When the first century church at Jerusalem lost vision and slowed missional action, it invented the holy huddle. Now many congregations follow their example and hoard the Good News. The biggest vision killer is when congregations lose vision and huddle. They fear failing more than being open to joyously fulfilling God’s empowering vision for them. […]
Vision is more about transformation of the prodigals than honoring the elders among us. Congregational vision is more about creating a congregation not only in tune with God’s leadership, but with a structure and style that will connect with the next generation of leaders. With deep and abiding appreciation for the older people in a […]
God’s empowering vision often disrupts the status quo and who is in charge. That is why some people try to kill it. Many vision killers want to retain their positions of power. They may even want to control all the decision-making. Because crafting vision focuses on people with positive spiritual passion more than it does […]
Myopia prohibits many long-tenured congregational members from seeing the long-term benefits of new vision. Many longer-tenured members are nearsighted. They are myopic. Part of this may be their age. They are thinking in shorter life stages. They’re not sure they should buy green bananas. Just as they want to conserve principal and not take risks […]
Killers of a new vision in a congregation are the people who will not let go of the old vision that has waned. Long-tenured members who will not let go of a waning vision worship what was. They add heritage as the fourth person of the Trinity. As Lyle Schaller said, “You can tell the […]
In general, the longer people are connected with a congregation, the more difficult it is to see a new vision. The routine patterns and habits within the fellowship of a congregation blind people to new vision. In older churches, there is a group of people I call 60-40-20 people. They are at least 60 years […]
When vision wanes in congregations they can become angry at God for forsaking them, when they may actually have forsaken God. Congregational vision does not move forward on auto-pilot. Congregational participants must believe in the vision sufficiently to be part of God’s empowering force. When vision wanes within a congregation, then it is not being […]
Vision which is not fulfilled in new and innovative ways each year will become stale and lose its cutting edge. As empowering as it is to be captured by God’s vision, that vision does not come with a playbook for living into it. New and innovative methods for living into the vision still must be […]
Vision does not call for the rejection of heritage. It sees heritage as a foundation, a centering, and a mooring. Heritage provides a foundation. For example, the substance of worship, such as who congregations worship and why, never changes. We always worship the Triune God. That is not open for negotiation. Congregations are not planning […]
Vision is always about the future, never about the past. The past is a prelude to the emerging future. Congregational vision is never about going back to the past. It is always going forward to the future. I tell congregations one four-letter word to eliminate from their speech is the word “back.” While our God […]