Identify the Gap
In the previous session you evaluated your weekly schedule to determine what activities you spend the majority of your time doing. Did those activities also appear on your list of child discipleship objectives? Or was there a gap between what you identify as most important and the reality that your schedule does not support those priorities?
Based on research, explained in The Faith of Our Children, children’s ministry leaders believe the four activities that have the “most impact on child discipleship” are:
Building Relationships – 58.97%
Prayer – 52.25%
Discipleship/Mentoring – 46.83%
Equipping Parents – 39.72%
To help you make incremental changes in your schedule to better align with your priorities and goals, let’s walk through a gap analysis.
Let’s go back to your weekly schedule. Just like you evaluated it for child discipleship, we’re going to evaluate it for building relationships, prayer and equipping parents. Doing so will help you figure out how you might want to grow to close the gap in those areas! Use this printable as you work through this gap analysis exercise!
Use whatever method you want to indicate which activities you do that are related to prayer, which activities you engage in that build relationships and which activities equip parents. You also might find it helpful to review the activities you attributed to “child discipleship” and make adjustments if they better fit one of these other categories you are evaluating.
For each category, reflect on the following questions for your top five activities/themes and write your answers in the spaces provided. Consider:
-What detailed steps do you take to accomplish activities in this category, and who is involved?
-Are you being effective when engaging in these current activities?
-What makes you effective or ineffective when engaging in these current activities?
-What activities do you wish to stop doing?
-What activities do you wish you were doing?
-What would you do differently or who could you involve in order to effectively engage in activities that improve your effectiveness in this category?
-How many hours a week do you wish to spend doing activities in this category?
-What is the one thing you could do next week to be more effective in this category and how long would it take you?
In order to be effective, you can’t do everything alone. Look back over the answers in this exercise. No doubt you named a few helpers. But do you have a team in place to support you? The next exercise will help you think through that, and figure out who and what roles will help you meet your dreams and objectives.