Summing Up Vision

Most folks in the church don’t really understand what is meant by ‘vision’.  Very simply stated, vision is the act of seeing.  If you can open your eyes and see the; walls, windows and humans around you, you have vision.  If you open your eyes and see Bigfoot in a tu tu, then you don’t have vision.

The easy part of vision involves seeing what ‘is’.

The hard part of vision involves seeing what ‘is yet to be’.

The hard part of vision can be broken down into two segments.  1.-  Walt Disney Vision  2.- Nehemiah Vision

Walt Disney died nearly 5 years before the doors of Disney Land (Florida) opened up.  On that momentous day, one guy said to the other, “I wish Walt could have seen this.”, to which the other one replied, “He already did.”  Walt Disney Vision is developed through personal drive, imagination and great intellect.

Nehemiah Vision is quite different.  As a man living quite some distance away from Jerusalem, he had never seen the ruinous state that of its walls.  And yet, even still, God enabled Nehemiah to see the city in its restored state.  This wasn’t a matter of; personal drive, imagination or great intellect.  God intentionally and purposfully planted this vision in Nehemiah’s heart.

Sometimes we have combined vision.  If you’ve ever read my vision for Overflow, you have read a Nehemiah Disney Vision.  I’m certain that God was in the formation of that idea.  I’m also certain that I was in it.  Someday, God might let this ministry happen.  Right now, the light is undoubtedly red.

I regularly read books that are focused on leadership and ministry.  I’ve processed several John Maxwell books.  He wrote some of them.  Others were written by well intentioned pastors who reprocessed John Maxwell’s material and re-released it.  I’ve also read several books on how to organize the direction of the church.  I’ve read: The Purpose Driven Church, Simple Church, and The Spirit Driven Church (plus others that didn’t end with the word ‘church’ which would have messed up the flow of my list),- and found a common message.

Keep The Vision Simple

Continually Re-Communicate the Vision

Start, Endorse and Support Those Ministries which Obviously Fulfill The Vision

Shut Down the Ministries that Don’t Support the Vision

In the book, The Spirit Driven Church, the author was so bold as to call these unsupporting ministries, IDOLS.  Yikes!  That’s a harsh accusation, and yet I see the truth in it.  How many times do we start up and/or perpetuate a ministry simply because it has become someone’s personal pet project?  Are there things we do every year simply because it’s something that we’ve always done every year?  Are there ministries that we attempt to perpetuate for the simple sake of ‘not offending’ or ’saving face’?   I would bet that most of us would look at our churches and say, “Yes”.

I get frustrated with lots of doing.  Experience has shown me that ‘more ministry’ doesn’t work.  When these books tell me to keep the focus and the vision simple, and shut down everything that doesn’t line up with that focus and vision, I relate.  We have been the church that does everything.  Often times these ministries start out with with an excited group of people and dwindle down to either an insufficient number of worn out devotees or ‘1 man shows’.   We maintain them in guilt, perpetuate them in weariness and feel bad because we’re not excited anymore.  Do good things happen in these ministries?  Absolutely.  Does need and the potential for good fruit constitute our call to take on or continue a ministry?  Nope.

Currently, we have a pretty simple vision statement.  “To become a people: abandoned in worship, common in faith and useful for the Kingdom of God” Or, more simply stated: “Worship, Grow, Serve!”  This really sounds good.  This does not really sound specific.  We could have: a dog washing ministry, a Hebrew poetry class and interpretive yoga worship and still fit them easily within our vision statement.

I always want us to be a fellowship that; worships, grows and serves.  These are things that Christians do.  If we don’t do them, I would question our Christianity.  But, these things are too nonspecific to claim as our personal and unique vision and direction.  There needs to be something else.

Yes, I’m going to leave you hanging.  I’m still on the … voyage.  (I would have said ‘journey’ but it’s overused and abused and much too trendy of a word for me.)  I have a pretty good idea where I’m going on this … voyage.  I’ve been doing research, thinking, praying, reading and collecting input.  Without actually defining it (that’s the part I’m still working on), I can sum up the vision and direction of CCCville by getting a clear picture of who CCCville is.

What are we doing?  What are we doing that works?  Where do we excel?  Where are we productive?  -Things like: teaching, equipping, educating, preparing and training come to mind.

Doing ‘less things’ comes to mind.

Doing ‘more things’ produces extra stomach acid.

We’ve often put a lot of focus on the ‘doing’ in our fellowship.  I strongly believe the we need to put more focus on the ‘training’.  Just as trained warriors fight better, so also, do trained Christians serve better.

If you attend CCCville and haven’t given your input:  click here