“Leaders in today’s churches must be directional: they are tasked with keeping the church moving in the right direction-its God-given direction-the Great Commission. They know that people will never do ministry that matters until they know what matters.” (Being Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs)
“There is a step-by-step process in having a ‘vision-based and vision-oriented’ ministry. Imagine the phenomenal power of 100% of our people actively, effectively working together to accomplish the Vision. Unless the vision of a leader mobilized the energies of the persons and the resources of an organization, it will fail.” (Mays, Angie Courteous Rebel)
Work through these steps.
- Pray. As a leadership team pray with your people asking God for his plan for your church, ministry and your community.
- Plan a Vision Discovery retreat or a series of evening Vision discussions.
- Ask all your people to share and list key words representing their prayerful dreams for the Ministry.
- Pray through the list and find key words and common trends.
- Review the lists for scriptural integrity. Your Vision must be supported by scripture.
- Take your key words, common trends and talk about the picture these statements would paint.
- Ensure the completion of the Vision would move you toward an increase in the number of salvation and baptism decisions.
- Build statements that are clear, challenging and describe a verbal picture of the future for your people. Does it answer the question, if we all put God first in our lives, what will be accomplished in our community of faith?
- Continue to pray as you develop a statement, that describes your prayerful dream for the future.
- Consider the statement prayerfully then come together to prayerfully agree on the statement.
- Announce, celebrate and build plans to accomplish the Vision.
Leadership is … knowing, leading and implementing God’s Vision.
Yours in Service,
Laurie D. Kennedy
Leadership Coach
Jethro Group
ldkjethrogroup@gmail.com