Editor’s Note: Click here to register for Lutheran CORE’s next free webinar, Vision Casting for Church Leaders, led by the author.
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Acts 16:9-10
An extraordinary vision launched St. Paul into new territory, setting the stage for a world history changing ministry despite all the challenges that would follow. Every movement in Christian history has followed the same pattern including the path taken by our own Martin Luther. God shows a way forward and believers do something about it. “What is God saying to me and how will I respond?” becomes the basis for a different trajectory because the inverse is also true: “Where there is no vision, the people perish” Proverbs 29:18. Vision is the place where tomorrow is shaped. Vision draws in excitement, motivates believers, and determines what may be accomplished. Vision inspires creativity and is a catalyst for innovation. Vision points to a future possibility. And then comes Monday morning and we’re already exhausted.
Our mutual challenge is this; statistically, according to a research study by George Barna, four percent of pastors have a Vision for their communities. I would suggest the other ninety-six percent of us also have a Vision, but it’s a Vision maybe not as clearly articulated to inspire motivation in a congregation. Personally, I think Barna asked the wrong questions. In a lengthier tome we could dig into the results of spiritual gift inventories and note how few of us have Apostle as our primary gift set (they love taking new territory and Vision seems to leak out of their pores) and how/why the bulk of us test out as Pastors/Teachers. No surprise, yes? We are emotionally and spiritually committed to the people who called us. That’s what it means to be called – caring for those who invited us into that role of leadership and understand our roles as pastoring and teaching.
Living with integrity requires an openness to lean into the negative, see past the frustration and ask, “Why is this my reality?” That is the pivot point for all manner of Holy Discontents. Then what? This is not throwing shade at the theological systems which formed us, but were we taught next steps? I know I wasn’t, at least not initially, and I don’t claim to be an expert in how to teach others to discover their own, but I have learned a few things over the years about how to hear and effectively cast one. Much of that came from the Beeson Institute for Church Leadership, sadly a three-year program no longer available at Asbury Seminary and I thank Dr. Dale Galloway for having the vision to have launched it.
Why doesn’t my church look like my kids’ friends?
Brian Hughes
What does an implemented Vision look like? One example: It happened in Orinda, California and the congregation I was serving. Both of our kids were in school in Moraga, CA. Their friends would come over for play dates or we’d drop them off to visit. One Saturday I noticed our backyard looked like a tiny version of the UN. There were kids from nearly every ethnic background running around and happily laughing and then it hit me – why doesn’t my congregation look like my kids’ friends? So it began. In Orinda we welcomed a Korean ministry among us which eventually led to their pastor teaching at Luther Seminary. That vision never left and when the family ended up in Columbia, Maryland the same Vision continued. I felt a call to that community precisely because it was so ethnically diverse and we ended up with nine services a weekend in five languages with the Ocansey Royal Family of Ada, Ghana blessing me to become an honorary chief and my wife an honorary queen mother. A simple challenge that I heard from Christ, “Why doesn’t my church look like my kids’ friends?”
What’s God saying to you? And if you want to do something about it, how will you cast the Vision for it?
Please register and join us online on Wednesday, February 19th for our vision casting webinar.
