There is a saying that is usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin that says “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. This saying dates back to 1789 and unfortunately both death and taxes are still certainties in our world today.

I’d like to propose another certainty – that in this world things will happen and sometimes the things that happen will be things we’d rather didn’t happen. If you are like me you might need to re-read that a couple of times before it sinks in.

If unexpected adverse events are a certainty then we need to prepare – to be ready to respond when things don’t go to plan.

Preparation isn’t without cost – it requires time, energy and often money – which means we need to find a balance where we don’t under-prepare or over-prepare – but where we are definitely prepared! Under-preparation leaves our church and our mission vulnerable. Over-preparation drains resources that could otherwise be applied to mission. In contrast, intentional preparation allocates resources appropriately between risk and mission providing a prudent, robust and sustainable platform for our church to pursue mission. At RMS we call this managing the church’s risk program in an effective, efficient and mission focused way.

This is something RMS has been working on with Adventist Risk Management from the General Conference. Our joint study identified a number of opportunities that may help improve our corporate risk-mission balance. During the 2015-2020 quinquennium we will be spending time investigating, and where feasible, implementing some of these opportunities. Most of this work will occur in the background – you may not even notice – but in the longer-term we hope it provides a firm foundation for the mission of our church.