Hello Friends,
One of the greatest fallacies organizations and individuals come to believe is that the outsider does not really know or does not have an accurate picture. The fact is, in most cases, the outsider has a more accurate and clearer picture of how things really are than those who are in the middle of it. This is true of individuals and organizations. This is why organizations hire consultants and individuals hire life coaches and personal trainers. It’s why we go see a doctor, even though we know “everything is fine.” “Visioncasting will always include an element of waking people out of their apathy” (87). It is not easy and it is sometimes painful, but it is always necessary.
For a short while I was in seminary I pastored a small church in Kentucky on edge of Appalachia. The area has a pervasive insider vs. outsider culture largely defined by where you were born. One of the things that helped build this wall between insiders and outsiders is the incredible amount of studies conducted one these people. Dozens and dozens of doctoral dissertations have been written about them, matched with a steady stream of people who come in with the answers to their problems. After a while, the people just got tired of being told what their problems were and how to fix them. The interesting thing is most of those studies and suggestions for solutions were accurate. The outside researcher was able to see what needed to be done to address the problems of the region. But for those who were inside, they had grown weary of the suggestions and formed a wall to making any more changes.
Individuals and churches can easily fall into the same trap. While the challenges may be obvious to those on the outside those in the inside get tired of being told what their problems are and hearing about a need to change. So we build a wall and close off our ears.
The challenge for the leader is to communicate the vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately and to do so in way that calls people to action rather than to retreat.
The seventh building block is to; communicate your vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately.
The four components of an effective vision include statements of:
1. The problem.
2. The solution.
3. The reason something must be done.
4. The reason something must be done now. (86)
Sometimes seeing it is better than talking about it. This is the vision statement for the basis for planting a new church in the Atlanta area:
“This city is quickly becoming a city of unchurched, undisciplined, biblically illiterate people-and there is a desperate need for churches geared to meet the spiritual needs of unchurched, undisciplined people. Churches that are a friendly rather than hostile environment for biblically challenged, skeptical, suspicious seekers. We have been commissioned to make disciples, and together, as a local church, we can do that far more effectively than each of us working on our own.” (91-92).
I don’t know about you, but a statement like this makes me excited. Can you see how it clarifies and focuses the ministry of the church? Think about how a church with such a vision would structure their discipleship, children’s programs, worship, sermons, leadership, and every area. Spend some time thinking about what some of the characteristics of such a church would be.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen
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Quotations from:
Stanley, Andy. Visioneering. Sisters, Or: Multnomah Publishers, 2005.