Gil Rendle and Alice Mann, Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations. Alban Institute, 2003.
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal – Strategic Planning, Congregational Discernment
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is my top recommendation for congregational strategic planning. Holy Conversations integrates a considerable breadth of spiritual and organizational resources. This includes spiritual discernment through prayer and Bible study, S.W.O.T. exercises (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats), organizational life cycle (see “Congregational Health Cycle” approaches), demographic studies, corporate core content (mission, vision, values, identity, etc.), power analysis grids, size transitions, planning committees and conflict resolution. It also provides step-by-step guidelines and tons of worksheet samples in the appendices (about ¼ of the book). It is this breadth of coverage that makes it perhaps the best guide on the subject.
Strategic planning, though quite profitable for churches, is a very intense, demanding, and time-consuming process. Key leaders should read through two or three volumes on the subject before getting started. I recommend leaders peruse the volumes in the Ministry Resource Guide, choose the one that best fits their context, or develop their own hybrid from strengths of several.
From the Publisher
Planning can be challenging in the contemporary congregation, where people share a common faith and values but may have very different preferences and needs. Much of the literature on congregational planning presents it as a technical process: the leader serves as the chief problem solver, and the goal is finding the solution to the problem.
Popular Alban consultants and authors Gil Rendle and Alice Mann cast planning as a “holy conversation,” a congregational discernment process about three critical questions:
- Who are we?
- What has God called us to do or be?
- Who is our neighbor?
Rendle and Mann equip congregational leaders with a broad and creative range of ideas, pathways, processes, and tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs and context, congregations will shape their own strengthening, transforming, holy conversation. They will find a path that is faithful to their identity and their relationship with God.
About the Authors
Gil Rendle is a senior consultant at the Alban Institute. Before joining the staff of the Alban Institute, Rendle served as senior pastor of two urban congregations in Pennsylvania for sixteen years and as a denominational consultant for the United Methodist Church for nine years. Gil has an extensive background in organizational development; group and systems theory; and leadership development. He frequently consults with congregations on planning, staff and leadership development; and issues of change. He is well-known for his work with middle judicatory offices and staff as they wrestle with the issues of both denominational and congregational change. In training workshops and leadership retreats, Gil has led numerous large and small groups in practical learning that directly affects the decisions and behaviors that participants practice in their congregations. He is the author of four books, as well as a contributor to two other books and the author of numerous articles and monographs.
Alice Mann is a senior consultant with the Alban Institute. Before joining the staff of the Alban Institute, Mann served for two decades in the dual roles of local pastor and nationally recognized consultant-trainer in the field of congregational development, with emphasis on incorporating new members, redeveloping struggling congregations, defining judicatory roles in growth and revitalization, breaking through size plateaus, and deepening parish spirituality. She engages large and small groups in practical learning and candid conversation about the choices church leaders face today.
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