Part Two — The Five-Stage Process: Stages 1 to 3

The annual plan unfolds across five stages. Each stage has a purpose, a set of activities, defined outputs, the people involved, and an indicative timeline. The timelines below are guides, not rules. Smaller churches will move faster; larger churches may need more time. Take the time the body needs.

A summary of the five stages:

• Stage 1 — Alignment and Discernment. — Every Saint reads Documents 1, 2 and 3 and works through Document 4 (the Spiritual Gifts Assessment). The body learns the framework and discerns gifts.
• Stage 2 — Eldership Data Review. — The eldership aggregates the workbook data, reviews current programs against the gift mix, and identifies gaps and opportunities.
• Stage 3 — Workshops and Spirit-Led Direction. — The eldership and the Saints together work through what the data is showing, in prayer, with fasting, attentive to the Spirit.
• Stage 4 — Scoping the Work. — Each agreed program (new or continuing) is scoped: people, scope, resources, time, funding as a range of three figures, operations, success indicators.
• Stage 5 — The Prospectus and Funding. — A six-step round: the scoped programs are aggregated into an Annual Prospectus and ordered into a published priority ladder; the body approves it; each Saint pledges what they intend to give for the year, undesignated to the body; the eldership allocates down the ladder and releases a provisional result; the body responds; the eldership finalises. The pledges test whether the scope the body has agreed can actually be carried — the giving itself arrives across the year, each Saint beginning when they are ready. Scope and plan are the body’s to approve; the final allocation is the eldership’s to settle (Acts 4:34–35).

Where the stages sit in the year. The stages run in order, and each one needs the one before it to have finished. Part Three sets out the calendar options and shows the whole rhythm as a diagram; the worked example there runs on an Australian financial year (1 July – 30 June), and the months below are that shape:

Those months are one worked example, not a rule. A church on a calendar year or a ministry year shifts the whole shape — see Part Three, section 3.1. What does not move is the order: the workshops in Stage 3 cannot happen until Stage 2 has produced the registers they discuss, and the funding round in Stage 5 cannot open until Stage 4 has costed the work.

Stage 1 — Alignment and Discernment

▸Purpose

Every member of the body is on the same page about the framework, the theology of the gifts, and the personal process of discernment — and every member has worked through Document 4 (the Spiritual Gifts Assessment) and arrived at an initial view of their own gifts and calling.

▸Activities

• The eldership communicates the upcoming annual cycle to the whole body — from the pulpit, in writing, and through small groups. The framework, the timeline, and the expected participation are made clear well in advance.
• Many bodies carry this stage through a taught series rather than leaving each Saint to read alone — the ten-week “Before the Fire” Discovery Course is one such vehicle, run as a Sunday series or a standing evening course. The teaching is the means; the output of the stage is unchanged.
• Every member is asked to read Document 1 (Vision, Purpose, Commission & Mission), Document 2 (The Theology of the Gifts), and Document 3 (The Self-Assessment Guide) in their own time. Documents 1 and 2 may be supported by teaching from the pulpit or in small groups. Document 3 is the practical assessment guide that each member uses to work through their own gifts.
• Every member works through the Document 4 workbook — individually first, then in conversation with family or small group, with eldership oversight available for support.
• For Christian families, the husband leads the family through the process under his shepherding responsibility (Ephesians 5:21–33). Husbands and wives work through their gifts and calling together; children old enough to engage may also begin to think about how they are made and what God may be calling them to.
• Where a Saint cannot or will not engage with the process, the eldership shepherds them pastorally rather than pressuring them administratively. The process is for the willing.

▸Eldership oversight

The eldership during this stage is doing three things: teaching the framework, making themselves available for personal questions, and modelling. Every elder and deacon should have completed the process for themselves first, and should be willing to share their own discerned gifts and calling openly with the body. The leadership cannot ask the Saints to do what the leadership has not done.

▸Outputs

• Every willing member has read Documents 1, 2, and 3 (with eldership support where needed).
• Every willing member has completed the Document 4 workbook to the point of an initial discerned set of gifts and calling.
• The eldership has a collated set of completed workbooks (anonymised or not, depending on the privacy decisions made up front — see Document 3 for the consent framework).

▸Indicative timeline

Two to three months — August to October on the worked financial-year shape (Part Three). The reading and assessment work cannot be rushed. For a body where this is the first cycle, allow longer; for a body where the framework is already familiar, shorter.

▸Common challenges

Engagement. Not every member will engage on the first cycle. That is fine. Document the response, shepherd those who hesitate, and run the cycle again next year. Engagement typically grows year on year as people see the body responding to what was discerned.

Self-assessment caution. The Document 3 framing is essential: this is discernment input, not a verdict. The eldership should reinforce that no one’s discerned gift is settled until confirmed in community, over time, by actual fruit.

Family dynamics. In some families the process surfaces tension — differing senses of calling between spouses, or a child whose discernment doesn’t match parental expectation. The eldership should be available pastorally and should not try to resolve these tensions through the workbook alone.

Stage 2 — Eldership Data Review

▸Purpose

The eldership takes the body’s aggregated gift and calling data and makes sense of it: what do we have, where are the clusters, what gifts are not yet deployed in any existing program, what programs are running without clear giftedness behind them, what callings are being expressed and where are they unexpressed?

▸Activities

• Aggregate the Document 4 (the Spiritual Gifts Assessment) data across the body. The aggregated view should show, by gift, who in the body has discerned themselves as having that gift; and by member, what their primary gifts are and what they sense their calling to be.
• Review every current church program and list which gifts each program requires, and which of those gifts are currently engaged in it. (Template B — Current-Programs Review in the Appendix.)
• Identify gaps: gifts present in the body that are not currently deployed; programs running with insufficient gifted leadership; programs without anyone gifted for what they actually require.
• Identify opportunities: clusters of gifts in the body that suggest a ministry the church does not currently have; alignment of gifts with stated callings that suggests a possible new program; people whose discerned gifts are not yet expressed in the body’s shared work.
• Identify continuations: programs that are clearly fruitful, well-led, and well-aligned with the gifts behind them. These do not need redesign — they need confirmation and ongoing support.
• Identify candidate sunsets: programs that have been running on tradition or on the energy of one or two faithful Saints, but no longer have the gifted body behind them. These are not failures — they are opportunities to release that energy elsewhere.

▸A pastoral note on sunsetting

Sunsetting a program is one of the hardest things an eldership does. People are attached to programs. The right approach is honest, kind, and unhurried. Where possible, give time for the program to wind down with dignity; honour those who served in it faithfully; explain plainly what the body is being called to next; and ensure the people who carried it have a clear, welcoming place in what comes next.

▸Outputs

• A body-level gift map (who has which gift; what callings are stated).
• A program-by-program review (existing programs, their gift requirements, their current resourcing, their fruitfulness).
• A gap register (gifts and callings present but not deployed; programs under-resourced).
• An opportunity register (potential new ministries suggested by the gift clusters and callings).
• A confirmations register (current programs that are clearly fruitful and well-aligned).
• A candidate-sunset register (programs no longer carried by the body’s giftedness).

▸Indicative timeline

Two to four weeks — November on the worked financial-year shape (Part Three). The eldership should not rush this work, but it should also not stretch it out to the point where the body’s engagement cools.

Stage 3 — Workshops and Spirit-Led Direction

▸Purpose

The eldership’s desktop analysis is brought to the body. Together, in prayer, with fasting, and in honest conversation, the body discerns the direction for the year. The Acts 15:28 pattern — “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” — governs this stage. By the end, the body has an agreed list of programs (continuing, new, and ending) and an initial sense of who would be involved in each.

▸The workshop series at a glance

These four workshops are not the Stage 1 teaching series repeated. The teaching in Stage 1 covers the framework, and it is the same every year; these workshops deliberate on the data from this year, and can only happen once Stage 2 has produced the registers they work from.

A typical Stage 3 unfolds across four core workshops, run over a one-to-two month window with one to two weeks between each. For larger or more contested decisions, additional workshops can be added. Each workshop runs roughly two hours.

• Workshop 1 — Hearing the Data. — The eldership presents the body-level gift map and the four registers from Stage 2 (gaps, opportunities, confirmations, candidate sunsets). The body reacts, asks, challenges, contributes.
• Workshop 2 — Confirming What Is Faithful. — The body affirms together which current programs are bearing fruit and should continue, and confirms the Saints who are leading and serving in them.
• Workshop 3 — Considering What to Release. — The body works through the candidate-sunset register pastorally, not in a corporate efficiency frame. Where a program has run its course, the body confirms it and gives thanks for those who served.
• Workshop 4 — Discerning New Direction. — The body works through the opportunity register. Each candidate new program is named, prayed over, debated, and either affirmed, set aside, or returned to the eldership for further work.

Between workshops the eldership and any willing Saints commit to prayer and (where appropriate) fasting, especially around the harder decisions.

▸A standard workshop structure (approx 2 hours)

This structure applies to every workshop. Adapt the content of each section to the workshop’s purpose.

• Opening prayer (10–15 min). — Anchor the meeting in scripture. Suggested anchors: Acts 15:28 for the overall framing; Acts 13:2-3 for sending; 1 Corinthians 12 for the body; Ephesians 4:11-12 for equipping; Matthew 6:33 for Kingdom priority. Read aloud, briefly explain why this passage matters for today’s decisions, and pray together.
• Framing (5–10 min). — The chair (typically an elder) names what this workshop is for, what decisions are in scope, what is not in scope today, and what comes next.
• Sharing the material (15–30 min). — The deacons present what they have gathered: gift map, program review, gap and opportunity registers, candidate sunsets. Plain language, no jargon. Visual aids if helpful.
• Open conversation (45–60 min). — Every Saint who wishes to speak does. The eldership listens. Questions are welcomed. Disagreement is honoured. This is the longest section because the body’s genuine engagement is the point.
• Prayer break (10–15 min). — The body prays together — silently and aloud — for the decisions in view. Sometimes the most important thing the workshop does is pause and listen.
• Returning to discernment (15–30 min). — The conversation returns to the decisions. Where unity is forming, the chair names it; where it is not yet, the chair holds it over for further prayer.
• Capturing decisions (10–15 min). — The deacons note what was decided, what was deferred, and what additional work is needed before the next workshop.
• Closing prayer and benediction (5–10 min). — The chair thanks the body, commits the decisions and the deferred matters to God, and sends everyone out with a blessing.

▸Discussion prompts by workshop

Workshop 1 — Hearing the Data

Opening invitation. “The eldership has done some careful work to lay out what we are seeing in the body — your gifts, your callings, our current programs, and what may be coming next. We want to share that with you, and we want to hear how you respond.”

Prompts:

• When you look at the gift map of our body, what do you notice? What surprises you? What does it confirm for you?
• Are there gifts here that you can name in someone, that they have not named in themselves?
• Is there a calling you have heard from someone in the body that you think the eldership should know about?
• Where do you see God already at work that we have not yet named?

Workshop 2 — Confirming What Is Faithful

Opening invitation. “Tonight we want to confirm together what is faithful — the programs that are clearly bearing fruit, the Saints who are clearly serving well, and the things we believe God wants us to keep doing for another year.”

Prompts:

• Which of our current programs do you see God moving through? Tell us what you see.
• Who are the Saints serving in these programs whom we should encourage and confirm?
• Are there programs we have on the list that you would not have included? If so, why?
• Are there parts of our current life as a body that are quietly bearing fruit but not on anyone’s formal list? Name them.

Workshop 3 — Considering What to Release

Opening invitation. “Tonight is one of the harder conversations. We want to talk about programs that may have run their season. This is not about failure; it’s about being honest about where God has moved on and where the body’s giftedness has shifted. We will hold this gently and pastorally.”

Prompts:

• For each program on the candidate-sunset list, what was it intended to do? Has it done that?
• Are there Saints whose energy and gifting have been carrying this program at the cost of where they could otherwise be deployed?
• If we set this program down, what would we be saying yes to in its place?
• Are there ways to honour the people who have served faithfully in this program as we close it well?

Workshop 4 — Discerning New Direction

Opening invitation. “Tonight we open the question of what new things God may be calling us to. We will name each of the opportunities we have heard, and we will pray, discuss, and discern — together — whether they are for this year.”

Prompts for each candidate new program:

• What gifts and callings in the body would carry this work?
• Whose name comes to mind for leading it? Are they here? Are they ready?
• What would success look like a year from now?
• What is the cost — in time, in resources, in money? Is that cost in keeping with what the body can faithfully sustain?
• If we don’t do this now, is it because we are not yet ready, or because it isn’t ours to do?

▸Capturing decisions

Every workshop ends with a written record of what was decided, what was deferred, and what is needed before the next workshop. Three categories of outcome:

Affirmed. The body has reached unity and the matter is decided. The eldership confirms the decision in writing and proceeds.

Deferred. There is significant question, dissent, or unclarity. The matter is held over to a future workshop, with specific prayer focus and additional work named (e.g., further consultation with people directly involved, further data, more time in prayer).

Set aside. The body has reached unity that this is not for this year. The matter is closed for the current cycle and noted for possible revisiting next year.

▸Handling specific scenarios

▸When disagreement is principled and persistent

Some disagreement is the body wrestling honestly with a real question. The eldership should not push for premature unity. Instead: name the disagreement plainly, hear from those who hold the dissenting view, pray together about it, and where appropriate defer the decision to the next workshop. Acts 15 itself records "much discussion" (v.7) before the council reached its conclusion. Hard conversations are not failure; they are how the Holy Spirit and the body together arrive at "it seemed good to us".

▸When consensus comes too easily

Sometimes a room will agree quickly because no one wants to challenge a strong voice or break the pleasant atmosphere. The chair should be alert to this. A useful check: invite specifically those who have been quiet to speak. Ask: "Is there anyone here who is not yet sure about this, even if you can’t fully articulate why?" Sit with the silence. Genuine unity holds up to gentle pressure; premature consensus does not.

▸When emotions run high

This is especially common around sunsetting programs that people are personally invested in. The eldership’s posture is pastoral, not procedural. Allow time. Let people grieve what is ending. Affirm what was faithful in what they served. Do not rush to a decision in the same meeting where strong emotions surface. The Spirit often does His clearest work after, not during, an emotional surge.

▸When the eldership is divided

Where the eldership itself is not of one mind, the eldership owes the body honesty rather than the appearance of unity. The disagreement should be named at the start of the workshop, the different views laid out fairly, and the body invited into the discernment. Where the eldership cannot resolve internally, the matter is typically deferred for further prayer and fasting by the eldership team before being brought back to the body.

▸Outputs

• An agreed list of continuing programs.
• An agreed list of new programs to scope (Stage 4).
• An agreed list of programs to sunset, with a plan for honouring those who served in them.
• For each agreed program, an initial sense of the people who feel called to lead and serve.
• A written record of the workshops — what was discussed, what was decided, what was deferred. This becomes part of the body’s memory and a reference for next year’s cycle.

▸Indicative timeline

One to two months for the workshop series — December to January on the worked financial-year shape (Part Three). Longer if the body is large or if specific decisions need more time. Do not compress this stage; it is the heart of the year’s discernment.

Stages 4 and 5 — scoping the work, and the Prospectus and the funding round — continue in Part Two (continued).