Whay I Don't Set Goals
The pastor of a growing church explains his unorthodox approach.
Jack Hayford
January 1, 1984
"What are your primary goals for the immediate and long-range future?" The question came from the audience at one of our annual Pastors' Seminars.
"I have none," I replied.
Dubious stares and blank looks everywhere. I continued, "We never set goals—that is, in the sense of numerical targets, fund-raising drives, or enlargement campaigns. Our one goal is to build big people. Every effort goes into developing each believer in the threefold ministry of worship, fellowship, and stewardship of the gospel."
And I was telling the truth. From the time I came to the Van Nuys church fifteen years ago, I virtually abandoned the church methodology I had used the previous thirteen years. I knew the quotes ("Aim at nothing, and you'll hit it," "No vision, no victories," "Plan your work, then work your plan") and I knew the ropes (zeal, promotion, enlistment, persuasion, training, projecting, enthusing, inspiring, recruiting, educating, etc., etc.). The quotes held an obvious element of wisdom, and the plain work of developing goals and generating means and personnel to fulfill them is a very practical way to get jobs done . . . naturally speaking.
But it was at that juncture—the natural—that something inside me began to creak under the weight of the years.
A Growing Conviction
While pastoring in Indiana and then working for several years at my denomination's headquarters and also at its largest college, I had seen spiritually oriented human enterprise at its finest. I had also seen it bear a certain amount of fruit.
However, God brought me to this church with the conviction that there was a better, simpler way to do things. I didn't know what that way was, however. So the congregation of eighteen members and I began fumbling, ...
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