INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC PLANNING Notes taken from Advanced

INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC PLANNING *Notes taken from Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs

Change • North America & The Rest of the world is changing. (business, government, school, church). Its not a passing fad. • Every few hundred years throughout western history a sharp transformation has occurred. World view, basic values, social, political structures, arts, key institutions. Now within 50 years a whole new world exists. Modern to postmodern.

Change Cont. • Google Change. From time of Christ to Leonardo Da Vinci knowledge doubled (1500 years). At turn of our century knowledge was doubling every 4 years. IBM looking at advancement of computers said knowledge will be doubling every 11 hours in near future. • The church does not understand megachange. We want to keep on doing what we are doing.

Examples of change • Juanitta Packer - Hitch the horses wagons, go to church was all day affair, now 10 minutes • People in our church saw the car introduced, radio, man on the moon, silent pictures - motions with sound - color - 3 D vision. News from print - radio – television - internet - your phone. Facebook, Twitter, pictures. Society is changing not a fad. • Where is the church in all this? How is it doing?

State of The North American Church • Answer is not well. • 80 -85% of churches since 1988 are plateaued or dying. • Unchurched is 70 -80% • Who is to blame? • The church for its lack of evangelism • Seminaries and colleges that train pastors • Lack of strategic thinking

Where are we at? • Where are we at here in First Baptist? • What causes a church to decline? • It stops changing to reach the culture. Organizations must rebirth themselves or die. (ie. Churches in Europe, empty cathedrals, Muslims) • What must be done to change this pattern? • We start a new lifecycle. We begin a Second Curve.

Where is First Baptist in its Lifecycle? • Lets Examine 2 graphs together • Our Church’s Average Sunday Morning Attendance over 10 years • Our Church’s Average Budget over 10 years

FBCB Attendance Over 10 Years Average Attendance 250 200 150 165 170 178 187 180 175 12' 13' 14' 170 100 50 0 06' 07' 08' 09' 10' 11' Years 15'

FBC Bethany Budget Trend $310, 000 $305, 323 $300, 000 $290, 000 $302, 330 $287, 144 $286, 512 Budget $280, 000 $270, 000 $260, 000 $250, 000 $271, 653 $269, 288 $264, 183 $257, 063 $255, 694 257, 063. 00 $240, 000 $230, 000 06' 07' 08' 09' 10' 11' Year 12' 13' 14' 15'

What does this mean? • Within 17 years the church will be ½ its size 85 in attendance. • Within 34 years the church will cease to exist. • Within 4 years the budget has shrank by $46, 636. An average of $11, 659 per year. This year that trend is already at $9, 000 loss. • Within 21 years there will be no budget • Within 5 years we won’t be able to financially support two full time staff members • Within 10 years we won’t be able to support a part time secretary, custodian. • Within 15 years the only staff member, lead pastor, will be bivocational.

There is hope! • Is it possible to stop the plateau or decline? • Yes! • The reality does not look good but that is why we are here. • I believe we can climb out of this with God’s help. God wants us to use this knowledge as an opportunity to thrust us farther into his ministry. • 5 minute break - When you come back, Answering, “Why you are here? ”