Annual Goals Template
MAYFLOWER CHURCH
Annual Goals
Streamline System 11 — Annual Goal-Setting for Staff, Officers, and Team Leaders
Draft April 2026
Governing Principle
Goals are pastoral.
At Mayflower, an annual goal is not a corporate metric we are trying to hit; it is a faithful naming of what we are asking God to do through us this year, and what we will pay attention to so we know whether He is doing it.
Purpose
This document establishes how Mayflower Church staff, officers, and ministry team leaders set annual goals for their roles. It is the front end of the performance evaluation cycle: the goals set here are the goals reviewed in the annual Performance Evaluation Framework conversation. Without this front end, evaluations review against nothing; with it, the year has shape.
It sits inside System 11 — Performance Evaluations — alongside the existing Performance Evaluation Framework, Office Bearer Annual Reaffirmation, Senior Pastor Pastoral Review, and Staff Joy-at-Work Review.
Why Goals at Mayflower
Three convictions shape why we do this:
- What we name, we tend. When something is named at the start of the year and written down, it gets attention. When nothing is named, attention drifts to the loudest current thing.
- Expectations are care. Telling someone what we hope to see them do this year — and telling them clearly — is not pressure; it is the opposite of pressure. Vague expectations are exhausting. Specific ones are manageable.
- Goals connect the role to the mission. Mayflower's mission and the Five Priority Ministries we guard are the church's North Star. Every staff member, officer, and team leader's annual goals should connect to that North Star. Goals that have nothing to do with the church's mission are a sign the goals are off, not a sign the mission is.
Cadence
The annual goal cycle is anchored to Mayflower's annual rhythm:
When | What |
|---|---|
August Leadership Summit | Goals for the upcoming program year are set or refreshed. Each person leaves with a written list of three to five goals. |
Quarter end (Sep / Dec / Mar / Jun) | Brief self-check: Am I on track? Anything need to shift? |
Mid-year (typically January) | More substantive check-in conversation with the supervising leader. Course-correction, not evaluation. |
August Leadership Summit (next year) | Goals are reviewed (did we see the year we hoped for?), then refreshed for the new program year. The annual Performance Evaluation Framework conversation runs in this same window. |
The August Summit is the single most important calendar event for this rhythm. If goals are not set there, they tend not to get set at all.
Goal-Setting Principles
Three to five goals per person.
Fewer than three and the role is underdescribed; more than five and nothing gets attention. Three to five is the sustainable range.
Each goal connects to one of the Five Priority Ministries.
Goals that do not connect should either be reworked or named honestly as supporting work that protects the priorities. The Five Priority Ministries — Ministry of the Word, the Lord's Day Gathering, Gospel-Driven Prayer, Disciple-Making Pathways, and Membership and Shepherding Care — are the test.
Measurable enough to know if we hit it.
Not every goal can be a number, but every goal should be specific enough that at year's end the question “did we do this?” has a clear answer. “Improve hospitality” is not a goal. “Train and deploy a twelve-person hospitality team that covers every Sunday and welcomes first-time visitors by name” is a goal.
Time-bound.
Annual horizon, with at least one mid-year checkpoint. Some goals will have multiple interim deadlines that get tracked through the year.
Realistic and faith-stretching.
Goals should be achievable enough that the person can actually plan toward them, and large enough that the person needs to ask the Lord for help. A goal that doesn't drive you to your knees is probably too small.
Who Sets Goals With Whom
Goal-setting is collaborative. The person whose goals are being set drafts them; the supervising leader reviews, refines, and confirms.
Role | Sets Goals With |
|---|---|
Senior Pastor | Board of Elders |
Other pastoral and program staff | Senior Pastor |
Office staff | Senior Pastor (or designated supervisor) |
Officers (deacons, trustees, board members, treasurers) | The relevant board, in consultation with the Senior Pastor where appropriate |
Ministry team leaders | The board (elders, deacons, or trustees) that oversees their team or group |
The supervising party reviews the drafted goals against three questions:
- Do these connect to one or more of the Five Priority Ministries?
- Are they specific enough that we will know if we hit them?
- Are they realistic for the season this person is in?
If any answer is no, the goals get reworked together. Goals that survive this review are the goals for the year.
The Template
A goal record for a single person, set annually, has four fields. Use this template for each goal — three to five rows per person.
Goal | Why It Matters / Priority Ministry Link | How We Will Know We Hit It | Owner & Due |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Worked example: Worship Team Leader
Three sample goals showing the level of specificity expected:
Goal | Why It Matters | How We Will Know | Owner & Due |
|---|---|---|---|
Recruit and train two additional vocalists capable of leading congregational singing. | Strengthens The Lord's Day Gathering (Priority 2). Currently the team can only cover three of four Sundays. | Two new vocalists active by November; both have led at least one service by January. | Worship Team Leader / Nov 30, 2026 |
Move from monthly to weekly Sunday morning rehearsals during the program year. | Strengthens The Lord's Day Gathering (Priority 2). Tighter rehearsals raise the spiritual focus of corporate worship. | Weekly rehearsals in place from September; attendance at or above 80% per week. | Worship Team Leader / Sep 7, 2026 |
Build a worship-team prayer rhythm tied to the pre-service huddle. | Strengthens Gospel-Driven Prayer (Priority 3). Prayer becomes structural to the team, not a private add-on. | Pre-service prayer led by team members on a rotating basis weekly by October. | Worship Team Leader / Oct 5, 2026 |
Mid-Year Check-In
In January, the supervising leader and the goal-holder meet for a brief check-in. Not formal. Coffee. Three questions:
- Where are we on each goal? A short, honest update. Green / yellow / red.
- Has anything changed? Life seasons, family events, ministry surprises, doctrinal matters that have surfaced — anything that might change the right shape of the year.
- What support do you need? What would help you finish the year well?
The mid-year check-in is not an evaluation. It is a course correction conversation. Goals may be revised, dropped, or replaced — what matters is that the year ahead is clear and honest about where things actually stand.
Annual Review
In the next August, the goal cycle closes. The Performance Evaluation Framework conversation reviews the year against the goals that were set, names what God did, and produces the goal list for the new program year.
The Performance Evaluation Framework page in System 11 documents how that conversation runs. The goal record from the previous August is the input to that review; the goal record for the next year is the output.
Sample Goals by Role Type
These are illustrations, not prescriptions. Every person's goals will be specific to their role and season.
Senior Pastor
- Preach through one full New Testament epistle in expository series.
- Equip the elders to handle at least one specific area of pastoral care without my involvement.
- Lead the church through the SBC affiliation transition, including any associational integration steps.
Elder Chair
- Hold every monthly elder meeting on the first Tuesday at 6 p.m., with minutes on file within seven days.
- Conduct annual reaffirmation interviews with each office bearer.
- Identify and begin discipling at least one potential future elder.
Equip Discipleship Leader
- Run two full Equip cohorts in the program year.
- Move a defined percentage of completing participants into a leader-track conversation.
- Refresh the Equip curriculum annually based on graduating cohort feedback.
Ministry Team Leader (general pattern)
- Build a recruitment list of N potential team members using at least three of the eight discovery methods (see Volunteer Chapter, System 06).
- Hold a minimum of N huddles for the team across the program year.
- Conduct an annual check-in with each team member, using the Volunteer Ministry Check-In Guide.
Sources
- Streamline: How to Create Healthy Church Systems — Michael Lukaszewski (Chapter 14: Clarify Goals for Everyone on Your Team).
- Mayflower Performance Evaluation Framework — Draft April 2026 (BookStack, System 11) — for the back-end evaluation conversation that reviews against these goals.
- Five Priority Ministries We Guard (BookStack, System 01) — the test for whether a goal connects to the church's mission.
- Mayflower Two-Page Plan — Draft April 2026 (BookStack, System 00) — the church's overall strategic frame.