Introduction
The game plan will basically involve the following phases.
Preparation Phase
The Ministry shall be known as Sheepfold Ministries. Before setting up this ministry, there are things that have to be done putting into consideration that it is God directed. After deciding the name that I am going to use, I will pray about it so as to know God’s will as the word of God tells us that people are normally destroyed because of lack of knowledge and vision. It is therefore important to have vision, education and training as some ministry opportunity takes even months. Legal Considerations is an integral part in any ministry and will be considered seriously. This will include articles of incorporation that will give me a legal entity from which I will work from. State license is also important and it will to be applied for. This phase involves assessment and building of support teams.
Assessment basically deals with assessing the areas of need in terms of evangelism, preaching and teaching. This will involve visiting different parts of the country while meeting different people who are already serving God in these capacities. Just like any organization, paper is very important and in order to be on the right side of the laws of the state, then all legal documents that are required will be processed at this stage.
The ministry’s goals and objectives and how to best achieve these goals and objectives will be determined. I will get in touch with Christian youth leaders, pastors, Christian women leaders, bishops and other relevant men of God who will be instrumental in the development of this ministry. Building a Support Team is important in order for the ministry to be stable, effective and efficient. The team should have God fearing people who are devoted in prayer. This is a step that takes time to build and fulfill and the larger the number of intercessors, the larger the ministry will be. This is where the battle begins and where spiritual war fare is done (Pikele, & Metuele, 2008 and Ogwelole, 2005).
Planning Phase
This phase will involve putting into place the assets and capital for the ministry. The organizational structure will be established just as in the Old and New Testament where there was structures of leadership. The planning phase of the ministry will mainly involve funding, testing of the ministry and communication. Funding forms integral part of any ministry and therefore it is a concern to all that will be serving in the ministry. Funding will therefore form one of the prayer items so as to seek God’s intervention. Testing the Ministry is important because God’s timing is different from our own timing and sometimes we may think that it is the right time yet it is not.
God’s opportunity does not always remain open and this lives us with the option of prayers so that god can direct us on when to roll out the ministry. It is therefore important to test this ministry just as Paul wrote. Communication will involve setting up of channels of communication such as telephone services, mobile phone services, internet services and above all a website that will help large number of people to reach the ministry (Pikele, & Metuele, 2008 and Ogwelole, 2005).
Implementation Phase
This phase will basically involve putting into action all that has been drafted in the above phases. For example, the organizational structure for the ministry is put into place where by the positions such as the ministry leader, The bishops and pastors, supportive committees such as accounts committee, pastoral committee, mothers committee, children’s committee, youth committee and any other relevant committee such as the evangelism committee are established. The ministry also acquires offices or rather a place of dwelling or a base from which they operate from. Working in Unity is important in this phase as the scriptures states that we can do all things through Christ.
He worked in unity with the disciples. It is worth mentioning that it took Paul twelve years from the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus to the actual time he started in his ministry and He worked with other brethrens to achieve this (Acts of Apostles Chapter 9). I will reach out to other fellow Christians with whom I will work with closely to make the ministry a reality. Reaching out to others will be very important. Child ministry will form an important part of this ministry and this will be achieved through close corporation with the Mitcham Corps of The Salvation Army that has a well developed and organized children’s ministry and Sunday school (Pikele, & Metuele, 2008 and Ogwelole, 2005).
Evaluation Phase
This phase will involve evaluating the progress of the ministry. It will seek to determine if at all the ministry’s objective and goals have been met. Evaluation will help in knowing the short comings of the ministry and how to correct them. It will also assist in designing prayer items and those factors that need to be dealt with spiritually.
References
Ogwelole, D. C., Effective ministry as Pastor. Nairobi, Kenya: Church Publishers, 2005.
Pikele, D. K., & Metuele, M.N., The art of Pastoring. Kampala, Uganda: Maridadi Publishers, 2008.
The Holy Bible, King James Version., Act of Apostles, Chapter: 9.