Gods Vision for His Church

The Lord has an incredible vision for His Church, with each local church having a unique and instrumental role to play. That’s why it was such an exciting blessing to teach local pastors in our recent workshop - “Achieving God’s Vision for Your Church.”

As I prepared, I gobbled up advice from Bill Hybels in his book “Courageous Leadership.” It’s a great book! One that I read long ago, but I’m re-reading with new eyes as I try to help local African pastors put sound leadership principles into practice.

Bill defined vision as “a picture of the future that produces passion”. Both components are critical. While the picture of the future reflects where you are going, passion fuels the action needed to get there. Vision is the most powerful tool a leader has. Vision is what unleashes the power of the local church.

During the workshop we trained pastors in how to define and communicate vision, maximize their receptivity in hearing from God, and then turn their God-gifted vision into action through strategic plans and measureable goals.

Plans, metrics, and goals…Oh, my!

Someone once told me that they didn’t want to run their ministry too much like a business, and I’ve often wondered myself if this is possible. How much is too much? Especially when working with rural churches that are significantly smaller and less resourced than churches like Willow Creek and Kensington Community, or companies like Ford, Chrysler, and GM.

Along those same lines, Bill reflected on the following questions. “With our emphasis on leadership are we at risk of strategically planning the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit right out of the church? Or can and should church leaders learn from the best leadership minds and best practices in order to do God’s work with excellence?”

I loved his answers! Answers that I totally agreed with, shared with the local pastors, and they whole-heartedly agreed as well! That God has given them an important vision. That whether or not they achieve that vision matters. That their success or failure impacts lives, not only today, but for eternity. That the local church is the hope of the world. There is no other company, organization, or government that can accomplish what God has called His Church to do.

All that said – we clearly need to do everything we can to lead God’s churches well, with vision and passion, with diligence and effectiveness, maximizing our God-gifted leadership potential.

Based on feedback, our local pastors clearly left equipped to carry out God’s vision for their churches… but more importantly, they left feeling inspired knowing that God has called them to bring His hope to the World. Please say a prayer for these local pastors as they do.