A strategic planning process is a way for an organization to better define where it wants to go and what actions it needs to take over a period of time to get there. The end product — the strategic plan — is a road map of that journey tied to the organization’s priorities (with specific goals, targets, actions and responsibilities).
Several factors have come together to make this timing appropriate. We have undergone, as a congregation, a substantial “season” of change.
First, the disruptions and changes from COVID-19, while behind us, have impacted our society in ways we are all still trying to better understand — including potentially the impact of technology and the way some people engage with the church.
Second, we have a new Senior Pastor who has been with us for two years now and is established enough with us to undergo this process.
Third, we are about to particularize Capital Presbyterian Fairfax and have a solid plan for our Capital Presbyterian Herndon site — but no other plan beyond that.
Fourth, the composition of the Session, Diaconate, and Board of Women have changed substantially since our last plan was put into place.
In short, we have come through these changes well and into a relative season of peace, making this the ideal time to reexamine our priorities as a body.
No. We have the benefit of a significant amount of recent research, including a late 2019 churchwide survey conducted by the Pastoral Search Committee and a very recent women’s ministry survey conducted by the Board of Women. We are also aggregating other baseline data and survey data as needed. Finally, while we don’t yet believe that a survey or poll of full church membership is needed, we recognize that the listening sessions are “qualitative” and not “quantitative” and we will work with church leadership and staff during this process to determine if, ultimately, a survey would be helpful and conduct it, if needed, at an appropriate time.
The SPC hopes to conduct most of the listening sessions and gather any other needed information by the end of Spring. During summer 2024, the SPC will analyze and aggregate the data, information and insights and share our findings with church leadership and staff. We also envision an update to the congregation on those findings during this timeframe. Once we have socialized the findings, the SPC will spend the remaining summertime and the early fall drafting the strategic plan. Once drafted, the plan will be finalized with church leadership and staff in late fall and early winter, concluding with the final plans to be presented to the congregation in the first quarter of 2025.
The SPC’s efforts are focused on our McLean site. We’ll share preliminary findings and the final Strategic Plan with Herndon’s site pastors and elected leaders — who may choose to incorporate relevant data into their own strategic planning for the Herndon site. Regardless of whether you worship at McLean or Herndon, you’re invited to share your thoughts with the SPC via our direct email ([email protected]).
