Showing posts with label Church management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church management. Show all posts

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Church management - Goal setting

Topic Four
Goal setting

7 reasons why goal setting is critical to success | Royston Guest

Once the mission has been clearly, succinctly, memorably stated so that it is easily repeated to oneself and to others from memory, the mission statement becomes the frame of reference for goal setting. If the organization’s mission is to do certain things, for a certain population, in a singular way what is it the organization is intending to accomplish in the short term, intermediate time frame, and long term. It is usually helpful to think in terms of one, three, and five years.

An effective and efficient high quality organization has at least an annual and a long range plan. These plans should be completed and approved by the sanctioning body before the annual budget and longer term financial plan is done. Often, unfortunately, church organizations reverse this order and put the cart before the horse when they design and approve their annual budget and then decide how much revenue they will have to fund various services and programs. In this order, the money comes before the mission when in high functioning organizations, it is the other way around with the mission coming before the money.

At UU A Way Of Life our mission is to improve spiritual health, reduce immoral behavior and sin, and work across systems for positive change. As we work on our annual plan, the first question might be “How will UUAWOL improve spiritual health in the coming year?” We have set three annual goals for this example.

The first part of the mission  is to improve spiritual health and so this year’s goal is to create a model for spiritual health which can be used as a blueprint in providing services to enhance the spiritual well being of individuals, families, communities, and broader society. This model will articulate a frame of reference and provide suggestions for how the model can be applied. It will also provide identification of measurable indicators that can be used as reference points to determine progress and spiritual well being.

The second part of the mission is  to reduce immoral behavior and sin. This year’s goal  is to provide a taxonomy of immoral behavior and sin so that the signs and symptoms can be identified and managed. If the problem can’t be named, it can’t be consciously and intentionally managed, so the first step in reduction of immoral behavior and sin is to identify the phenomena. Due to shame, guilt, and fear of punishment, evil usually operates in darkness, denial, minimization, and deceit. Naming immoral behavior and sin is 90% of its reduction for without the identification it is able to operate outside of conscious awareness and never be effectively addressed.

The third part of the mission is to work across systems for positive community change and so the goal this year is to establish collaborative relationships with at least five collaborative partners who share UUAWOLs goals and at least part of UUAWOLs mission so a synergistic effect can be created to enhance mission performance and vision achievement.

Accreditation standards

  1. Is there documentation of an annual planning process?
  2. Is there documentation of a strategic or long range planning process?
  3. Are the processes in #1 and #2 being performed and utilized in decision making?
  4. Is there documentation of a needs assessment of the primary stakeholders of the organization’s services?
  5. Is there a measurement system in place to assess the level of goal achievement?
  6. Is there a reporting mechanism documented for how needs assessment and goal achievement are fed back into the planning process?
  7. Is there documentation of a continuous quality improvement plan, implementation, and assessment?
  8. Is there documentation for how outcomes are reported, to whom, and how utilized?
  9. Is there a requirement for regular and periodic reporting to stakeholders of program and organizational performance? Are the requirements being met?
  10. Is there documentation for how the mission statement is related to goal setting and resource utilization?
  11. Is there documentation of satisfaction measured at least annually with organizational performance of payors (donors,) recipients of services, of employees including volunteers, and other community stakeholders?


Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Church management - The mission statement

How to Develop Corporate Mission Statements - Trade Press Services

The organizational mission statement consists of a short succinct statement that is memorable, that all employees, members, and supporters know by heart and they can state easily to describe what the organization is about.

The mission:

UU A Way of Life is a nonprofit educational and advocacy organization that strives to improve spiritual health, reduce immoral and sinful behavior, and work across societal system to improve the common welfare of families, communities, states, nations and the whole planet.

The vision.

The vision of UU A Way Of Life is a world where all people experience peace and joy and share with each other justice, equity, and compassion.

A good mission statement is short, succinct, memorable, and repeatable.

It consists of three parts:

  1. What the organization does
  2. For whom
  3. How

A good vision statement is short, succinct, memorable, and repeatable. It states what the hoped for outcome(s) are if the organization carries out its mission successfully.

Questions for accreditation

  1. Does you church have a short, succint, memorable, repeatable mission statement?
  2. Is there documentation that the mission statement has been sanctioned by the church board, regulatory stateholders, its membership, and other primary stakeholders in the community?
  3. Is there a specified process for updating the mission statement periodically?
  4. Is there documentaon of how programmatice decisions are made with the mission statement in mind?
  5. Is there documentation of how resource allocations are made with the misson statement in mind?
  6. Is there documentation of who in the organization is reponsible for the periodic review and updating of the mission statement?
  7. What percentage of employees, and dues paying members can recite the mission statement from memory spontaneously upon request? (Acceptable threshold is 50%)
  8. What percentage of the public can identify the organization and its mission upon survey within the organization's primary service area?

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Want a more satisfying and fulfilling church? Want to learn how to create and develop one?

What is Management Definition | Management for beginners | MBA ...

Church management series

UU A Way Of Life is now offering a church management series on a variety of topics. Are you a pastor, a chairperson of a congregational board, a board member, a pledge paying member of a congregation? Is, so you probably would like to see your investment of time, talent, and treasure pay off.

How is your congregation functioning? Is it effective and efficient and viable? Is your church full of life and enthusiasm? Is it accomplishing its mission, realizing its vision, having an impact on its membership and its community?

Your church is either dying, stagnant, or vital. How would you rate it? How would your fellow congregants? How would other people in your community?

Periodically, there will be articles on UU A Way Of Life to help you and your congregation improve your organizational management free of charge. If you would like more personalized consultation contact me at davidgmarkham@gmail.com

Your ideas and reports of your experience are welcome.

Church management, Welcoming statements

9 Elements of an Effective Marketing Plan - Ally Marketing

I have been researching welcoming statements designed to attract people to joining their organziation.

Here is one I found:

Our ogranization is an independent, non-creedal, and theologically diverse community that “makes integrity of life its first aim and leaves thought free,” in the words of our 1878 Bond of Union. We enjoy a well-earned reputation for inclusiveness, hospitality, and excellence in programming.
From its world-class architecture to its innovative and age-appropriate children’s education classes, from workshops and classes that draw from the wisdom of the world’s greatest teachers to social justice work that works, this is a  community that seeks to make a difference in the world.
No matter your age, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, or religious background you will find kindred spirits  here. We are, in the end, a community of seekers, people with more questions than answers who view life as an open-ended quest for deeper understanding and more meaningful connection. Join Us!
This is a welcoming statement for
  1. Rotary
  2. Americans for a better society
  3. Youth for America
  4. A UU church.
For the correct answer check the comments.

Further questions:
What is the purpose of this organization?
What is this organization's mission?
What would a person benefit from joining?
What is the function this organization serves in its community and the broader society?
Who would be eligible for membership?
Does this welcoming statement inspire you to want to learn more about the organization?
How successful is such a statement in attracting people? Engaging them?
To what extent is this statement ambiguously vague vs clearly inspiring to action?

If you are interested in other topics of good church managment let me know at davidgmarkham@gmail.com.
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