Strategic Ministry Action Plan

Strategic Ministry Action Plan

Mission: North Judson UMC exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Vision: To share God’s love to change lives and transform communities.

Strategic Areas This Plan Addresses:

Fellowship Goal: Intentionally provide opportunities and experiences that create a stronger sense of community.

Objective: Most church members will feel they really know more than eight other church members.

Objective: All church attenders will have an opportunity that works in their schedule to connect with people outside of Sunday morning.

Objective: Invitations to new attenders or lapsed attenders increases.

Current Baseline	Fall 2021 Benchmark	Spring 2022 Benchmark
Fellowship opportunities include: Sunday school, bible study, and youth group	At least four different fellowship opportunities not tied to discipleship are offered on a reoccurring basis.	At least two new families whose entry point was through a fellowship offering begin regularly participating in worship and/or outreach

Strategies may include:

The pastor has “open office hours” in a public place like a café or coffee shop so that people can more easily drop in to chat.
United Methodist Women begins meeting regularly again with an emphasis on fellowship and care.
The church has more regular carry-ins or cook-offs with the expressed purpose of gathering together.
Regular multi-generational game nights.
Quarterly or tri-annual events (previous examples include: parsonage open house, gatherings at Clyde’s, etc.)
Resume regular choir practices with a new director.
Resume regular offerings for children outside of Sunday morning.
Form a visitation team to follow up with visitors as well as connect with those who have been absent awhile.

Christian Service Goal: All church members are connected and personally invested in a ministry of the church.

Objective: All regular church attenders are familiar with the details and successes of all outreach ministries.

Objective: Church structure is realigned to be focused on ministry teams instead of coordinators.

Objective: At least one new outreach ministry is started to provide more opportunities to serve.

Current Baseline	Fall 2021 Benchmark	Spring 2022 Benchmark
Church ministry falls under the purview of coordinators and outreach ministries include food pantry, Kid’s Closet, free meal, pre-school, and furniture ministries.	Church ministry is reorganized from coordinator focused to team focused. Number of church members involved in outreach ministry increases by 50%	A new outreach ministry is up and running. All church members are connected or taking steps to connecting with a ministry of the church.

Strategies may include:

Creating a pre-school board to allow more involvement with that outreach ministry
Revisiting the results of the 2020 “white board sessions” to assess a potential new outreach ministry.
Hold a ministry fair to better share opportunities for service.
A monthly mission moment that rotates between outreach ministries that will focus on celebrating the impact as well as giving concrete ways to get involved.
Offer “Find Your Place” small group on a regular basis to help church members better identify the area of ministry they feel most called to.
Work with outreach ministry leaders to identify areas in the ministry that volunteers could be empowered to help lead.

Cooperation Goal: North Judson UMC joins with other local United Methodist churches to form a cooperative parish.

Objective: Adopt the parish covenant and participate in the creation of a parish council.

Objective: Begin sharing resources and expertise with other churches to enhance one another’s ministry.

Objective: Begin shared ministry between the churches especially in the areas of discipleship and outreach.

Current Baseline	Fall 2021 Benchmark	Spring 2022 Benchmark
Pastors of five churches are meeting together regularly to discuss and plan cooperative parish.	Lay leaders are part of the planning conversation. A cooperative parish covenant is completed and presented to each church.	The cooperative parish covenant is completed, the parish council is formed, and shared ministry is in the planning stages.

Strategies may include:

Creation of a Facebook page so that ministry leaders can share resources
Intentionally share events and opportunities between the five churches.
Hold a fellowship event such as a picnic that all five churches are involved in.
Create a combined prayer lists that has the prayer concerns of all churches included.
Pastors take turns visiting and preaching at different churches in the potential parish.

North Judson United Methodist Church