Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

This month we offer five resources on strategic thinking. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers and the monthly digest.

1. Do you know the difference between your congregation’s mission and vision? In his webinar entitled Strategic Thinking for Congregations, Donald Romanik talks about the ever-increasing pace of change and how strategic thinking can help congregations effectively plan for the future.

2. In Making Episcopal Identity Strategic, Daniel Heischman writes about the idea of an Episcopal identity. He gives examples of four Episcopal schools to illustrate how the concept can be used as a goal in strategic planning.

3. In Five Pitfalls of Strategic Thinking, Susan Erdey presents five challenges to strategic thinking. One of the biggest mistakes is opening up the process only to church leadership and vestry, and not including the broader congregation.

4. Would you recognize bias in your own work? In her blog post, Strategic Thinking: How our biases impact our parish’s decisions, Erin Weber-Johnson explores the idea of biases that can derail the strategic thinking process.

5. Need to start thinking about strategic planning but not sure where to begin? Strategic Planning for Your Church is a tool with detailed steps to follow in a strategic planning exercise.