Pillars of the Community: Articulating Values 

Tim Kurth, Vice President, Ministry Solutions at LCEF, provides an overview of Strategic Ministry Design. 

Synopsis
One of the latest processes developed by Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) for our schools, camps and other organizations is called Strategic Ministry Design. This process goes beyond traditional strategic planning. It gives you the tools to create a strategic plan for today while allowing you to flex, adapt and refresh the plan along the way. The key to this process is identifying your ministry’s values. 

Article
When I was a child, our family moved around a lot. During my sixth-grade year, we lived in Urbandale, Iowa, and I attended Mount Olive Lutheran School. I love to sing, and that year, I remember learning “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.” One afternoon, somewhere in the neighborhood, I came upon a pile of concrete slabs that had been torn up and were jumbled across this abandoned lot. I climbed up on a slab then jumped to another then another. All the while, I was singing, “On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.” 

Besides sharing my obvious love of Lutheran hymns, the point of the story is that Jesus is the foundation of the church: the Chief Cornerstone. This foundation is the starting place for any strategic plan. Above that foundation, like an ethereal cloud, is the vision for ministry God has imparted. Picture, if you will, four pillars standing on the foundation and holding up the ethereal cloud. These pillars are your organizational values. 

Perhaps you already know your values and have them clearly articulated. Or you may have a general sense of your values but don’t have them recorded anywhere; they’re just woven into your culture… or so you believe. Or, you may not have thought much about your values beyond the generic values of academics and spiritual growth for a school or experiencing God in the outdoors for a camp.  

Over the past couple of years, LCEF has built a new process for our RSOs and agencies. We call it Strategic Ministry Design. I’ve talked about it in previous articles on “Assembled Intelligence,” the process of gathering the voices of your community and supporters. Now let’s consider what you should do with all the input you’ve received from the community. That, along with the experience and input of leadership, should give you what you need to identify and articulate your values. 

We recommend no more than four value statements, though some schools have gone up to five. The value pillars play a crucial role in strategic planning as they become one of the filters through which you consider everything you do. For example, if your values are academic excellence, spiritual nurture, connected community and servant leadership, you can now evaluate everything you do in light of these values. 

List everything your ministry does, and I mean everything. Once you have an exhaustive list, begin looking at which value(s) are reflected in each activity or program. By using the value pillars as a filter, you begin to see where your values are well entrenched and where you need to improve. In addition to the four pillars, you should have an “other” category where you can place programs and activities that don’t serve any of your values. Those programs are up for review and may be eliminated, modified or remain as a cultural touchstone regardless of the lack of value attachment. Once you have your pillars in place and have sorted everything you do into the pillars, you’re ready for the hard questions: 

• Do we need to re-deploy staff for maximum effectiveness? 
• Do we need to hire or reduce staff? 
• Do we need to refresh our materials? 
• Do we need to re-purpose, replace or build new facilities? 
• Over what period of time will we need to do these things? 
• When do we start and what are first steps? 

I’m sure you’ll come up with your own questions, as well. You can see how the filter of values and the process of mapping all your ministry activities into those value pillars can drive strategic planning. It can drive decisions about finances, capital campaigns, staffing, programs and all other aspects of your ministry. 

If you’d like guidance through the process of strategic planning, contact Tim.Kurth@lcef.org or 314-885-6623 and let’s see if Strategic Ministry Design might be a good fit for your ministry.