There will always be more good ideas than you have the capacity, time, and strength to accomplish in the coming year. The process of setting goals is a process of setting priorities for the limited energy and time that you have.

You should set no more than 7 annual goals. Fewer is better. It is much better to set 2-3 critically important ministry goals than 12 goals. If you have too many goals, you will lose your ability to focus on what is most important.

The number of goals you set in any year depends to some extent on how many ongoing commitments you already have. If you are already committed to many ongoing ministries, you will not have the capacity to add many new initiatives. If you do not yet have a job description, then of course your AMP will be much longer.

(to be done at the end of each year in preparation for the coming year)

1. Spend some time in prayer, asking God to direct you as you take a good look at yourself and plan for ministry in the coming year. Listen to what God is saying to you about where He would like you to work.

2. Consider SEND’s, your area’s and your team’s mission and vision statements. Your AMP indicates in what way you plan to contribute to your team’s, area’s, and mission’s vision and goals. If your team is not ready to work on its Team Ministry Plan, do not use that as an excuse to not develop your own individual Annual Ministry Plan.

3. Review your job description if you have one.

4. Consider the following questions to fuel your thinking as you identify your personal ministry goals:

• What are the greatest needs that need to be addressed in our/my ministry in this coming year?
• What new opportunities has God given us in the last while?
• What new tasks is my team asking me to give time to in the coming year?
• What could I change in my current ministry that would significantly improve or extend its impact?
• What do I need to stop doing so that I will have time and energy to give to these new ministry initiatives?

5. After listing various possibilities for ministry goals, choose the goals that you consider the greatest priority and most in line with your calling and gifting. Remember, no more than seven (if you have a JD), and preferably fewer. List these AMP goals on the Annual Ministry Plan worksheet.

6. Revise your ministry goals to make them “SMART.”Once you have written your goals, review them to determine whether they fit the criteria below:

• S - Strategic (How clearly does it propel our vision forward?)
• M - Measurable (How will I know when I have completed the goal?)
• A - Ambitious (a faith-stretch) (Does it require me to depend on God?)
• R - Realistic (Do I have some ideas for how I would work toward accomplishing it?)
• T - Time-bound (Have I set a target date for completing the goal?) Annual ministry plan goals should be able to be completed within one year. If the goal will take longer than that, divide the goal into smaller chunks and set your goal for this year’s AMP to be just the first one or two pieces of the bigger goal.

7. Determine what you need to learn or what type of coaching you will need to accomplish the goal. This can then become goals in your Individual Growth Plan.

8. Give a copy of your Annual Ministry Plan to your supervisor (team leader) at the beginning of the year. Your supervisor can help you develop the goals if you are stuck and will help keep you on track during the year.

9. As you carry out ministry goals during the year, record what was accomplished. Not everything will be carried out. That is OK. Sometimes, the goal will need to be changed during the year, as circumstances change. This completed AMP report (goals and what was accomplished) should be given to your team leader at the end of the year.