40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A challenge to church leaders to do critical thinking, April 23, 2005
Malphurs asserted that the typical church in North America is aimlessly adrift (9). Such aimlessness is the result of churches and their leaders failing to do the hard work of thinking through their mission and developing the strategies necessary to accomplish that mission. Three reasons primarily account for the lack of strategic planning: lack of understanding of the need, unfamiliarity with the process, and the deemphasizing of strategic planning within the business community. Historically, strategic planning in the business world adhered to a static model; that is, planning assumed business forces would not change significantly enough to alter the strategic plan. The reality was different from the assumptions and company plans ended up lying on a shelf unused. Malphurs desired to provide church leaders with a concise and workable model for strategic planning. His model comprised a seven-step process that takes into account the many forces influencing the ecclesiastical world. Malphurs accomplished his objective in a well-organized book free from the techno babble often found in similar works.
Critical Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses
The book's title is somewhat overstated. Advanced Strategic Planning is really the basics of strategic planning. Malphurs's principles are very elementary. An advanced book would assume some level of prior understanding of the process. Instead, Malphurs gave his readers a detailed primer on the subject. That said, Malphurs did an excellent job of succinctly outlining the planning process. He began with a discussion of the church and leadership's readiness to commit to the strategic planning process followed by ways to stimulate creative and strategic thinking. Additionally, as a prelude to the planning process, Malphurs detailed the dynamics of organizational development and change.
Several issues of concern come to mind regarding the preparatory process. One, Malphurs identified five attitudes among pastoral leaders that characterize resistance toward change (19). However, he failed to note that some pastors are not wired for strategic thinking. Some by nature are implementers and some are dreamers. Most pastors understand their calling only in terms of ministry activities like preaching, teaching, evangelizing, hospital visitation, etc. These are the things that excite many pastors, not strategic planning. Second, Malphurs alluded to the time necessary to lead the church to determine its mission, discover its values, capture a vision, and develop a comprehensive strategy. He noted that it could take as long as five years just to get a church's lay leadership on board with the pastor's strategic thinking mindset. Unfortunately, most pastors do not stay longer than three or four years. For example, this reviewer is the forty-fifth pastor in his church's 155-year history--an average pastorate of 3.4 years. Conventional wisdom suggests that the church does not fully accept the pastor's leadership until the fifth year. Additionally, a pastor's peak effectiveness does not begin until year seven. A pastor in his or her fifties simply will not have the longevity to see the process to fruition.
Perhaps the book's greatest strength is that it challenges church leaders to think critically about its mission, its congregational makeup, its visions, and its values. The instruments in the appendix are valuable, but they presume a well-educated congregation. An inner city church comprised mostly of high school dropouts living on subsistence wages is less equipped to undertake such a rigorously intellectual analysis. For those churches with congregants able and willing to embark on the journey of self-discovery, Malphurs provided some excellent tools.
This reviewer did take exception to Malphurs's disparagement of bivocational pastors. He wrote: "I question if part-time is better than no-time. It may depend on the circumstances. My pastoral experience has taught me that pastoral ministry is a full-time venture. Part-time ministry most often results in a maintenance ministry at best. Rarely do part-time pastors lead growing ministries" (164). With all due respect, this reviewer's pastoral experience has taught him otherwise. Malphurs should not treat bivocational ministers as the redheaded stepchildren of Christian ministry nor should he suggest that their churches have less potential than one with a fully supported pastor. Does he suggest closing bivocational churches since "no-time" is better than "part-time"? Over one-third of Southern Baptist pastors are bivocational. This reader wished Malphurs had dealt more graciously with bivocational ministries and provided guidelines for greater success and faithfulness within the scope of their limitations.
Finally, Malphurs's chapter on evaluation focused primarily on the quality of ministries and capabilities of staff. He should have more forcefully prompted his readers to evaluate how the church itself has changed since the planning process began. If the whole process takes five or more years to accomplish, the demographics of the church could have significantly changed. Key influencer could have moved, retired, or died. New members bring their own new distinctiveness to the church. The needs and expectations of the church change as it reaches certain membership milestones. A church with one hundred worshippers that grows 10 percent per year will have over 160 worshippers in five years. New members bring a new dynamic that leaders must continually evaluate.
Subsequently, the church's values may change to reflect that of incoming members. Malphurs refers to values as constant (81), but that assumes that those coming into a church already share those values or will buy into them--a false assumption. For example, a rural church in the 1960's may have valued homogeneity, but forty years of cultural change accompanied by exurbanization can cause a church to value diversity.
Evaluation of Author's Success
Malphurs achieved his objective. He skillfully outlined a systematic process to help churches and their leader develop an intentional strategy for accomplishing their mission. The flow of his argument is logical, his illustrations helpful, and the appendices useful. He forcefully made his case for a more thoughtful reflection on the mission, vision, goals, and strategies of the church. He admirably urges leaders to lead with vision and intentionality.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Treatment of Strategic Planning for Churches, December 23, 2004
I've read some of the negative reviews listed for this title, and I must strongly disagree. Malphurs' work here is the best treatment of strategic planning for churches I have found to date. In place of the term "advanced" in the title, a better word would be "comprehensive." Nonetheless, Malphurs here provides a handbook addressing church planning that is unrivaled today in breadth and insight.
As a pastor of twenty years, I wish this book had been available when I first started in ministry. I hope this title is now offered in many seminaries, because its content would be a gold mine for young, soon-to-be church leaders. Pastors, church staff members, and lay leaders, this volume is a must-have. In my opinion, it is required reading for anyone involved in church leadership.
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