Setting goals for ministry and life

 Several years ago when I served on Region staff our Executive Minister asked each of us to set 3-4 goals for the upcoming year. He would review them with us, and if he agreed to them, those would be what we would focus much of our individual effort on that year. At the end of the year we would review the goals to see what we had accomplished.

This was easy for me because for several years I had been setting goals in all areas in my life: family, finances, ministry, work (I was bivocational.), and self-care. I usually had around 10-12 goals for the year that included both short-term, medium-term and long-term which might stretch out over several years. I also had a daily tracking system to see how I was progressing with the goals.

Every goal must be written down or else it is nothing more than a dream. It has to be a SMART goal: S - Specific, M - Measurable, A - Attainable, R - Realistic, and T - Time-defined. If it doesn't meet each of these qualifications, it's not a good goal. As an example: We will grow our Sunday school program this year is not a good goal. A good goal would be that we will increase our Sunday school attendance by 15 percent by the end of 2024. Now, you have something you can measure and track.

The goal setting program I used was one I learned from attending Zig Ziglar's motivational lectures. He had an additional element to that program which I found very valuable because it helped me take the goal I wanted to achieve to a much deeper level. On my sheet I first listed the goal as a SMART goal and then added the following information.

• My benefits from reaching this goal.
• Major obstacles and mountains to climb to reach this goal.
• Skills or knowledge required to reach this goal.
• Individuals, groups, companies and organizations to work with to reach this goal.
• Plan of action to reach this goal.

By forcing myself to think and write down answers to each of these questions it gave me a solid plan to help me achieve the goal. Studies confirm that persons who have specific goals they are working towards accomplish far more than those who just hope things work out the way they want. When you focus on your goals you become a much more focused individual in every aspect of your life. You might not hit every goal you set (I don't), but you will find you accomplished much more than if you had no goals. I encourage you to think about goals for your life and begin to work towards achieving them. Your church should also be setting specific goals that will make their ministry more effective.