Parish Development Action Planning

Every parish is encouraged to think about how it goes about planning for new projects.

These projects could be installing new facilities into a church or reaching a group of people who currently are not involved in the life of the Sunday congregation.

Since 2015 the Diocese has been talking about a 50/50 blended economy. This means that for every current Sunday service we hope to see another complementary expression of Church.

In the past we have asked parishes to create a Mission Action Plan. In 2015 we renamed these as Development Action Planning, but effectively they are the same thing.

The Resource Manual has a section to help PCCs think about all that has been good in the past and start thinking about what more can be done. This approach is called Appreciative and a number of parishes have found it very helpful as they undertake a review of the churches activities and facilities.

However, some parish prefer different tools such as the classic SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats).

Whatever method or approach the PCC prefers we recommend that every parish has a Development Action Plan.

DAPs do not need to be complicated, but they do need to be thought about.

The following questions need to be addressed

• Given what we know has been appreciated in the past, what is God calling us to now?
• Do we have the resources- both in terms of people and finances?
• What shall we stop in order to start something new or do we have the resources to start something almost immediately?
• If we don’t have the resources on hand now what can we do to ensure that we do have them so that we can start the new project?
• How does the PCC budget fit into this- do we need to raise funds in order to resource it properly?
• Who is actually going to lead on this and who has responsibility?

In other words we are asking PCCs to have a vison for the future and plan their journey so that they get there.

In essence, a parish Development Action Plan is written down, shared with others, prayed about and then acted upon so that it becomes a reality and not just a dream.