Looking Back, Looking Forward: Strategic Planning at FBC

We are closing in on our 25th anniversary as a church. We began in September of 1992 at Lewis and Clark High School. Over the years we have taken on numerous long term ministries and projects. All of them with a constant eye to the sovereign purposes of God. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” From Strategic Bible Institutes in the former Soviet Union, to this building, to MomLife, we have dreamed, planned, prayed and strategized.

This spring we have launched a new sub-team of elders called the Vision-Strategy team. Their mission is to facilitate and energize the long range vision and planning for the whole church. It is more than a few strategic initiatives. We want to develop 3-5 year planning in concert with the whole congregation. We have two specific questions. “Who are we?” and “Where does God want us to go?”  God has blessed us with incredible resources and growth. We want him to show us where and how he wants us to fulfill the great commission locally and globally.

"Where does God want us to go?"

There are three foundational principles:

Trust and Obedience

The first is trust and obedience to God’s word. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” Our strategic planning overflows from the mandates of God’s word.

Wisdom Gathering

The second key principle is gathering wisdom. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” We want wisdom from godly, scripture saturated people from all over the church. We are sending out a survey in a few weeks. It’s a long one. But, I can’t stress enough, how important this is for the next 25 years of the church. We want to know how we can serve you more effectively. We want to know how we can help you serve the church and the community more effectively. We want to know what strategic opportunities you see in our community so that we can bring the gospel to the city. We would ask that you prayerfully give us this vital feedback. Then later in June we would like as many of you as are interested, to join us in the process of prioritizing this input.

"We want wisdom from godly, scripture saturated people from all over the church."

By September as we look back to celebrate our last 25 years, we want to look ahead to the next 25. We will naturally continue to strengthen and improve current ministries and we will launch initiatives for new ministry. At the same time, we want to establish regular cycles of 3-5 year planning that helps us set vision for the future.

Prayer

The third key principle is prayer. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” We would like to establish a strategic planning prayer team. It would meet regularly to pray for the congregation, the elders and the community as we pursue what God has for our future. If you are interested, e-mail the church office and we will give you more details.  We praise God for including us in his plans and we look forward to seeing how he will use us.

Dan Jarms

Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.

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