SEND leadership (Directors' Council 2013) decided that each SEND leader and SEND missionary is expected to develop an annual plan for their own personal development addressing three major areas: their spiritual life, their self-management, and their ministry skills. In 2017, the decision was made to combine the IGP and the AMP (Annual Ministry Plan) into one document.

The Annual Ministry Plan (AMP) is different from the Individual Growth Plan (IGP). Both are a set of goals for the coming year. Nevertheless, they focus on different things. The AMP describes your ministry priorities for the coming year. The IGP, on the other hand, describes what you plan to do to nurture your own personal growth and development so that you can be better equipped to fulfill your ministry goals. The IGP is a plan to better equip us so that we have the training and knowledge to fulfill our AMP.

The latest version of SEND's complete AMP/IGP Guide can be found:

• as a page on the SEND U wiki
• as a downloadable Word document (A4 format)
• as a downloadable Word document (letter format)
• on SharePoint (pdf files also available here)

You can also click on any of the categories below to view only that portion of the document

• Annual Ministry Plan > SEND's International Manual says that “All members will develop clear ministry related goals with their supervisor or team leader based on their ministry assignment.” This link will give you an explanation of how the AMP differs from the IGP and what should be included in the AMP.
• Individual Growth Plan > SEND desires the personal and professional growth of every member of the mission. We therefore want to provide ample opportunities for members to improve their skills and talents and believe this can be greatly aided by having individual growth plans. This link gives further explanation.

• How to Develop Your AMP. Each member is asked to develop an annual ministry plan at the beginning of each year. The step-by-step process for doing so is found on p. 3 of the AMP / IGP Guide.

• IGP Process
• Each member is asked to develop a growth plan at the beginning of each year. The step-by-step process for doing so is found on p. 5 of the AMP / IGP Guide.

• Missionary Growth Areas > Listed here are 32 areas of potential missionary growth, categorized under the three main categories of “Spiritual Formation,” “Self-Management” and “Ministry Skills.” You can find resources for each of these growth areas

• If you would like to do a self-assessment of yourself, based on the missionary growth areas, you can download and fill out this form on the SEND U SharePoint site.

You can download the following Word forms and use them to create your own Annual Ministry Plan and Individual Growth Plan.

• AMP form
• IGP form

We have cataloged many of the resources on the SEND U wiki according to how they might be used in each of the 32 missionary growth areas. The catalog is divided into the following three wiki pages:

• Ideas to help you grow in the area of "Spiritual Formation"
• Ideas to help you grow in the area of "Self Management"
• Ideas to help you grow in the area of "Ministry Skills"

• Sample IGP 1
• Sample IGP 2

The role of the encourager is to walk alongside the IGP owner, being willing to ask purposeful questions that will help the owner maintain steady progress in accomplishing and completing their IGP goals. They help the IGP owner evaluate their progress and when off track, encouraging them to regain momentum. At a minimum, the IGP owner and the encourager need to connect at least once every 3 months. The IGP owner and encourager can agree together to connect more often. The owner needs to remember that the encourager is there to do just that, encourage, not be responsible for the IGP being carried out by the owner.  

More information for guiding the IGP Encourager can be found on the wiki on this page and on SharePoint at this link.

• For creating an IGP for mission leaders, see Personal Growth of the leader.
• Another process for self-assessment and creating a personal growth plan, developed by SEND East Asia
  • Step 1 - Annual Self-Assessment (refers to the Feeling Wheel under emotional assessment)
  • Step 2 - Personal Growth Plan worksheet
• Ken Guenther's PowerPoint "Becoming Intentional about Growth" on creating a personal development plan, given at 2013 SEND family conference
• SEND North Central Europe's educational focus