If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.
Setting goals is critical to developing any business, organization and yes, any youth ministry. Week to week survival is not a goal. Having a plan, developing a plan and executing a plan, based on your goals, is a big piece of developing a successful youth ministry. If you’re wondering where to start in your goal setting process, let me introduce you to my brand new course, Squad Goals.
Squad Goals is a 7 lesson goal setting course done through e-mail. Every day, for seven days, you’ll receive a new lesson that tackles a different dynamic of goal setting. Give the first lesson a try and if you’d like more, click here for the full course for only $7, that’s a dollar a day if you’re bad at math. You can listen to the episode above and all the notes are below.
Day One: Setting The Right Goals, The Right Way
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
Proverbs 21:5
There are the key words in this verse you need to gab hold of
Diligent – sharp, decision
One of the images this word gives is that of a threshing tool, a tool used to separate the wheat from the chaff. Solomon says making sharp, decisive decisions is the path to abundance.
Being diligent doesn’t mean to physically work harder or longer, it means going through the process of goal setting with the purpose of separating the good stuff from the fluff.
Abundance – preeminence (surpassing)
The result of decisive decisions making, according to this verse, is to surpass or rise to the superiority. Putting this in context of youth ministry, what if you could rise above, through sharp decision making, the hurdles that are facing you and your youth ministry?
Thought out goals will help you focus and give you an abundance of time, confidence and results putting you at the top of your game moving forward.
Hasty – to be pressed, to be close
Hasty decision making comes from being under pressure; you feel like you have to do something and quick. Cutting it close in your decision making and goal setting process does not give you time to introduce people to your “why” behind your decision making.
Set your goals way in advance, introduce them to your team as early as possible, wrestle with them and then introduce them to your ministry. Hasty, solo decision making is the textbook definition of, “haste makes waste”.
Poverty – in need
Being hasty leads to another year of unfulfilled goals at the end of the year, and wondering, “where did things go wrong”. If you want your youth ministry to end the year with abundance, rather than poverty, you will have to start with the threshing process and decide what is important and what is not.
Work through these questions before moving on
What were your youth ministry goals last year/quarter?
If you could go back, what would you change about your goal setting process?
Define abundance and poverty as it related to your goals.
If your goals are achieved, what kind of abundance would it bring for you and your ministry?
If your goals are not achieve what kind of poverty would that bring you or your ministry?
What was the last well thought out decision you made and what was the result?
What was the last hasty decision you made and what was the result?
Personal Goals
Students need an authentic model (a person) and a weekly opportunity (a practice) to grow in faith.
Goals, when it comes to youth ministry, is less about numbers and more about modeling the practice of godliness. The spiritual goals of the group cannot be separated from the personal practices of their leader. What goals do you need to set for yourself in these areas.
Evangelism – sharing or being a witness of God’s grace and goodness
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Discipleship – the practice of following Jesus
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Worship – surrendering to God’s purposes
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Service – to one another and the community you live in
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Fellowship – deeper relationships with other believers
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My Youth Ministry Goals
Make a list of your youth ministry goals in these five areas, and be as detailed as you need to be, use the back or a notebook for more room. What does each of these look like when a student practices them?
Evangelism – sharing or being a witness of God’s grace and goodness
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Discipleship – the practice of following Jesus
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Worship – the surrender of each student to God’s purposes
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Service – to one another and the community
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Fellowship – deeper relationships with other believers
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Great Job!
You’ve finished day one of Squad Goals!
Get Ready For Day Two: Aligning Your Goals
If you have questions, send them to me, Paul, at thedisicpleproject@gmail.com
Other Resources
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Are S.M.A.R.T Goals A Dumb Idea?
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