Pakistan (MNN) — “Strategic thinking” isn’t just about making the best plan to meet future goals. Rather, strategic thinking is part of the greatest commandment: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).
“It’s not about ‘expanding my ministry, expanding my church.’ It’s all about glorifying the Lord,” says Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center. “Part of the glorification thing is to love Him from our hearts, souls and our minds.”
Tomorrow, March 4, some Christian leaders from different ministries in Pakistan will begin the “Strategic Thinking” course with the MENA Leadership Center. Together they will discuss decision-making processes, cognitive bias, and more. Sharaiha says the practice of strategic thinking goes hand in hand with faith and dependence on the Lord. That’s the heart attitude they want Pakistani leaders to come away with.
(Photo courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)
“Please pray — right now, just take one second. Pray for people taking those courses that they can take the knowledge, but more than the knowledge, also the attitude of seeking God’s discernment and also having decision-making process in their minds while doing this,” he says.
There’s a reason Sharaiha is passionate about strategic thinking and the other topics they will be teaching Christian leaders about later this year.
“I’ve seen so many ministries and churches — not only, by the way, in Middle East/North Africa, [but] even Asia or Europe, or [the] United States and Canada — so many ministries failing because they are not thinking strategically,” he says.
“This is what we need to be doing as well as Christians, is looking at, ‘How can we function in a way that is God-glorifying and also having more of a strategic way of approaching things?’”
It could be as simple as studying the demographics of the city your ministry is working in, so you know who you are trying to serve. But the bottom line is, “we need to know where we’re going, and we need to know how to arrive to our ultimate goal, which is, again, the glory of God. How to do this along the way is strategic planning, strategic thinking, along with other competencies,” Sharaiha says.
If you’re interested in building up Christian leaders in the MENA region, partner with the MENA Leadership Center here. Check out the courses coming later this year to see what you’d be investing in!
Header photo courtesy MENA Leadership Center.
