Giving everyone a say in mission
BY LAUREN MARTIN
By now, most territorial, divisional and all mission expression leadership would be familiar with the term LMP – the ‘Local Mission Plan’ – that all mission expressions need to create and commit to following for effective mission and ministry.
But for the large part, corps members, volunteers and even some staff are unaware of the plan and its purpose.
Not so, at Wollongong Corps (NSW), where, for the past two years, every corps member, volunteer and staff have been invited to contribute.
Corps Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Lyn Edge came into her appointment at Wollongong Corps with a keen understanding of the Local Mission Delivery model, having served for five years as Territorial Secretary for Mission.
“The corps, like many others across the country, had created its LMP [Local Mission Plan] with its leadership team,” she said. “But it was time for the whole corps to get involved.”
Lyn had learned a collaboration tool at university that she thought might be suitable for workshopping Local Mission Delivery ideas with a large group. She began reminding people of The Salvation Army’s mission statement and introduced the concept of a Local Mission Plan in Sunday worship and other corps meetings. Then, she invited the whole corps to a two-hour mission planning workshop to have their say about how they wanted to transform their own community, one life at a time, with the love of Jesus.
“At our first mission planning night, people were curious about the process and where it might lead us. It was so encouraging for people when we saw a wall full of sticky notes naming all the things we were already doing to achieve our mission,” she said. “That gave us confidence to look ahead at new opportunities.”
The workshop process was simple and effective. For each mission pillar (Caring for People, Creating Faith Pathways, Building Healthy Communities, and Working for Justice), tables of participants were asked to discuss what good things were already happening and what new initiatives could make more impact. Answers and ideas were then written on sticky notes and put up around the room, grouped into different categories.
At the end of the session, each participant was encouraged to look at all the ideas on the wall and ask themselves, “If we could only do a few of these, which would have the most impact for the Kingdom of God.” Each person then had four dots they could place next to the ideas they chose.
A few ideas received the highest support, and they were included in the Local Mission Plan. “It was very clear which ideas the corps felt most strongly about, so the LMP almost wrote itself from those ideas,” said Lyn.
The result of that year’s Local Mission Plan workshop was that the corps put on its own Red Shield holiday program at the corps, which was attended by children from families that the corps had made contact with through its Christmas Cheer initiative.
“The corps knew about our missional goals, and we had strong support in prayer, money and people to make those things happen,” said Lyn.
The next year, corps members were excited to engage in further mission planning. To broaden the Local Mission Plan’s inclusiveness, the corps decided to hold a similar workshop with the youth group one evening, which brought forth new ideas and passion for mission.
Lyn has developed a one-pager for corps interested in creating a Local Mission Plan with their whole expression, involving corps members, volunteers, staff members and even other expressions within the Area Leadership Team.
The key, she says, is not just to do the planning but afterwards to implement the LMP plans and to “use every opportunity to reflect and review the local mission plan outcomes and actions.”
“This could include agenda items for leadership team meetings, stories about the actions taken, focussed prayer time, and inclusion in newsletters and other communication channels,” Lyn said.
If you would like to find out more, ask your Area Officer for the one-pager called: ‘Creating a local mission plan with the whole mission expression’.
This one-pager is also available on the Local Mission Delivery toolkit on MySalvos: https://my.salvos.org.au/toolkit/resource/local-mission-delivery/2263/
To view a video on the Local Mission Delivery click here
