{"id":3960,"date":"2013-01-09T08:19:38","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T13:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=3960"},"modified":"2014-07-21T10:10:32","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T14:10:32","slug":"why-churches-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Churches Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The God of the universe made you in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27).<\/h2>\n

Please let that sink in for a moment.<\/p>\n

Because of that unique position and calling we were simultaneously given privileges and responsibilities like no other aspect of God’s created world. Chimpanzees don\u2019t build skyscrapers and fish don\u2019t plant churches; only God\u2019s image-bearers do things like that.<\/p>\n

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).\u00a0 The entire context revolves around planning and living in such a way that our watching world would have a better understanding of what God is like<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Fundamentally, that is what it means to glorify God\u2014to give others a better understanding of Him.<\/p>\n

Yet consider what would happen if a person walked inside the average church and asked a series of simple questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is this church specifically planning to accomplish in the next year, three years, or five years?<\/li>\n
  2. What are the ten to twenty specific plans that have been accomplished by this body of believers in the last twelve months?<\/li>\n
  3. If I bring my family and associated resources to this church, what assurance would we have that those gifts, abilities, and treasures would be stewarded well?<\/li>\n
  4. If God chose to bless this church financially in an unusual way this Sunday, do you have unmet plans and dreams that could be accomplished?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In other words, do people have a better understanding of the nature of God as a result of watching the way the average church functions?\u00a0 Or is it possible that the haphazard and unorganized way we sometimes (frequently?) live and do ministry leads others to the powerful, though misguided, conclusion that God must not have His act together because His people surely don’t?<\/p>\n

    We carry the imprint of a sovereign God who plans<\/strong><\/em>. When we make plans to spread God\u2019s glory and humbly submit them to His will, we\u2019re honoring our God\u2019s methods. We\u2019re showing the world a glimpse of what our Father in heaven is like so that they too can glorify Him.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s why Faith is embarking on a strategic planning process this year.<\/h2>\n

    Over the next few months, we\u2019re going to be gathering input from the congregation and community, praying and seeking God\u2019s wisdom regarding the direction that He would have us go in the coming years. This year, we\u2019re \u201cPlanning to Grow<\/a>,\u201d trusting that God has already planned to display His glory in Lafayette, and He wants us to join Him!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The God of the universe made you in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). Please let that sink in for a moment. Because of that unique position and calling we were simultaneously given privileges and responsibilities like no other aspect of God’s created world. Chimpanzees don\u2019t build skyscrapers and fish don\u2019t plant churches; only God\u2019s… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The God of the universe made you in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). Please let that sink in for a moment. Because of that unique position and calling we were simultaneously given privileges and responsibilities like no other aspect of God’s created world. Chimpanzees don\u2019t build skyscrapers and fish don\u2019t plant churches; only God\u2019s... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-21T14:10:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133602\/Planning_to_Grow_ROTATOR.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"349\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/\",\"name\":\"Why Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-21T14:10:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Churches Plan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\",\"name\":\"Steve Viars\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Steve Viars\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog","og_description":"The God of the universe made you in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). Please let that sink in for a moment. Because of that unique position and calling we were simultaneously given privileges and responsibilities like no other aspect of God’s created world. Chimpanzees don\u2019t build skyscrapers and fish don\u2019t plant churches; only God\u2019s... read more","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/","og_site_name":"Faith Church Blog","article_published_time":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-21T14:10:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":349,"url":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133602\/Planning_to_Grow_ROTATOR.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Viars","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Viars","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/","name":"Why Churches Plan - Faith Church Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website"},"datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-21T14:10:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/why-churches-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Churches Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/","name":"Faith Church Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c","name":"Steve Viars","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","caption":"Steve Viars"},"description":"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3960"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3963,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3960\/revisions\/3963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}