Vision Casting: Simple Rhetoric or Responsible Leadership

What's a vision? Is it just a fancy rhetorical catch-phrase or is it a sign of responsible leadership? Or, could it be both? First of all, in the context of organizational (or in this case, congregational) leadership, a vision is an idea, a picture, a dream, a visual plan of what you want your congregation to look like. In other words, a vision is what appears when you allow your thoughts to take to you to grandoise, best-case-scenario places.

Assuming you understand and can agree with that definition - is it simplistic and unnecessary rhetoric or a sign of responsible and cultivation leadership? My opinion, probably a little rhetorical and a lot responsible.

Does your congregation have a vision? If it does, do you talk about it frequently? Do your leaders pray about it? If you don't have a stated and shared vision, why not? Do your Elders not see it as an important part of the growth process? If you don't have a clear picture of how you want your Church to look, then what's the point of what you're doing now? What does it mean if you're not working towards an intended consequence?

Having a solid vision statement is the first of a four step growth plan. Following the vision statement is an explicit plan of mission or purpose. Next come umbrella goals then driver goals.

Here's a common example of not having a clearly defined vision. Some congregations have continued the tradition of having annual or bi-annual gospel meetings. Most do it out of tradition and not because it is part of the growth plan. So as a result, each year the congregations pass around the same few preachers and have (in their own judgment) unsuccessful meetings - which is generally determined by responses and attendance. Why? Mostly because there is not a strategically defined vision - or a comprehensive growth plan. So the Elders go with what they know, what they are comfortable with - which ends up being what they have always done.

When you're not sure how you want the congregation to look, how will you know if you're there?

. . . For Works of Service

Each time I read Ephesians 4:11-12, I am reminded that there are really two types of leadership in the church. Those who lead by trying to do it all themselves. And those who lead by trying to enable and empower the people who are being led. That's what this scripture is about. And when I look around at congregations that are growing, I notice that they are committed to this practice of leadership.

The bible says here that Jesus has commissioned us to be pastors, teachers and evangelists to prepare God's people for works of service. By default, this scripture gives two commands. First, all of God's people are to be working by serving. And second, for those of us that bear the responsibility as a pastor or teacher or evangelist - we are supposed to be preparing God's people to be the best servants they can be. Simply speaking, are you fulfilling your responsibility? If not, then why? Are you being given opportunities to serve? Have you been challenged to discover your spiritual gifts and to put them to use? Leaders, are you wearing the burden of doing everything yourself?

Here's the problem that occurs in congregations where people are not challenged to step up, discover their strengths and glorify God by serving with them: people become stale and cold; and their faith grows old. So instead of looking for opportunities to serve others, they "come to church" sit in their seat and wait on someone to serve them. Then both the shepherds and ministers can't figure out why the church isn't growing and why everyone seems to be going through the motions.

It's time for all of us to look in the mirror.

Leadership and Growth

No doubt about it, there is a direct correlation between leadership and a congregation's growth. Think of some of the congregations that you are familiar with. What about the one where you attend. Is the church growing? If it is - why is it growing? Can you pinpoint and narrow down to a few factors, exactly what is causing the growth? I think you probably can. In fact, if you keep narrowing it down and peeling back the layers you'll probably end up at leadership. Specifically, the leadership from the Shepherds. Sure, you may have a great preacher who draws people in. Or you could be in a great location that is real convenient for many people and is geographically in the middle of an area that is experiencing population growth. But those are just surface issues. We both know that growth and decline can, and have, occurred regardless of those factors.

However, you will not find scriptural, healthy and sustained growth from a congregation that does not have scriptural and healthy Shepherds guiding and leading towards that growth. It just won't happen. So, if most churches are not growing - does that mean that most churches have unhealthy and unscriptural Shepherds? Perhaps. It has definitely been that case that men are serving in that capacity when God has not truly qualified or called them. Or (probably just as common) when they have grown out of their qualification.

However naive, I'd like to think that's not the answer for the majority of congregations. Instead, a more likely answer is that there are capable, qualified, Godly men who have been charged with a responsibility, role and task that they don't truly understand and are prepared to carry out. Here's what I mean: over time, the Elderships of many congregations have degeneratively shrunken into positions of glorified deacons. Where they feel a need to step in and be hands-on with too many different ministries and activities of the church. When this happens, they lose sight of the responsibilities that God has for them. So, instead of spending a couple of evenings each week checking on families and visiting peoples homes, they are spending those evenings doing work that a deacon should be addressing.

Or, even worse, groups of Shepherds have evolved into a team of managers running a non-profit business. This is not what God intended; and it's often a symptom of control problems. This often turns into a situation where no money is spent and no decisions are made unless the Elders are first consulted and have given their blessing. If the Shepherd are spending their time in this capacity, then there is little time left to spend on shepherding the flock.

Both of these mistakes are too common and are great vehicles that satan uses to set up shop in the middle of congregations. Shepherds (both individually and collectively) need to do a self-evaluation; and assess whether their time is being spent well. And whether or not they are effectively fullfilling the role that God has called them to. When Shepherds are shepherding - churches are usually growing.

Are we acting like the Jews?

So what's causing our congregations to stop growing and as a result, start dying (or at least letting atrophy take hold)? I wonder if a little bit of it is because we're acting like the Jewish Christians described in Acts. Check out these scriptures for yourself.

Acts 10:1-22; 34-35 It took a vision from God and three men sent to get him before Peter would consider preaching to a gentile.

Acts 11:1-3 When word got back to Jerusalem (where all the Jewish Church leaders were) that Peter had preached to (and ate with) Cornelius they demanded an explanation. So Peter had to explain to them about his vision and how it was God who sent him to do it.

Acts 11:19-22 This scripture describes how the Jewish Christians who had fled Jerusalem after Stephen was stoned had only shared the gospel with other Jews. But there was an exception. A few men were preaching to the Gentiles also. And when the folks in Jerusalem found out, they sent Barnabas up to Antioch to investigate the situation.

Now, I don't think we blatantly do what they did. These Jewish Christians were purposefully prejudiced against the Gentiles. And as a result, they were willing to "allow" or "accept" that the Gentiles were being converted - but it had to be done on their terms. More specifically, they had to become Jews (conversion) first, then they would be deemed acceptable for conversion. I don't know if we can paint with a real broad brush on this, but I don't think we'd be completely wrong in saying that some congregations are a little guilty of this.

For example, we are certainly guilty of confusing habit, tradition and custom for scripture - there's no denying that. And when our habits, traditions and customs are disrupted, we get disrupted. That's not inherently wrong. That is, there's nothing wrong with customs and traditions. But it is wrong for customs or traditions to be placed at a greater importance than people and their souls. Or, like the Jewish Christians did with circumcision, require people to accept our opinions, before we accept them. That's not right, and it alienates people. And when people are alienated they leave or don't come back. That's one reason for a lack of growth.

What do you think?

Church Growth in Walker County

Okay, so here's recommitment number 1. No more lay offs for more than a few days. Hopefully I won't need another recommitment. I've already got enough of those going. I think I'm on number 4 with my promise to myself that I'll start working out again and get back in shape. :-) Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one in that boat.

Last month I introduced a new topic that I want to get into a little - the state of the Church. Are we growing? Are we not growing? Why are some congregations able to grow and others are dying? Here we go . . .

Since I've been in Jasper, I've heard three different comments (from three different people) that essentially stated that the church in Walker County is dying and they don't know why. I haven't done any research on this (though it probably would be a good study). But judging soley from comments made people who have been around a while and checking old bulletins from a few congregations, I can tell that it is probably true that the church "numbers" are in decline. In fact, for a few of the congregations the numbers are down substantially.

This is a good moment for pause. How do you define a dying church? How do you look at a particular congregations and say, "that congregation is dying," or "that congregation is growing?" Here's my answer, if there isn't consistent numberical growth, then it's dying. That's sounds a little harsh, but once a congregation stops growing it's only a matter of time before it begins declining. And it should really be pointed out that when our own kids make the decision to become a Christian, that really isn't growth in this sense. To me that seems more like maintaining.

So back to the thought. If the church in Walker County is dying, then why? Starting with the next post, I am going to spend a little time trying to answer this question. I welcome your comments. I think a discussion on this topic is well past due and well worth the time. If you are a regular reader, please encourage your friends to check us out. I would love to have input from as many people as possible. I look forward to your comments.

The Church

Most of the posts on this blog are generally devotionally focused. I think that means that I write with the hope of you being drawn closer to God or being challenged to think more critically about your relationship with God. Here's a litle different post.

Where do you think the Church is heading? What direction? Is it a positive direction? A negative direction? Do you see the Church growing? Do you see the Church in decline? For the individual congregations that are experiencing growth - what's causing it? What does that say about the spiritual and religious landscape of our society?

These are a few of the many questions that have been on my mind for some time. I have taken a lot of time to really discover my beliefs and thoughts on these questions. And I'm going to try and answer them over the course of the next few weeks.