The Power of Vision: Discover and Apply God's Plan for Your Life and Ministry by George Barna

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GOD’S VISION FOR YOUR MINISTRY

The decision to ignore God’s best ideas is both an act of disobedience (by rejecting His will) and an act of strategic ineptitude (by leaving a myriad of untapped opportunities untapped).

Although they are good people who have been called to ministry, most senior pastors do not have an understanding of God’s vision for the ministries they are trying to lead—and, consequently, most churches have little impact in their community or in the lives of their congregants. Not even 1 out of every 10 pastors of Protestant churches can articulate God’s vision for their church.

Fewer than 1 out of every 20 Protestant churches use their vision statement as the key to their evaluation process. If God’s vision were known and emphasized in such settings, imagine the difference it would make in the focus and influence of these well-intentioned ministries.

Success in the Kingdom is not about our personal or group accomplishments but about how we work together for the greater good and the ends of the Kingdom.

MASTERS OF VISION

Vision transcends time. True visionaries have much in common regardless of when they live. As people of God seek to lead their churches, grasping God’s vision for their ministry requires an investment in the vision. Those whom God chooses to use as leaders can be effective regardless of their lack of worldly qualifications.

Consider King Saul of the Old Testament. It became necessary to remove him from his exalted post of leadership because he lacked God’s vision for ministry. Instead, he viewed his position in human terms and attempted to serve in his own strength. David, in contrast, reflected the humility, obedience, compassion and dedication to God that marks a true visionary leader in the church.

After an intense period of mourning, weeping, fasting and prayer, Nehemiah received from God a clear vision of how he was to direct his life in the service of God.

Moses, a most unlikely candidate for greatness, received a clear call from God to serve Him in a special way. Like all true visions imparted by God, the vision entrusted to Moses did not focus upon satisfying people’s selfish desires but upon a selfless quest to reconcile the world to its Creator.

God reached out to Mother Teresa with a special vision for what she could do to impact people’s lives for His glory.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Baptist preacher in the South. While he was regarded as a powerful orator, nothing in his background—academic prowess, family connections, political skills, church growth statistics—indicated that he was an emerging leader, a crusader to be reckoned with.

Is your vision one that was developed with the gifts and talents God gave you, or was it a vision that you sought, prayed and waited for and then received from Him?

WHAT IS VISION?

Vision is clear. Vision is preferable to the current state. Vision concentrates on the future. Vision is from God. Vision is a gift to leaders that is tailored to their circumstances. Vision reflects a realistic perspective. Vision is dreaming the most possible dream. Vision is built on reality. A visionary pastor is a successful pastor.

You might define vision as foresight with insight based on hindsight. This definition underscores the importance of looking to the future, emphasizes the significance of possessing a keen awareness of current circumstances and possibilities, and notes the value of learning from the past.

One church leader described it this way, “(Vision is) seeing the invisible and making it visible.” Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances.

Vision is never about maintaining the status quo. Vision is about stretching reality to extend beyond the existing state. Vision concentrates on the future. It focuses on thinking ahead rather than on dwelling upon or seeking to replicate the past.

Vision for ministry is a reflection of what God wants to accomplish through you to build His kingdom.

In developing vision, you must know your own abilities, gifts, limitations, values and desires before you can accurately arrive at a perspective on His vision for your ministry.

Visionary leaders also know the importance of a vision statement: a succinct articulation of God’s vision for their ministry.

DON’T CONFUSE VISION WITH MISSION

Vision and mission are related but distinct. Mission is a general statement of ministry objectives; it is philosophic. Vision is a specific, detailed statement of direction and uniqueness; it is strategic.

In churches where a sense of God’s vision for ministry truly exists, the probability of growth and impact are high. In churches where the vision is absent, growth is thwarted by many roadblocks.

The mission statement is a definition of the key ministry objectives of the church. The vision statement is a clarification of the specific direction and activities the church will pursue toward making a true ministry impact.

Your mission can be described in a sentence or two. Often, you can use a slogan to capture its essence.

Vision is specific, detailed, customized, distinctive and unique to a given church. It allows a leader to say no to opportunities, provides direction, empowers people for service and facilitates productivity.

The vision statement puts feet on the mission, detailing how the church will influence the world in which it will minister. Thus, while the mission statement is philosophic in nature, the vision statement is strategic in character.

MYTHS THAT MAR VISION

Vision and mission are not the same. All leaders are visionaries, but all pastors are not leaders. Vision creates the future. A visionary leader is a change agent. The goal of vision is to glorify God. For vision to have impact, it must be shared. Every church’s vision is unique. Vision challenges a congregation.

Let’s briefly examine 20 of the more widely-accepted myths about Vision:

Vision should be the result of a consensus among the church’s key leaders regarding future activity by the church. REALITY: Vision is not the result of consensus; it should result in consensus.
Vision and mission are synonymous. REALITY: While vision relates to specific actions, mission relates to general approaches to action.
Some leaders are visionaries; some aren’t. REALITY: By definition, all leaders are visionaries.
The purpose of vision is to estimate future realities and then to operate effectively within those parameters. REALITY: The purpose of vision is to create the future.
Strategy and vision are often confused. In reality, vision is conceptual; strategy is practical and detailed. REALITY: Vision is conceptual, but it also is practical and detailed.
Real vision protects the church from risk. REALITY: Risk is a natural and unavoidable outgrowth of vision.
The goal of vision for church ministry is numerical growth. REALITY: The absolute goal of vision for ministry is to glorify God.
As long as the senior pastor has a sense of vision, it doesn’t matter whether the people really know or understand it. They will be swept along by the force of the vision, regardless. REALITY: Vision has no force, power or impact unless it spreads from the visionary to the visionless. A mark of a great leader is the ability not only to capture the vision, but also to articulate it and to cause people to embrace it fully.
The best way to capture vision for ministry is to copy the vision articulated by another respected leader. REALITY: The leader who takes a “me too” approach in defining vision is neither operating on the power of God’s leading nor demonstrating a capacity for authentic leadership.
Because of the breadth and challenge that is reflected by God’s vision for ministry, vision is likely to make the laity fearful, skeptical and anxious. REALITY: Vision, when properly articulated, does not make people afraid or doubtful.
It is reasonable to expect most of the Christian churches in a community to have the same vision for ministry. REALITY: It would be absolutely unreasonable for churches to have the same visions for ministry within the same marketplace. God is not redundant, nor does He need to assign the same task to a number of different congregations in the hope that between them the job might be accomplished. It seems reasonable to believe that He allows so many churches to reside in an area because He has a unique plan for each one. Each church has been called into existence to reach a different group of people and to have a unique influence on the culture in which it ministers.
If it is truly God’s vision for ministry, capturing that vision will be a simple, quick process. REALITY: God’s vision is not constrained by time.
To develop vision, a pastor could identify several visionary business leaders and follow the same steps they had taken. REALITY: Church leaders cannot blindly follow the path charted by people who operate on the basis of a different worldview.
Because vision is imparted by God to the pastor, other people have no role in the development of vision, only in its implementation. REALITY: Other godly individuals are needed as a sounding board to evaluate the vision at various points in its development.
The best way to communicate vision is to develop a catchy slogan that people will remember. REALITY: Too much emphasis upon a slogan can be detrimental. In many cases, slogans prove to be more harmful than useful because they trivialize the vision.
Sometimes God’s vision for the future of a struggling congregation simply calls for the church to stabilize by maintaining its current position rather than to pursue growth aggressively. REALITY: Encouraging people to pledge themselves to survival is an admission of defeat. Vision is a creative, ongoing progress. It emphasizes aggressive futuristic thinking and action.
If it takes too long to develop, the result probably is not true vision. REALITY: God may take more pleasure in our attempt to know His mind than in our eventual ability to capture that insight.
It is reasonable to expect a denomination to dictate the vision for ministry to each of its member churches, leaving the development of strategy and implementation up to the church’s creative process. REALITY: If a vision for individual churches is mandated from the denominational level, it assumes that the pastor of a church is not a leader but simply a manager. It also assumes that God has somehow determined that each church in the denomination is facing identical societal circumstances and has equivalent material and human resources. God is certainly capable of doing that, but to my knowledge, such conditions have never actually existed. It is reasonable to expect a denomination to identify a broadly accepted statement of mission for ministry.
A church’s vision needs to be re-created every couple of years. REALITY: Vision usually outlasts the visionary.
If a pastor simply loves the Lord and does the things described in the Bible as the qualities of a good leader—teaching, preaching, praying, modeling forgiveness and love, and so forth— the church will grow, vision or no vision. REALITY: Effective leaders must be visionaries.

WHOSE VISION ARE YOU FOLLOWING?

Man’s vision for ministry is replete with limitations. God’s vision is achieved through us but is not focused on us. God will bless and support His vision for your ministry. God’s vision for you is inspired.

Being a visionary leader is neither simple nor automatically accepted by those who must implement the vision. It takes a passionate belief in the power of your own ideas and the conviction to see them through to the end. It can sometimes be a lonesome and long battle to win. Visionaries are constantly fighting conventional wisdom because they see the world ahead in terms of what it can be if someone is willing to look at things in very different ways.

God, the Missing Link

While many books underscore the importance of vision in the business world, they fail to include an irreplaceable factor in the equation from a Christian perspective: the mind of God.

The corporation emphasizes profits. The Christian faith emphasizes people.

To Christians who serve God in the capacity of corporate executives, the wisdom to make it all happen comes from God. Reconciling these vastly divergent perspectives often becomes confusing to leaders and their followers as they attempt to make sense of these competing perspectives. While individuals may dream big, they also will dream realistically.

CAPTURING GOD’S VISION

Know yourself. Know your ministry environment. Know God. Know objective wisdom.

Barna explains, “When I speak to pastors, I tell them right off: ‘Don’t even attempt to do ministry until vision is in place.’”

When it comes to vision, you cannot simply examine the vision statements of other churches and say to yourself, “That looks great; I’d love to do that; let’s embrace that as our vision.” If you are truly seeking God’s vision for your ministry, it is a personal matter between you and Him.

In seeking God’s vision, you must address four crucial components:

You must know yourself.
You must know the ministry environment in which you reside.
You must know God intimately.
You must gain objective wisdom related to your search.

COMPONENT 1: Know Yourself

One of the most important types of knowledge you can possess is knowledge about yourself: how He has created you and how you perceive the world in light of your abilities and character.

You must identify the values, attitudes, assumptions and experiences that undergird your ministry. What is it that, without fail, excites you in ministry?

COMPONENT 2: Know Your Ministry Environment

Four dominant elements are involved in becoming acquainted with your ministry environment: your community, your colleagues, your congregation and your competition.

It is important to have a working knowledge of the people who live in your geographic market. Don’t overlook learning about the community through the eyes of other individuals who live, work and play in your community.

Part of your vision-capturing process is to understand why God has allowed other churches to exist in your area. He has gifted different churches in different ways to accomplish different tasks—tasks that may share a common mission but which do not conflict in terms of the audiences reached.

Your competition is television, sleeping late, sales at the mall, local sports leagues or athletic opportunities, family activities, personal hobbies and similar events. To make the most of God’s vision for your ministry, have a firm grip on this competition and why people choose those options over involvement with the church.

COMPONENT 3: Know God

Visionary Christian leaders have made it plain that you cannot know His vision for your ministry unless you first know God. Here are three critical means to knowing Him in preparation for the communication of vision:

Study the Word. If fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, get to know Him so well that you have that balance between the healthy fear of an all-powerful, ruling Creator and a sense of closeness with a loving, forgiving Father.
Reassess Your Prayer Life: Study of the Word and prayer are a unified process. In grasping vision, prayer is an indispensable ingredient in the process.
Practice Fasting: A third means of facilitating your knowledge of God is through fasting. This discipline was invaluable for helping Nehemiah, David, Paul and other visionaries in the Bible draw closer to God and to concentrate on His guidance, and it is one of the basic disciplines that God wants leaders to practice today.

COMPONENT 4: Verify the Vision

Certainly, it is a valuable experience to be surrounded by those who care about you and your ministries and who are wise in the ways of the Lord.

People who are managers and not leaders can work a lifetime on a vision statement and not determine God’s calling for their church.

THE CHARACTER OF GOD’S VISION

When you capture God’s vision for your ministry, it will have specific, predictable qualities. God’s vision is inspiring. Vision is a means of describing the activity and development of the ministry. God’s vision for you will cause you to go beyond the limitations you assumed were obstacles. Vision is empowering. God has created a personal vision that fits you perfectly. Vision is detailed. Vision is people oriented.

Realize that your vision will reflect your most basic values and beliefs. Those elements are an inseparable part of you, and they become integrated into every decision and judgment you make.

Attributes of the vision God has prepared for you:

Vision Is Inspiring. Most of the leaders interviewed agreed that vision itself is probably not from God if it does not excite you to the point that you occasionally find yourself being impatient with people, systems and situations. Vision, then, becomes a bold reason for living. Vision is not vision if it is not inspiring.
Vision Is Change Oriented. Our God is not One who is satisfied with routine and blandness. He is the God of creativity and diversity, a Creator responsible for progress and advancement (see Ps. 104:1-13).
Vision Is Challenging. Rest assured that His vision for you will cause you to do things you have never done before, to exceed the barriers you assumed were impenetrable obstacles.
Vision Is Empowering. In ministry, vision empowers people to serve others, ultimately serving God in the process. In business, the vision frequently explores ways of expanding the corporation by enabling others to serve the needs of the corporation. Worldly vision is inward focused; God’s vision for ministry is outward focused.
Vision Is Long-Term. God’s vision for your ministry will not change quickly, nor will it be something you will accomplish rapidly. His vision will require years of active pursuit. The vision itself may outlive you.
Vision Is Customized. God is a personal God. He carefully created you. He knows you intimately. He wants to have a growing relationship with you. He, therefore, has created a personalized vision that fits you perfectly.
Vision Is Detailed. God’s vision will not paint you into a corner. His vision frees you to do more than you might have conceived on your own but places valid and helpful parameters on where you are headed in pursuit of His glory.
Vision Is People-Oriented. His vision for you will focus on how you can change the lives of people. As you examine your vision statement, ask whether it really centers on the importance of people’s growth in faith and involvement with God.
Vision Reveals a Promising Future. Research consistently reveals that people in America want to make a difference in the world.

YOUR MINISTRY WILL BENEFIT

Vision produces spiritual and emotional empowerment. Vision builds on the past. Vision elicits increased commitment from the congregation. Vision unifies God’s people.

Consider the following dozen benefits that you will enjoy as you minister in the strength of His vision for your future:

Big Dreams: When you have captured God’s vision for your ministry, one of your first reactions will be, “But that’s ridiculous; we could never do that.” Many leaders suffer from having constantly to rethink their vision because it was so small that they accomplished it quickly, or because it was so insignificant that it barely seemed worth the effort. God’s vision for your life, though, is grand.
Continuity: His vision builds on the past rather than ignores it. His vision uses the fruit of past efforts rather than being paralyzed by the experience of the past.
Direction and Purpose: A leader must have followers to be effective, and God’s vision will enable you to present a clear view of where you are headed that will stir people to action.
Increased Interest and Commitment: When you believe that God is involved in your efforts, you and your team will become more aggressive at creating the desired future rather than waiting for that imagined scenario to happen.
Acceptable Change: Vision is the antithesis of the status quo. It mandates new approaches for new outcomes. When you are seeking to implement God’s vision, however, He invariably brings a calmness and unity to His people that dissolve their fears and doubts.
Filter for Opportunities: One of vision’s greatest benefits is that it serves as a filter that allows people to say “no” to a variety of ministry opportunities. The natural tendency of a church is to try to be all things to all people, providing the insights and resources needed for people to handle any condition. The reality, however, is that a church cannot be effective in ministry if it spreads itself so thin that it does a mediocre job in a wide array of ministry opportunities.
Openness: A common complaint among the people attending a visionless church is that its ministry is predictable and routine. New approaches, creative thoughts and interesting perspectives are not only acceptable but are esteemed as one means of keeping the vision fresh and alive.
Encouragement: Apart from the negativity of the world, the church led by God’s vision for outreach brims with confidence.
Confidence: When people feel good about themselves, they perform better, they have greater endurance and they are less likely to burn out. In churches where God’s vision is the heart of people’s efforts, those characteristics are evident.
Loyalty: Loyalty in the realm of religion is also uncommon as illustrated in the growth of church shopping and in the incidence of people embracing gods other than the Christian God. What is missing for most people is a vision that focuses their loyalty.
Efficiency: Because we never know how much time we have to transform our part of the world for God’s glory, we cannot afford to assume that we can do ministry at a leisurely pace.
Productivity: Vision allows those in ministry to create plans, strategies and tactics that result in better-defined, highly targeted ministries. The result is more output per input.

VISION KILLERS

One of the most popular and devastating barriers to true vision is the notion that God would never cause you to do something other than what you’ve always done before. Vision replaces fear with energy and hope. Christian culture and ministry are riddled with damaging stereotypes. Complacency is the extinguisher of the smoldering passion of vision. As a leader, you have the responsibility to overcome the inhibitors of God’s vision.

Sometimes we give the devil more credit than he deserves. In many instances, rather than blame the devil, we should instead look in the mirror to find the real culprit. By identifying these self-made barriers to vision, perhaps you can avoid falling prey to their debilitating effect on your ministry.

VISION KILLER 1: Tradition

Tradition is generally a reflection of the past. Vision is always a reflection of the future.

Because He is the God who created and reigned over the past, He can use history to His advantage in your life and ministry.

VISION KILLER 2: Fear

Vision requires change. Change means breaking out of the comfort zone, doing new things or operating in areas in which we lack a track record of success or substantial levels of self-confidence. Change can be scary.

Vision replaces fear with energy and hope.

VISION KILLER 3: Stereotypes

Stereotypes regarding racial and ethnic characteristics, versions of the Bible, styles of preaching, the educational capacity of certain schools, the acceptability of styles of music and many other elements have caused divisiveness and hardship within the Church and have prevented us from penetrating the world beyond the sanctuary walls.

VISION KILLER 4: Complacency

The passion of visionary leaders like Paul and David is evident in their works. Complacency is the extinguisher of that smoldering passion.

VISION KILLER 5: Fatigue

Jesus took time for solitude. If you have difficulty generating excitement about the vision or if you have trouble grasping the vision, check to see if you are running on empty.

Fatigue will limit your vision and your influence for Him.

VISION KILLER 6: Short-Term Thinking

We deplete the past to enjoy the present at the expense of the future.

ARTICULATING THE VISION

Growth is more likely to occur in churches where there is clear, substantive, productive communication taking place on a regular basis. Vision must be owned. Vision must be spelled out for everyone associated with it. Vision statements are critical; they must be focused and concise.

Organizations that have efficient, clear, reliable means of communication tend to be successful; those whose lines of communication are underdeveloped, imprecise or otherwise restricted are more likely to experience stagnation or decline. Churches are no different.

As you work through the vision-making process, realize that once you have captured God’s vision for your ministry, you must develop it for two audiences: yourself and those people with whom you will be ministering.

Put the vision on paper. You will profit by writing the vision for the church’s ministry in as comprehensive a fashion as possible.

Vision is useful only if it is implemented; implementation occurs most effectively when matters are planned and strategies for application are thought through and are meticulously carried out. Vision is the centerpiece of strategy; strategy is the means to effective church development; effective development of the church is the means to transforming the world with His love.

As Robert Greenleaf once said, “Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.”

When providing people with a document that they will use as their focus for the vision, limit it to one short paragraph. Leaders who cannot capture the essence of the vision within three sentences probably have not clarified it in their own minds to make it a workable vision.

Here are some critical elements to incorporate into your vision statement.

Identify what type of people you are called to minister to: a specific age group, a personality type, a lifestyle segment, a geographic area.
Clarify the purpose of your efforts to reach those people: to introduce them to Christ in a nonthreatening way, to bring unchurched Christians back into the church, to disciple believers, to build a core of socially conscious believers who will address current issues, and so forth. (Remember, your goal is to focus, so do not simply repeat the ministry objectives identified in your mission statement.)
Indicate the qualities that make your church distinctive from others in the area.

Design a statement that makes sense to everyone: non-Christians, new Christians, mature Christians, inert Christians, active believers and church staff.

THE TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT

To be effective, the vision must be shared and omnipresent. Expose people to the vision through your sermon topics and content, through all written communication and in all group contexts. Employ a variety of people to help cast the vision. Vision is disseminated through the trickle-down process.

The vision is meant to be shared. That can only happen when it is clear and when it is available.

Vision is critical for effective strategic planning and implementation. The ministry tactics utilized by the church should fully reflect the vision.

By examining all decisions and opportunities in light of the vision, the church can ensure that quality and direction in all ministry efforts are consistent with that called for by the vision.

COUNT THE COST

Capturing the vision can be a lonely and exhausting process. God’s vision for your ministry may require you to learn new skills or to create new systems within your church. You may realize that you are being called to a different ministry. Expect Satan to confront you as you strive to gain God’s vision.

The expression “anything good is worth paying for” is certainly true of God’s vision for your ministry. And make no mistake about it, you will pay a price for your commitment to the vision.

None of the visionaries whose lives were dedicated to serving God with all their might have indicated that ministering from the basis of the vision was a wasted effort. None of those individuals said he or she would consider doing anything else, having experienced the joy of being so fully aligned with His purpose.

CAPTURING A PERSONAL VISION

You, too, should develop a personal vision statement. The process requires study, prayer and thought. You may need special counseling. The results may be life changing. (Check out my post on “Strategic Planning for You” for some specific tips.)

God expects each of us, whether we lead a church or not, to take command over our lives and use them to further His kingdom. Every Christian is called to live a life of ministry.

The process described here—knowing yourself, knowing your circumstances, knowing God and receiving the discerning counsel of others—is the same procedure you ought to follow in capturing His vision for your life.

Keys in the process, however, remain: prayer; studying His Word; seeking objective assessments of what you are experiencing in direction; and maintaining a diligent, patient, aggressive pursuit of the vision.

His Vision Reflects the Real You

As you seek God’s vision for your life, remember that it will be a reflection of your unique characteristics and the yearnings He has placed within you. View your vision in light of how your life will be geared to loving people and meeting their needs.

God’s vision for your ministry, like the one He prepares for a church, will cause you to grow by demanding that you change, sharpen your skills and participate in situations in which your only hope of success is enabling His Spirit to guide you and empower you.

Develop a one-or two-sentence statement regarding your vision, and constantly remind yourself that this is God’s desire for you. That is what Out of This World Leaders do!