In developing goals, your team should also give attention to the specific plans your team will take to accomplish the goals. Otherwise the goals are meaningless.

Let’s look at a fictitious example. Imagine that your goal is to plant a reproducing local church among Arabs in Doha, Qatar. You’ve recruited a team whose entry point into the nation will be that of a business that consults businesses in ecommerce. Your plans (here limited to those upon arrival in Qatar) would likely include the following:

Goal: To plant an indigenous, reproducing local church among Qatari nationals

Steps:

• Locate housing
• Learn Arabic
• Establish the business
• Find a person of peace
• Begin and multiply Discovery Bible Studies as interest develops
• Establish the church

You would determine such steps, for example, by learning from the experience of your mission agency and interviewing expatriates in Doha who have set up successful businesses. Note that these plans need not be completed in a linear way, i.e., you can overlap their accomplishment. If these were your plans, you could be seeking for a “person of peace”, for example, as soon as you land. You need not wait until you’ve mastered Arabic to begin looking for a person of peace.