Discerning God’s Will Without Abandoning Your Strategy

How Ministry Leaders Discern God’s Will Without Punting on the Plan

How do you balance planning and strategy with following the Lord’s guidance? For most ministry leaders, the honest answer is a moving target, and discerning God’s will is something I wrestle with constantly.

I want to steward this ministry well. I want to plan and build strategy, not sit around waiting for God to do something He has already called me to act on. But I also don’t want to strategize the Lord right out of the equation.

So how do we plan while leaving room for God to redirect us in new directions? I asked Chris Horst, Chief Advancement Officer at Hope International, that exact question on The Ministry Growth Show. What his team has learned reframed the whole tension for me.

Direction Comes From Listening

When I asked Chris how Hope balances strategy with seeking the Lord’s direction, his first answer surprised me. It wasn’t a framework. It was a practice: they listen.

Hope surveys its staff, its church partners, its national ministry partners in the field, and its donors. They ask how things are going, where the team thinks they can improve, and where they have gotten it wrong. Over the thirteen years Chris has been there, the ministry has grown considerably and become less executive-team-driven, not more.

“We have a significant pipeline of communication always running within the organization. Honestly, that’s where a lot of our innovation and visionary direction comes from, simply listening. Our direction comes from our organization as a unit, rather than directly from our executive team.” — Chris Horst

This is worth sitting with. Ruth Haley Barton argues that leaders discern God’s direction best not in isolation but together, through shared spiritual practices and patient listening over time. Chris’s pipeline of communication is that idea lived out. Direction rarely arrives as a lightning bolt to the leader at the top. More often it rises quietly from the body, when the body is genuinely heard.

Plan Prayerfully, Move Prayerfully

Then Chris pointed to a verse that has become a compass for his team.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” — Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

“We’re not called to keep the car in neutral,” Chris said. “We’re called to make a plan and take steps, and as we take those steps, God directs them. That might mean a change of course as we prayerfully consider His direction. But we do need to make a plan and act on it.”

The balance is not found by choosing between planning and prayer. It is found in prayerfully making a plan, prayerfully moving on that plan, and prayerfully weighing each step along the way. Prayer is the constant, not the pause button.

The Real Danger Is Over-Action, Not Inaction

Here is where I get honest. Most ministries are not sitting around waiting for God to move. The trouble is rarely too little action. It is too much.

We get so busy with daily operations that we spend less and less time with the Lord. Look at much of the Western church and you will see over-programmed strategies producing little fruit, an over-doing for Jesus that quietly crowds out being with Jesus. Dallas Willard was blunt about the cost of that pace. He counseled a friend to ruthlessly eliminate hurry, because hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.

I feel it in my own calendar. I keep a half-day of prayer scheduled every Tuesday, and I fight to protect that time more than any other rhythm I have. Every week, without fail, something rises up to claim it. I don’t think that is a coincidence.

So we make the effort. We guard the rhythms that make space to seek God, we plan and take action, and we leave room for Him to lead somewhere we did not script.

Staying Nimble: The Savings-Groups Pivot

Chris gave one example that shows what this looks like in practice.

For its first ten years, Hope ran nonprofit banks, microfinance institutions much like U.S. credit unions. Then, in 2008, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Rwanda made a request. Microfinance was good, he said, but there was a whole group of people, maybe even the majority, who were not yet ready to step into a bank. They could be served through savings groups, an approach that needs no formal institution and works through the local church.

Hope had never done it. Their friends at the Chalmers Center had, to great effect, but it was not part of the plan. So the leadership considered it, prayed over it, and moved. Today, savings groups through the local church make up about half of everyone Hope serves.

“It’s been a remarkably successful tool that we didn’t plan on pursuing. It wasn’t in the original strategy, but it’s become a huge part of our ministry.” — Chris Horst

Notice what Hope did not do. They did not suddenly chase water projects or pivot to fighting trafficking. They stayed true to their purpose while staying nimble about how they pursued it. That distinction only holds when your purpose is clearly defined. Naming your purpose plainly is part of leading without fear when the path shifts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Discern God’s Will as a Ministry Leader

Pulling Chris’s example together, discerning God’s will while you plan tends to look like four repeated movements:

• Listen widely. Invite your staff, partners, and the people you serve into the conversation before you set direction.
• Plan honestly. Make a real plan. Neutral is not faith; it is avoidance.
• Move prayerfully. Take the next step while asking God to redirect it.
• Hold your purpose, loosen your methods. Stay fixed on why you exist and flexible on how.

None of this removes the mystery. You will still not always know. But you will be moving with God rather than ahead of Him or behind Him.

If you are wrestling with how to plan without crowding out the Spirit, you are in good company, and you don’t have to sort the strategy out alone. Our team at Reliant Creative helps ministries build story-driven strategies that stay clear about purpose and nimble enough to follow God’s lead. If that would help, we would love to think it through with you.