The other day, I took a trip through the biscuit aisle of my local supermarket and stopped dead in my tracks. Sitting there in front of me on the middle shelf, on special offer, were several boxes of a new flavour of Jaffa Cakes – cherry! I stood there in astonishment – cherry… What a flavour! In my mind, cherry is equivalent to bacon, chorizo and beer. It tends to make anything it’s mixed with better. After a short interval for consideration (roughly 3 seconds), I relocated a couple of boxes from the shelf to my shopping basket and continued on my way towards the checkout.
Now, before I go on, I will put on record that the UCAN team are highly in favour of Jaffa Cakes. We can’t recall a UCAN event or meeting where there haven’t been Jaffa Cakes on the premises and we have the audit trail to prove it. Therefore, none of the following comments should be misconstrued as a negative reflection on the humble Jaffa Cake nor McVities (or any other manufacturer) of this supreme sweet treat. Jaffa Cakes will exist in Heaven and are already being enjoyed by the trinity and the gathered multitude of worshippers around them.
However, my issue is this. I was in the biscuit aisle, searching for biscuits and I bought cherry Jaffa Cakes. Cherry Jaffa Cakes which are neither Jaffa (meaning a large variety of orange) and let’s be honest they are not a cake. Now I know this latter point is disputed. McVities made an advertising campaign out of this irreconcilable tension and the fact that Jaffa Cakes go hard over time when exposed to air, as opposed to soft is a fair point. That’s all semantics though. If you wanted to give someone a cake, you wouldn’t give them a Jaffa Cake. That is how to disappoint your wife on her birthday… apparently. If you offered someone a biscuit and gave them a Jaffa Cake, they would accept with pleasure and excitement. It fulfils the biscuit specification and purpose, yet they call it a cake. So, what are they going for?
And this dear reader, is why the hours of pondering on this subject have led me to consider the following three questions once again in the world of church administration:
What are we going for?
Are we approaching it effectively?
Are we communicating it clearly?
The UCAN Board met together last week for our annual strategic planning away day. This is an opportunity for us to come together, take stock of all that God is doing through the network, seek His direction for the future and ensure our plans for implementation and activity align to this purpose. We remain committed to helping church administrators and operations personnel feel encouraged, supported and equipped in their vital ministry. We want our activity, resources and events to give you the tools you need to make you job easier and more effective, and to provide a community of accountability, encouragement and development so that you know you are not doing it alone. This is what UCAN has been about since 2009 and it continues to be the case. We are still in the metaphorical business of ‘making’ orange flavoured biscuits.
In the mad hurry that often is the autumn term in churches, it’s easy to get wrapped up the pressure to fill the calendar with activity and meetings. There is a greater pressure presently, to ‘reinstate’ following the disruptions of Covid and to rebuild momentum. You may perceive the need to ‘rebrand’ or ‘refocus’. Maybe your team meetings have been considering a new and wild flavour of Jaffa Cake. In reading this article, please receive the encouragement and nudge to maintain focus on your church’s vision and purpose, ensuring your activity is clearly aligned to it. And what’s more, as resources are limited, uncertainty is still present and volunteer levels are low, ensure not only that your activity is aligned to your purpose, but that it is the most effective thing you can do to achieve it.
Franklin Covey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution, highlights the law of diminishing returns. An organisation or team has a limited capacity to achieve goals with excellence, and the more they take on, the more of the return diminishes. Therefore, now is the time to be focussed. Are you plans focussed to achieve your wildly important goals? Are they the most effective thing you can do for this outcome? Do you have the buy-in to cohere around this plan? Do you have the volunteer and team levels to deliver?
Diagram from 4 Disciplines of Execution, Achieving your Wildly Important Goals. McChesney, Covey & Hulling. Published by Simon & Schuster.
We pray that you will have the opportunity to unpack this topic with your staff or leadership team so that your ministry ‘out of Covid’ can be at its most effective. Perhaps talk about it round a table of refreshments… your choice on the flavour of Jaffa Cakes!
Andrew Bagwell
Executive Director | UCAN
If the challenges surrounding strategic planning resonate with your church context and you feel you would benefit from external facilitation, please get in touch with us to discuss our consultancy services. We have significant experience facilitating church team retreats, away days and planning meetings. Email info@churchadministrators.net for more details.