The concept of strategy is well understood in the military
and business contexts. But what is it's role in Christian ministry? Definition and Origins
Strategy originates from the
Greek word strategia, meaning "generalship." Military strategy often refers to
the deployment of an army ahead of a battle, and the campaign plan for that battle.
Strategy in the business context is similar if we replace army with resources; giving twin
elements of campaign plan and resource allocation. Strategy is usually understood to refer
to higher level, longer term choices rather than short-term, smaller decisions which are
often described at tactical.
Current military strategy is demonstrating a
broadening of potential approaches to the pursuit of objectives than simply military
engagement. This indicates that the successful strategic thinker is able to consider a
range of alternatives, which may be fundamentally different approaches. Great strategic
thinkers and leaders are likely to possess a number of common characteristics.
Strategy and God.
Some readers may struggle with a
Christian approach to strategy, particularly since the usual fields of strategic thinking
have objectives which are often some distance from Christian ministry objectives. We
therefore provide a bible study on Strategy. This concludes that biblical leaders who were
responsive to God were called to follow unusual approaches to the achievement of their
objectives. (eg Joshua, Gideon.) What is clear is that Christian decision making at the
strategic level needs to be seek God's perspective, through prayer, bible study and
contemporary understanding of where the Holy Spirit is working.
Strategy and Vision
Whilst there are a range of
definitions as to what strategy is, for the purposes of Christian Leadership World, we
will take strategy to be the important choices that need to be made for the church or
organization to achieve the vision they believe God has set before them. The vision gives
the goal, strategy chooses the means to achieve the goal. In particular, the strategy is
likely to give clearer focus to the vision, since the choices necessary to determine how
the goal will be achieved are likely to result in greater understanding and perception of
what achieving the goal will mean for the church or organization.
How to determine Strategy
Making the necessary choices to
determine the strategy that the organization will follow can be a difficult process. One
too which will help is a SWOT analysis (which analyses Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats) which assesses the organization's current position in relation
to the desired end point when the vision is achieved.
The next stage is to develop alternative
strategies which could lead to the vision being achieved, and then conducting some kind of
decision making process which refines the list until ultimately the preferred option is
identified. This is likely to blend our understanding of God's perspective and calling,
with our best judgement of what will work in our particular context.
What is clear is that an organization without
a clear vision and strategy is likely to lose morale. Proverbs comments that "without
vision the people perish", whilst Lionel Urwick writing nearly 50 years ago in the
Harvard Business Review commented "There is nothing which rots morale more quickly
and more completely than . . . the feeling that those in authority do not know their own
minds."
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