Making Changes – Part 2: Strategic Changes

Last week, HP made a HUGE decision.  In the wake of lackluster sales of their new tablet (the TouchPad) and smartphones (the Pre and Veer), HP decided to discontinue their PC division.  This was a particularly big decision because just last year, HP bought Palm which made the TouchPad and other Smartphones because they believed they could compete in this market.  Unfortunately for them, their products did not resinate well with consumers.  However, fortunately for everyone else, they are selling their remaining inventory for $99 and $149 each – a deep discount from the original asking price of $499 and $599 respectively.

HP getting out of the PC business was a strategic change of business.  They changed the way they were going to approach making money.  This will change the shape of their company forever.

On Monday I started a 3 part “series” on making ministry changes.  Monday’s topic was on making programmatic changes.  Today’s topic of discussion is on making strategic changes.  Ultimately, when you are making strategic changes, you are working smarter, not harder.  You are adapting with your mission field and seeking to find the best way to reach them for Christ.

For example, you may have a strong discipleship based  ministry where your programming and ideas are centered around the fast, sharp students who are leading your program.  But then all of a sudden they all leave for college and you have a bunch of young, immature in their faith students who like to invite their non-believing friends.  At that point you probably want to take a really hard look at changing your strategy so that your programming and mandates to leaders can coincide with where your students are at.

Being strategic and evaluating how effective you are at reaching your mission field always starts with your mission statement.  What is God placing on your heart for your ministry?  For more information on mission statements, click here.  Secondly, you have to start being strategic on how you are to fulfill that mission (i.e., curriculum, experiences and program).  You can read more information about that here.  Then, set up some goals based on your plan so that you can be know how successful you are being in reaching your target audience.

Making the necessary changes to your strategy can be extremely important to making the greatest impact in your ministry.  However, I have learned over the years two cautions that you should consider when you are making strategic changes:

1. Remember, making strategy changes is not the same as changing the overall mission of your program.  Your mission statement and vision for what you would like to accomplish should remain as consistent as possible throughout your time in that particular ministry (unless there is a major shift in your church’s vision).  Making strategic changes works within the overall mission.  Your ultimate goal remains the same, however your strategy to reach that goal may look different.  It could be making programmatic changes or curriculum changes or teaching style changes.  Any of those changes are strategic changes.
2. Make sure your superiors and other affected staff (i.e. the Children’s minister) know your intentions of strategy change.  The reason for this is because your strategy of ministry really affects more than just your youth program.  It affects the whole church.  However you choose to reach the people you are ministering to will affect the church in some way.  In many ways, the church hired you because of your specific strategy so if you are going to change your approach, best let people know so that they are not thrown off guard if you have a complaining parent or child.

So where are you at with your strategy?  TAKE A MINUTE and examine your strategy for reaching your mission field for Christ.  How effective are you being?  How do you know?  Do a run through of your strategy and begin to start making the necessary changes where appropriate.

What do you think? What have been your experiences with strategic changes in your ministry? Share your thoughts below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.