Goals for Church of the Good Shepherd

Over the past several years, The Church of the Good Shepherd's Administrative Council has developed annual goals for the church. During the 2001 and 2002 years, we approached the goal-setting process as a two-year effort, and approved four goals:

        Increase the number of disciples serving Jesus Christ in and through the Church       of the Good Shepherd.

        Enhance our children and youth programs by broadening the base of adult       commitment to these ministries and provide ongoing teacher training and support.

        Move toward becoming a tithing church (defined as devoting 10 percent of our       financial resources to serve those beyond the church walls), and encourage each       member of the congregation to express their love of Christ by ministering to persons       beyond our church family.

        Enhance our ability to care for one another through strengthening the various       nurturing programs of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Strategic Planning

Late spring 2003, pastor Dr. James R. Noland approached the Ad Council with some observations, some challenges and a proposal. His observations and challenges centered on the issue of the direction the church was going - what were our desires for programs, growth, leadership, outreach and resources. He suggested that we do a deliberative study of these issues. The Administrative Council authorized him to use a small task group to explore these questions, to reach out to professional consultants in strategic planning for churches, and to come back to the Ad Council with a proposal on how best to proceed to answer the questions proposed. To learn more about the evolution and accomplishments of this effort, read our strategic planning page.

The task force developed the issue, and identified two companies willing to work with the church on the issues which were of concern. A representative from each company addressed the church, explaining their approach and experiences in working with churches, and specifically addressing how they would work with The Church of the Good Shepherd. The Ad Council reached consensus to proceed with the strategic planning process, and it then selected the consulting firm to use for the initiative.

The model that the consultants use will initially require the identification of 24 individuals in the church, who represent a broad range of experience, age, perspectives, etc. The Ad Council leadership, recognizing the need to get more than just Ad Council members involved, has identified eight such individuals, who in turn identified the other 16 individuals, again looking to the entire church for participation.

The 24 persons will meet with the consultants over the May 17-18 weekend, and work on initial steps of the strategic planning process. Once this is completed and we receive a report from the consultants on the results of the weekend work, we have only begun. These 24 persons will facilitate meetings of small groups of church members, to discuss the consultant's and the members' findings, and to continue with identifying the direction that the planning process should take. All the members of Good Shepherd will be invited to these small groups, thereby giving everyone the opportunity to be involved in developing the strategic plan for our church. It is anticipated that this will include the establishment of formal and/or informal goals for the church. The Administrative Council leadership has decided not to initiate any other goal-setting process until the strategic planning process is completed.

One of the primary purposes of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to use us and guide us to build up the body of Christ - the church, our church. The Holy Spirit was working in all of the members of the Ad Council on March 3, as they were trying to discern if we should go forward with a strategic planning process, and who should we use to help us with the process.

Now we must "take a leap of faith" and go forward in this process, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us to make The Church of the Good Shepherd an effective instrument for God's purpose.