Developing A Resort Missions Strategy
Chuck Clayton

Missions leaders should have ongoing knowledge of resort missions opportunities in the area of missions administration. A resort missions strategy should include the following:

1. Take an inventory of resort settings and opportunities.

2. Provide continuing awareness and interpretation of resort missions opportunities and work, promote resort missions, and conduct periodic resort awareness conferences.

3. Include resort missions in the administrative structure.

4. Consult with leaders of various resort missions projects and set goals for accomplishing resort missions tasks of evangelism, ministry, and congregationalizing.

5. Set priorities, based on widely understood criteria, for developing resort missions projects and for appropriating resources for resort missions.

6. Develop a process for setting up new resort missions projects in the area. Local churches should be encouraged to be primary agents in developing new resort projects. State conventions associations should see their roles primarily as catalytic, although this sometimes means establishing model projects to demonstrate the feasibility and methodology of resort missions.

7. Develop resort missions techniques and share them with those engaged in resort work.

8. Facilitate ongoing resort missions training for career missionary personnel, full-time staff, and long- and short-term volunteers.

9. Equip resort missions project directors and others who supervise volunteers in resort settings.

10. Develop a placement process for career personnel and long- and short-term volunteers in resort ministry service.

11. Develop a support system for career and long-term volunteers engaged in resort missions. The need for such a support system was named the number on priority in a study done among resort personnel in several state conventions.

12. Develop systems to include resort ministry in the securing of missions resources for the area. Distribution of resources should be equitable and understood in terms of the determined priorities of the resort strategy.

13. Develop a central system to assist the various resort project directors in the area with follow-up. This system could help in referring people reached through the ministry to churches in their home communities and ensuring that opportunities for discipleship were available to all who made professions of faith.

14. Develop and carry out a systematic, ongoing evaluation of resort work in the area. This evaluation should include areas of work, expenditures of resources, techniques and methods used, effectiveness of personnel, progress toward resort missions goals, and a review of each part of the resort missions strategy.

Based on an article by Chuck Clayton in the 1993 National Resort Ministries Conference notebook. Used by permission.