Maiquetia, Venezuela…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Church leaders of the Inter-American Division (IAD) met Jan 26-28 in Maiquetia, Venezuela to study key issues influencing the church and its growth. The meetings, which were planned to be the second of its kind during a five-year-period for union presidents and union planning coordinators in the territory, also included IAD administrators and departmental directors.
“This is the first time we’ve held a strategic planning forum within this quinquennium, [or five year period] to analyze the content of our five strategic,” says Ramon H. Maury, IAD vice president in charge of Strategic Planning. Born out of a series of surveys done throughout the churches in the IAD territory, the strategic issues were developed late in 2000 and categorized into five areas of the church organization: (1)Church growth and consolidation, (2) Education in the church, (3) Consolidation of the family, (4) Building church, and (5) Technology and the mission.
Strategic planning goes against the traditional way of planning that the church in the IAD has followed throughout the years. Strategic planning creates a sense of direction for all areas of the church, and regulates organization behavior in its five key issues, explains Maury. These five areas include a number of suggested programs and action plans intended to fulfill the needs of the church.
The forum, which brought union presidents and strategic planning coordinators from the Division’s 14 out of 15 union territories, allowed the opportunity for group sessions to discuss and review these issues and address some of the misconceptions about strategic planning versus the traditional method of planning. All key issues are part of a new term, “Evangeliving,” that the Division created. Evangeliving means living the gospel, being practical Christians.
Maury goes on to say that several union territories are strongly involved in strategic planning, however, efforts to have open forums are planned to be held among the local organizations throughout the territory in order to assist in equipping the membership for a larger and more meaningful growth.
