By Gary Becker
BBM began as a ministry with a primary purpose of helping churches establish a vision and strategy to make a greater impact. A vital part of establishing a vision is doing an assessment. Generally, we use a process that is called “SWOT.”
Identifying the STRENGTHS in your ministry
Admitting the WEAKNESSES in your ministry
Discovering the OPPORTUNITIES or OBSTACLES in
your ministry
4. Establishing what your TARGETS should be
A statement we
often hear is “practice
what you preach.” We
at BBM are going to
take time this year to
do a “SWOT.” Like
churches in times of transitions, it is always good to do an assessment. In sharing our own SWOT we hope that others can draw an application to their own ministries. Perhaps some will consider BBM to help them do a SWOT. Additionally, by sharing our own SWOT, we hope you will better understand the ministry of BBM.
Identifying the STRENGTHS in the ministry of BBM
We are still at an early point in our assessment but some of our strengths are more easily identified. The danger in identifying strengths is we sometimes think we are stronger in a particular area than we actually are. Often this is a result of failure to effectively evaluate ourselves or an over estimate of our own abilities.
Romans 12:3 gives a clear direction and warning in this area when it states, For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Essentially the Apostle Paul encourages us not think more highly nor too low of ourselves. This is a balanced view of our strengths based on understanding how God has designed us individually.
A first look at the ministry of BBM reveals several areas of strength.
1. Ministry to churches in transition and churches without pastors as a consultant/coach is a proven strength. This has been a significant part of our ministry since our founding in 1997. It is proven a strength by numerous churches and the testimonies of pastors.
2. ServingasaTransitionalPastor(Interim Pastor) as part of the Transitional Ministries has been an added strength since 2013.
3. CoachingPastorsforencouragementand edification is a strength of our ministry.
4. The EQUIPPER (periodic newsletter) has been greatly appreciated by a good number of individuals, pastors, mission leaders, and other ministry leaders.
5. Our board members and many others have identified my (Gary Becker) training, experience, and abilities as a strength.
6. We offer a number of leadership development workshops focusing on personal development, team building, and making a global impact.
All of these areas have been recognized by our board members, numerous churches, and pastors as our strengths. The confirmation included church leaders and individual church members.
What can you learn from our first step in the SWOT process?
• It is often easy to identify our own strengths.
• The danger, as already mentioned, is we think we are
strong without a confirmation from objective sources. It is essential that you make an assessment of your ministry with input from a number of objective sources.
• The assessment should be a balance of people involved in leadership and individual members.
• Additionally, it is helpful to have ministry leaders from outside your ministry to oversee and review the assessment. This is said with a little self interest as one of BBM’s primary ministries is helping churches and pastors make objective assessments.
In our next issues of The Equipper we will share openly and admit some of the weaknesses of BBM.