“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Proverbs 29:18a
In any organization, whether it is a business or a church or non-profit, whatever type of organization it is, its leaders must cast a vision. Without a vision they will not know where they are going, and everyone will go in any direction they think is best. But that will doom the organization.
In order to be successful, the organizational leaders must cast a vision. Some examples of great vision or mission statements are the following:
“Accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy” – Tesla
“Spread ideas, foster community and create impact” – TED
“To Spread the Power of optimism” – Life is Good
“Offering customers, the very best service, selection, quality, and value” – Nordstrom
All the above and many other companies, craft their vision or mission statements in order for their employees to understand the vision of the company. It allows employees to know what the company stands for and then implement those values as they do their jobs. Vision and mission statements give focus and direction. If we don’t have either, we will go in every direction and not only waste resources, but no one will know or understand what we are all about.
It is no different for Christians. Our mission statement was given to us by Jesus at his ascension when he directed the disciples to do the following:
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit., teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.”
Pretty straight forward, right? Well, sort of. You see, Jesus gave us a vision for what we are to do, but didn’t specify how that would be accomplished. Why? Because every setting, culture, era, is different. So, in addition to what Jesus commanded, each church needs to discern how they will accomplish that directive for its setting. Every church needs a vision or mission statement that defines how they will make disciples for Jesus. If they don’t, then everyone in the church will have their own ideas on how that should be done, and the church will perish because each congregation member will go in the direction they think best. Each person will want what they want and that is a dangerous space to be. Because the direction we are supposed to be going, the vision we are supposed to follow, is God’s.
So, how do we cast a vision? That is the job of leadership. The first goal in casing at vision is to determine what you want to achieve 10 years down the road. Where do you want to be? This is true of companies, churches, and individuals. Where do you want to be in ten years? You can even set longer term goals.
Then you determine what steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals. When we are talking specifically about churches, we not only need to look ten years down the road and where we want to be in that time frame, but the vision we will cast from the information we have gathered must be empowered by the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We go back to the mission Jesus gave when he commissioned his disciples: “Go and make disciples of all the nations…” This is the command and continues to be the command. We just need to figure out how we accomplish this for our context.
We also need to implement the vision. This may sound silly, but I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people talk about their vision and they have yet to take the first step to implement the goals they want to accomplish. This is the brilliance of NIKE’s statement: “Just do it.” Just go out and do the steps it will take to achieve your goals. What is the worst that can happen? You fail? NO. Failure is an option. It is a learning tool we can use to know what doesn’t work. It is not something to be ashamed of or to worry about. If you have something you want to achieve…then just do it. Begin…today.
Don’t worry if you need to course correct either. You are working toward a ten-year goal. You will need to make adjustments. That is to be expected and acceptable. The thing to remember is the goal. That is what you are working toward. When churches have a long-term goal in mind, they will make decisions based on that long term goal. Everyone in the church will be working toward that goal, which means our decision making will keep the goal in mind. Everything we decide to do will be a focused decision in furthering the vision we have cast.
Jesus cast a vision for us to go and make disciples. In order to fulfill Jesus’ vision, we must stay on task and not get side-tracked by anything that will take us away from working toward the vision. Our vision is typically the solution to a problem we have identified. Focusing all our decisions toward our vision will help us solve the identified problem and that is a good thing.
Vision casting is hard work. There will be many times when people will try to derail you, whether you are casting a personal vision or one for a company or church. As humans we don’t like change. We don’t even like others changing as they make improvements in their lives. Just ask anyone who is on a diet.
I think the bottom line is that without a vision, we have no direction. And when we have no direction, we go in every direction. And when we go in every direction, we accomplish nothing.
I pray you all find a vision for your future that brings you joy and happiness…now, go do it.
Peace,
Pastor Beth
Beth's Blog 