How to Make 2022 Your Most Fruitful Year Yet

By Laura Archambault

Read time: 5 minutes

As you plan for a fruitful 2022, Pastor, it’s time to sift through your many hats and put on your business hat.

We sometimes treat ministry and business very differently. Perhaps it’s because we operate our churches for a higher calling than “making money,” or maybe we intentionally avoid the business mindset because we don’t want to be caught up and blinded by worldly ambitions.

But businesses are motivated by the reality that they have two options: make money or fail. 

This weighty sense of responsibility drives the business world to be smart, always seeking the best strategies for success. As Christians, we have an even greater responsibility: both financial and spiritual success. We can free ourselves to be just as eager as any business leader to implement the best business strategies as we seek to accomplish Kingdom purposes.

Alright, now that you have your business hat on, let’s talk about fiscal and spiritual growth in 2022!

We’re going to start with one critical business perspective: 

Know your destination

You probably wouldn’t start a vacation without a destination. And you certainly wouldn’t hope to reach an unfamiliar destination without a map or a GPS.

God is gracious, and he can bring about miraculous growth even when we don’t have a clue what we’re doing. But if we know where we are going and how to get there, the path to success is clear. Don’t let the new year ring in without prayerfully considering these 7 Tips for finding your way to your most fruitful year yet.

Know your target audience

Part of knowing where you’re going in ministry is knowing who you’re trying to reach.

Tip #1: Prayerfully define your target audience

As Christians, we are truly called to love everyone. But as individual units in the body of Christ, there is probably a particular group you are uniquely equipped to reach. Trying to reach “everybody” will be ineffective. It takes different strategies to reach different people—so who are YOUR people? Even if you are called to an entire city, you must understand who is in your town.

Tip #2: Research your target demographic

Once you have prayerfully considered who you want to reach, get as much information as you can. Find out where this demographic spends their time: where do they work? How do they play? Where do they eat? How do they live? What social media platforms do they use? You want to know the lifestyle and habits of your target audience so you can “meet them where they are” and spread your message in the places where they spend their time.

Know your goal

Tip #3: Pick a Key Ministry Objective

Much like businesses have a business plan, you need a ministry goal. What are you trying to accomplish in your church? While God may have placed many dreams in your heart, be careful that you are not trying to “do it all.” A plan that’s too broad is just as weak as having no plan at all. I know it’s hard to pick when Christians are called to so many things: evangelism, prayer and intercession, teaching the word, caring for the widows and orphans, the list goes on!

My encouragement to you is to prayerfully lay your goals before the Lord and ask Him which should stay on your plate. Trust that He has called someone else in the body to do the rest.

Tip #4: Plan Matching Strategies

Once you have narrowed it down and defined the main purpose/goal for the year, develop some key strategies for accomplishing this. For example, suppose your goal is to reach 100 souls with the Gospel. In that case, you might pick strategies like an evangelism conference, an evangelistic crisis counseling ministry, evangelism classes for your members, or any other creative methods God gives you.

Tip #5: Measure your progress

Since you have been clear on your goal, it should be easy to measure the success of the plans you’ve selected. Whether it’s your marketing strategies to draw visitors to your evangelism conference or responses to evangelism from your classes, you need to track the numbers and measure your progress toward your goal. Think about ROI - Return on Investment. The numbers will let you know if the road you’re on will lead to your goal or you’re heading in the wrong direction. Data is powerful for informing calibrations and adjustments so you can find your way to your destination.

Know your finances

Tip #6: Set a budget and track your spending

No one wants to run out of money before reaching their destination. Since you have a clear goal and you know how to get there, you can set a budget and quite literally “count the cost.” Keep clear records to make sure you are sticking to the budget, and make sure that your expenses are not exceeding your income.

Now the concepts are pretty simple, and if you plan to track your finances on your own, you can! But StartCHURCH has a bookkeeping service with professionals who pay for themselves with the time they save you in record keeping. Plus, our current customers rave about how easy it is to make amazing financial decisions because of the detailed reports from the bookkeeping team. Remember—data is powerful for reaching your goals, so definitely check out the StartCHURCH Bookkeeping Service.

Tip #7: Increase your income

Carefully tracking your finances and keeping to your budget is important, but sometimes you have goals that exceed the amount of money you currently have. History has shown incredible stories of God miraculously providing unfathomable amounts of money for his people, so we hope that you keep your minds open and your faith alive. Among the many ways God has provided for his people to carry out his work, we have found two incredibly wise strategies that we like to encourage.

First, we love to encourage churches to become business owners. We refer to this as a “for-profit arm” of the church, and if your business is properly established, it’s a great way to generate money for your ministry!

Our second strategy for increasing your income is opening a Community Development Center, which we call a non-religious nonprofit. Why would you bother opening a non-religious nonprofit? You can read about this incredibly wise strategy in this blog written by our founder.

The path to fruitful ministry

So, where is your church headed as we move into the new year? As you plan for 2022, I believe that God will reveal a road map before you. So put on your business hat and sit down with God, the greatest business partner ever. Ask him to clarify your destination: who are you reaching, and what’s the goal? Ask him to clarify the path: what strategies will you use, and how will you fund them.

At StartCHURCH, our business plan is to make your business work. Whether we’re helping you on the path to starting your first church or helping you on the way to financial viability, we want to make your path as clear and easy as possible. Because we believe in the mission God has called you to, we want to make sure you have the right plan to get there.

What help do you need to reach your destination? Don’t let anything keep you from fruitful ministry. Give us a call today at 877-494-4655, or click below to schedule a call. 

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