“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
–Proverbs 16:9

We have spent several months working diligently to formulate plans for Mars Hill based on what we believe Jesus is leading and calling us to do. Strategic plans, business plans, ministry plans, strategic business/ministry plans…whatever you call them, they play an important role in the leadership of any organization—including the church.

In our case, we’ve developed a “strategic framework” to help guide Mars Hill Church in our mission. In sharing this high-level plan, I hope it will be of some benefit to you, but ultimately every plan depends on the Lord Jesus, His foundation, and His establishment of our steps.

Here is a brief definition of the various components of our strategic framework:

Biblical convictions – Why do we believe what we do? (the scripture included in our strategic framework reference the biblical convictions on which it was built)

Mission – To what purpose has Jesus called us?

Vision – Where is Jesus calling us to go?

Strategy – How is Jesus calling us to get there?

Objectives – Specifically, what is Jesus calling us to accomplish? (in other words, what tangible goals would indicate health, success, fruit, etc.)

Mars Hill Church – Strategic Framework

Since organizational plans aren’t quite as interesting as sermons about sex—or even predestination—I’ll spare you the details and speak to the main components:

1. Mission – MHC lives for Jesus as a city within the city: knowing culture, loving people, and seeing lives transformed to live for Jesus.
2. Vision – By 2011, MHC will become a movement of countless lives transformed by Jesus. We envision upwards of 10,000 people worshiping Jesus spread throughout multiple locations of all sizes—from homes to churches to warehouses—all on mission for the Gospel.
3. Strategy – Expand the influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by building disciples who are on mission and partnering in the ongoing development of local church plants.
4. Objectives – Our objectives are divided into four major categories:

   Ministry Impact – Our ministry impact is defined by two complimentary objectives: to see a growing number of people hear the preaching of the Gospel, and to see a growing number of disciples equipped and transformed by the Gospel. Both the breadth and the depth of the ministry must be factored into its success. (Matt. 28:16–20; Eph. 4:11–16; 1 Tim. 4:11–16)

   Internal Processes – Whether we like to admit it or not, a church must make organizational decisions regarding everything from people to property to money to other resources. Our processes are important because we want to be good stewards of Jesus’ stuff—and it’s all His stuff. The strategic framework includes goals and measurements to help us evaluate mission-critical processes such as the launching of new campuses and churches, and the health of our local church body. (Rom. 12:1–21; Titus 1:5–9, 3:1-11)

   Leadership Learning and Growth – In order to maintain a healthy leadership team of pastors and deacons, we strive to provide consistent training, accountability, and performance reviews. Our objective here is to develop and retain the best leadership and operate a theologically unified but geographically distributed leadership development program. The character and competency of the leaders have a direct impact on the health of a church. (Acts 6; 1 Tim. 3:1–13; 1 Peter 5:1–11)

   Financial Impact – The church is a family, first and foremost, but it still has bills to pay (just like our natural families, in fact). If we don’t pay attention to the financial health of the church, the ministry will cease and opportunities to reach and care for people will go unmet. Our two primary financial objectives are to cultivate faithful stewardship within our body and to achieve financial health and viability. (Mal. 3:8–10; Matt. 6:19–24; 2 Cor. 8, 9)

May we be given the grace to walk faithfully with Jesus and bearing fruit for His Kingdom, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).