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 judgment 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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