By Mark Azzara
I didn’t really know what it was like to do long-range planning for my church until I began. Our “task force” (oooh, I hate that phrase) had received broad but mandatory guidelines from our church’s central office and tons of data from a congregational survey in addition to our own input. I knew right away that if we heeded God we would do well; if not we’d fail miserably. We chose three of the guidelines’ eight broad topics to address in the next two years, and I then became part of a subcommittee that focused on evangelism – how our church will prepare congregants to learn more about our faith and how to share that faith. Along the way I realized how little any one of us brought to the table but how much we all brought collectively. At the end of those two-hour meetings over two consecutive nights we had a plan. There is still a lot to iron out but we actually have a sensible, achievable plan. More than that, we have hope because now we see that God did, and will, guide us.
All God’s blessings – Mark
