CHURCH AND PARISH STRATEGIC PLANNING
One Table, One Mission
A planning process where leadership diagnoses and the whole community builds. Seeds in the ground within sixty days, not a plan on a shelf.
WHY IT WORKS
THREE TABLES, ONE PRINCIPLE
It fits your church
Track A · Small church or parish, no staff. The pastor and the congregation read the church together, and members tend the seeds directly.
Track B · Church or pastorate with a team. Pastor, team and congregation each read the church, and staff and members share the tending.
Either track can be facilitated or self-guided.
No one is downstream.
The Lord’s Table. Where all are fed equally. No one eats first, no one eats better.
Benedict’s table. Where the youngest member’s counsel carries the same weight as the oldest.
The planning table. Where every voice helps build the plan, from the beginning, not as a final courtesy.
THE PROCESS: STRATEGIC SEED
WHAT GETS READ
WHAT YOU END UP HOLDING
About four months from first conversation to visible action
The Diagnosis. Three to five gaps, with the evidence behind each.
The Gifts Report. The gifts of pastor, team and congregation, tied to the plan.
The 60-Day Scorecard. Clear commitments, met or not met.
The Cultivation Team Playbook. Meeting rhythm and the first sixty days, ready to use.
The Mission Plan. Written last, from experience, after the first seeds are growing.
“Mike Ferrell is a true son of St. Benedict. Over years as a Benedictine oblate and through his work in business and leadership, he has seamlessly integrated Ora et Labora (work and prayer) into his consulting and books.” — Rev. Kristopher Cowles, Pastor, Holy Angels Pastorate
HOW IT BEGINS
It begins with a discernment call.
Not a sales call. A conversation about whether this is the right work for your church at this moment. Some pastors finish the call and begin. Some wait a year. Both are good outcomes.