A primary purpose of leadership development and discipleship Ministries is to engage and equip pastoral and lay leaders in the church. LDD promotes initiatives to address the cultivation of ministry leaders.

Learn more about our objectives and goals designed to help leaders accomplish all that God has purposed.

Objective #1

Provide applicable and accessible content, tools, and resources to all leaders within the Church.

Goals

• Review and update existing educational content
• Identify and develop new content that reflects current or emerging needs within the Church
• Identify and create content in the most effective delivery method(s) for each continental area
• Translate existing and all new content into additional languages
• Increase the number of trainers in each continental area by 50% over the next 4 years
• Research, purchase, and implement a Learning Management System for global leadership development
• Explore new areas of relevant ministries to include in LDD
• Increase the number of training hours completed each year by 15%
• Increase the number of unique participants in LDD training
• Increase the number of leaders (pastoral and lay leaders) within the Church by 10% each year

Objective #2

Increase the number of young leaders within global church leadership between the ages of 18-25 by 33% and ages 26-35 by 50%.*

Goals

• Create a nurturing environment for young leaders within the COGOP
• Develop and implement a global strategy to recruit and retain young adult leaders
• Increase retention of young leaders to a rate of 75%

Outcomes

Recruitment:
With 65% of our current leaders over age 50, and 10% under age 35, recruiting new leaders is essential to the continued health and growth of the Church.* By using key methods to attract new leaders to pastoral or lay positions, we can positively impact the Church’s current leadership age while empowering leaders to effectively serve their communities and congregations.

Development:
With excellent, applicable, and accessible ministry education content, we will be able to more effectively develop our leaders’ skills and knowledge so that they are better equipped to accomplish the mission of the Church.

Alignment among individual ministries and organizational levels (i.e. local, state, regional, national, and continental) is critical to communicate and achieve the goals set forth in this strategic plan. To do this, we will create standards for content development and review, and create a pathway to engage leaders in continuous learning and development.

We will strive to be a cohesive unit setting aside our personal agendas and working toward a shared mission. We are committed to creating team unity by working collaboratively and being accountable to our shared values.

Objective #1

Provide applicable and accessible content, tools, and resources to all leaders within the Church.

Goals

• Establish and implement standards for all content development
• Develop a standardized and comprehensive pathway for continuous growth
• Create content that can be utilized as minimum required training for leaders
• Establish a global committee to review and approve new content
• Consistent communication between IO leadership and our constituents through newsletters, social media, websites, and other communication platforms

Outcomes

Mission–focused operations
The goals, objectives, and expected outcomes for LDD are all aligned with our mission, which creates a common understanding of expectations throughout the Church. These direct linkages to the mission also create a cascading process that fosters enhanced communication, increased engagement, and more efficient and effective operations.

Ability to retain leaders
Learning pathways help to accomplish this progression and give our leaders a sense of where they are and where they can go in their leadership development. By providing consistent and accessible continuing education opportunities, we will be able to better engage and retain active and equipped leaders in our Church.

Clear opportunities for best practices
LDD leaders will establish and foster cross ministry collaboration to achieve common goals and objectives and resolve challenging issues as an organization. The lessons learned and outcomes of these collaborative efforts are captured, collected, and shared across the Church as a way to showcase and strengthen the collaborative process.

To achieve sustainable, quality content and processes, the Leadership Development and Discipleship ministries must recognize the successes and failures that determine causes and provide solutions that promote our goals. We will hold ourselves accountable to feedback and evaluation from our leaders and all individuals who participate in LDD training programs and events.

Learn more about our objectives and goals designed to provide practical application and opportunities for follow up/feedback from participants in LDD training.

Objective #1

Establish a culture of accountability among leaders.

Goals

• Identify and establish methods to capture LDD data and success measures
• Build in practical applications to all content
• Identify and establish methods for follow-up and feedback for LDD content
• Accept feedback and evaluation from our leaders and all individuals who participate in LDD training programs and events
• Develop a database that provides easy accessibility to measurements of success and failures. We will include opportunities for evaluation and follow up in all LDD content

Outcomes

Focused measures and evaluation
Strategic and operational measures will be aligned with the mission and goals of the Church, LDD, and specific programs. Evaluation will be used to offer a solid foundation for communicating outcomes and responsiveness to constituent feedback.

Responsiveness to constituent feedback
Leaders will partner with constituents to capture input on strategic goals, measures, and impact. By having a voice in this process, leaders are more likely to be engaged. This also allows IO leadership to make adjustments based on feedback from other Church leaders, providing opportunities for continuous improvement and problem solving.

Forced follow through
To address the starting and stopping of programs and initiatives, we are committed to accomplishing goals laid out in this report. We seek to be held accountable to data received and feedback from participants in the programs offered.

Good relationships are built through communication and founded in trust and respect. Positive environments offer a safe place for people to share their feedback and provide a platform in which they can collaborate with one another. New training approaches that reinforce the importance of relationship building and increased connectedness will enrich our ministries.

Learn more about our objectives and goals designed to help ministerial leaders adopt relationship-centered interactions for thriving fellowship within the Church.

Objective #1

Improve relationships within leadership globally.

Goals

• Establish new and strengthen existing relationships between and within all levels of COGOP leadership
• Establish new and strengthen existing relationships with academic and non-academic partners

Outcomes

Increased trust and respect
Trust and respect are the foundations of any good relationship. Through these virtues we can communicate more effectively to strengthen bonds, form new ones, and solve issues we face.

By developing a strong relationship among leaders and with key academic and non-academic partners, we can also improve our stance in the world we are trying to impact.

Improved teamwork
We know that solid organizational performance comes from an effective, high-functioning team. At the core of this is how each person works together. We will strive to develop authentic and strong relationships to promote and achieve our mission.

Increased leader engagement and retention
The strategic planning survey reveals that many leaders feel disconnected from the International Offices and lacking the support needed. By encouraging relationship building and healthy feedback, leaders feel connected and supported, which improves ministry retention.