Can you answer these questions?
If your Director of Religious Education suddenly took ill and was unable to perform his/her duties, would a successor immediately be able to pick up where his/her predecessor left off?
If your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system shut down and was beyond repair, would you have the money in your budget to replace it?
Do you have a protocol in place for handling the media should they come knocking on your door?
Are you aware that your parish demographics are changing and, if so, have you figured out how you’re going to meet the spiritual and service needs of the new people?
If you’re struggling with these questions, you and your parish will benefit greatly from a Pastoral Planning Playbook.
The benefit of pastoral planning is you and your colleagues will know where your church is now, where you want it to be, and how you are going to get it there.
Signs that you need pastoral planning:
- Declining Sunday attendance.
- Uneven commitment to the church.
- Uncertainty that RCIA and CCD are doing the job.
- Young people disengaging from the church.
- Donations/contributions going down.
- Inability to keep up with changing community demographics.
You’re welcome to use or lift from the Parish Planning Playbook linked to below. It’s written and designed to walk you, step-by-step, through a pastoral planning process. It also provides you with tools that will help you identify, evaluate and execute your goals.
CREATIVE MINISTRY AND MANAGEMENT 