to contribute to your team’s, area’s, and mission’s vision and goals. If your team is not ready to work on its Team Ministry Plan, do not use that as an excuse to not develop your own individual Annual Ministry Plan.Review your job description if you have one. Consider the following questions to fuel your thinking as you identify your personal ministry goals:What are the greatest needs that need to be addressed in our/my ministry in this coming year?What new opportunities has God given us in the last while?What new tasks is my team asking me to give time to in the coming year?What could I change in my current ministry that would significantly improve or extend its impact?What do I need to stop doing so that I will have time and energy to give to these new ministry initiatives?After listing various possibilities for ministry goals, choose the goals that you consider the greatest priority and most in line with your calling and gifting. Remember, no more than seven (if you have a JD), and preferably fewer. List these AMP goals on the Annual Ministry Plan worksheet on page PAGEREF AMPworksheet \h 7.Revise your ministry goals to make them “SMART.” Once you have written your goals, review them to determine whether they fit the criteria below:S - Strategic (How clearly does it propel our vision forward?)M - Measurable (How will I know when I have completed the goal?)A - Ambitious (a faith-stretch) (Does it require me to depend on God?)R - Realistic (Do I have some ideas for how I would work toward accomplishing it?)T - Time-bound (Have I set a target date for completing the goal?) Annual ministry plan goals should be able to be completed within one year. If the goal will take longer than that, divide the goal into smaller chunks and set your goal for this year’s AMP to be just the first one or two pieces of the bigger goal.Determine what you need to learn or what type of coaching you will need to accomplish the goal. This can then become goals in your Individual Growth Plan.Give a copy of your Annual Ministry Plan to your supervisor (team leader) at the beginning of the year. Your supervisor can help you develop the goals if you are stuck and will help keep you on track during the year.As you carry out ministry goals during the year, record what was accomplished. Not everything will be carried out. That is OK. Sometimes, the goal will need to be changed during the year, as circumstances change. This completed AMP report (goals and what was accomplished) should be given to your team leader at the end of the year.Your Individual Growth PlanAll SEND members are expected to create an Individual Growth Plan each yearSEND International desires the personal and professional growth of every member of the mission. We believe that our members are our organization’s greatest resource, and therefore we want to maximize their effectiveness in accomplishing the overall mission of SEND and in bearing fruit in the individual ministries to which we have been called.However, IGPs are not only important for SEND. We believe that our ongoing growth and development brings glory to God and cooperates with the ongoing transformative work of the Holy Spirit within us, making us into the image of the Son. If our strengths, skills and even ministry roles are God's gifts to us, then we must be good stewards of those gifts, and seek to develop them to their greatest fruitfulness. Paul tells Timothy, "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress." - 1 Timothy 4:14–15.What should I put into my IGP?Your IGP should be closely connected to your Annual Ministry Plan. Your IGP can prepare and equip you for the ministry that God is putting before you in the coming year. However, not all the IGP goals need to be about preparing ourselves for ministry. The “Missionary Growth Areas” on page REF MissionaryGrowthAreas \h PAGEREF MissionaryGrowthAreas \h 6 lists different growth areas in three major categories. It is important to look at learning holistically. Our calling encompasses all areas of our life, and so we should be considering all areas of our life as possible areas of growth.Here are some questions you can ask yourself:What is the Lord showing me that need to change in my life in this coming year?What do I need to learn so that I can accomplish my ministry goals and fulfill my responsibilities with excellence?Who could I ask to coach/mentor/advise me in the growth areas or the tasks that are before me in the coming year?What could I do to strengthen my understanding of the language and culture of the people I am seeking to engage in ministry in this coming year?How much time should I devote to my own growth and development?Learning and growing is never our sole responsibility. Our primary assignment remains our primary assignment. However, we believe that stopping regularly to sharpen the saw will make us more effective in the end. SEND allows us to give 10% of our time for our ongoing growth and development. That would be the equivalent of one morning a week. Process of developing your growth plan: (Note: the IGP is best done after you have completed your Annual Ministry Plan for the coming year)Spend some time in prayer, asking God to direct you as you take a good look at yourself and plan for growth and development in the coming year. Listen to what God is saying to you about where He would like you to grow. You might want to use one of the self-assessments in the “Helps for Day Alone with God.”Answer the questions above under “What should I put into my IGP?”Review the list of Missionary Growth Areas on page PAGEREF MissionaryGrowthAreas \h 6. This might give you some more ideas of what could be the focus of growth and learning in the coming year.Choose two or three growth areas that you want to prioritize in the coming year. At least one of these should be in a ministry area. Write these on the IGP Worksheet on page PAGEREF IGPworksheet \h 8.Describe what improvements you would like to see in this area in the second column on the worksheet. What would you like to learn? What would it look like if you were more skilled in this area?Choose one to three learning activities that you could do that would help you grow in each of your growth areas. Think of people you might ask for coaching or mentoring, books you want to read, online courses you want to take, conferences you want to attend, or ministries you want to visit and observe. Invite others, including your fellow missionaries and team leaders to suggest learning activities. Go to the SEND U wiki for additional ideas. Put these learning activities in the third column on the worksheet.Choose the date (during the coming year) by which you intend to complete this learning activity. It is helpful to stagger the completion dates throughout the year, so that you know what you need to do first, and do not procrastinate until the end of the year to start your learning activities.Invite someone to be your IGP Encourager (see below) and show them your IGP. This could be your supervisor/ team leader or a trusted friend (so they can encourage you and keep you accountable). As you complete each learning activity, mark the date on the IGP form on page PAGEREF IGPworksheet \h 8 (column 5). Reflect on what you have learned. During the year, and again just prior to developing another IGP at the end of the year, reflect on what you have learned over the past year. Your IGP Encourager will also help you identify what you have learned. Use the reflection form on the last page of this guide to record your learning.The IGP Encourager role:Purpose: The?role?of the encourager is to walk alongside?the?IGP owner, being willing to ask purposeful questions that will help the owner maintain steady progress?in?accomplishing and completing their?IGP goals. They help the IGP owner evaluate their progress?and when off track, encouraging?them?to regain momentum.?Time Commitment:?At a minimum,?the IGP owner and the encourager need to connect at least once every 3 months.?The IGP owner and encourager can?agree?together to?connect more often. The owner needs to remember that the encourager is there to do just that, encourage, not be responsible for the IGP being carried out by the owner.???Connection?Methods:?A video meeting on Microsoft?Teams, Skype or Zoom, connecting by text chat on?Signal?or WhatsApp, an email?conversation, a phone call?or an In-person meetingPurposeful Questions for the Encourager to ask the IGP Owner:?What learning activities have you completed since the last time we met??What have you learned from these learning activities??How significant is this learning for you in your current roles and ministries??In what?growth?area on?your IGP have you seen the most progress since we last met??How has God been teaching you recently in areas that you had?not?included in your IGP for this year??How do you think?what you have been?learning has been helping you?grow as a disciple of Jesus??How do you think what you have been learning has been helping you develop in your ministry confidence and competence?? More information for guiding the IGP Encourager can be found on SharePoint at this link.Missionary Growth AreasSpiritual Formation (SF)Prayer & Fasting[regular personal prayer life; corporate prayer; utilizing fasting in focused prayer]Scripture[read entire Bible; regular devotional reading; memorization; meditation; study; familiarity]Worship[corporate worship; personal worship]Submissiveness & Accountability[to God; to leadership/ authority; to one-another]Gratitude[toward God; toward others]Walking in the Spirit [Dependence; displaying fruit of Spirit, power for ministry, perseverance]Holiness & Purity[surrender; obedience, experiencing forgiveness; moral purity; dealing with temptation]Calling[clarity and understanding; corporate calling; personal calling]Soul Care [Sabbath; rest; solitude; silence; journaling; spiritual retreats]Spiritual Warfare[awareness, spiritual armor, praying against forces of darkness]Community / Body Life [committed to a local body, understanding one’s ministry role, receiving ministry from others, encouraging & loving others]Self-Management (SM)Life Skills[hygiene; laundry; cooking; shopping; navigation /ability to use a map]Financial Stewardship[tithing; personal budgeting; being content; debt management; giving to others]Physical Wellness[health; nutrition; exercise; rest]Emotional Wellness[manage stress, express emotions appropriately, have positive outlook on life]Interpersonal Skills [conversational ability, take initiative in building relationships, hospitality]Time Management[organization; promptness; scheduling; prioritizing]Family[solid marriage, good communication, boundaries; rearing children]Self-Awareness[understanding of your personality, strengths, passion, and how they fit together to fulfill God’s design for your life]Personal Integrity[honesty; transparency; accountability]Learner [humble, asking good questions; listening well]Ministry Skills (MS)Evangelism[know and clearly explain gospel, know methods, have experience, confidence, passion to reach the lost]Disciple-Making[nurturing new believers, developing reproducing disciples]Church-Planting (CP) [cross-cultural CP; CP movements; types of church planters, developing national leaders]Ability to Lead [leadership/facilitation of small group Bible studies; leading ministries, teams; servant leadership]Communication Skills[giving testimony, communicating with donors, teaching & preaching, storying]Language Acquisition[develop preparatory skills, growing in fluency]Developing Relationships[with lost; among team members; with those of other cultures, adopting an incarnational lifestyle]Conflict Resolution[resolving own conflicts, ability to be peacemaker in conflicts of others]Coaching/Mentoring [encouraging others in their development and ministry]Teamwork[finding your fit; respecting other’s strengths & roles on the team; pulling your weight; multi-cultural teams]Technical Skills[Skills specific to your ministry assignment__ (year)__ Annual Ministry Plan for _______(your name)_____Ministry GoalTarget dateWhat I need to equip me to accomplish the goalProgress updateCompletion date1.2.3.4.5.6.Give a copy of your AMP to your supervisor (team leader). A copy of your IGP (following) can also be given to your supervisor, but this is not required.___year__ Individual Growth Plan for ___(your name)___Priorities for growth for the coming yearImprovements you want to see in this areaLearning activities chosen to address this area (1-3 for each priority)Date you plan to complete the learning activityActual completion dateSpiritual formation1.2.3.Self-management1.2.3.Ministry Skills1.2.3.Reflection on learning (at end of year)Priorities for growth for the past yearLearning activities chosen to address this areaSignificant lessons learned from these learning activitiesChanges you have noticed as a result of your learning this past yearSpiritual formationSelf-managementMinistry Skills ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download