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A Vision for Every Church

Reflection by Gil Cann

In many churches I have worked with in recent years the leaders have been toiling over 'vision statements'. Not just for a few days, but for months and even years! And so many seem to feel obliged to come up with a vision statement unlike that of any other church. As though it would not be worthy unless it was original!

Today's church vision statements are certainly diverse! Some are long and grandiose with cosmic dimensions. Others are brief and down to earth. As the elderly members of a small church said, `Our goal in this church is to keep it going long enough so that each of us can be buried from here!'

The matter of vision is far too important to be left in fallible human hands. There is a much better way. First we must acknowledge that `our churches' are not our churches. They are God's churches. God has His own vision for His churches. And His vision for every one of His churches is the same. Not different, but the same!

You need never again burn the midnight oil seeking to frame a vision statement for your church. Use His! If Jesus Christ is Head of the churches which comprise His body would He not have a vision for them? His vision statement is found in Ephesians Chapter 4:11-16. It can be summarised in these words:

`God's people equipped for their ministries; the body of Christ built up; unity in the faith; the knowledge of God's son; maturity; the fullness of Christ; no longer children; not easily deceived; speaking the truth in love; Christ the Head; each believer fulfilling his God-given part; resulting in the growth of the Body and it's increase in love.'

So let me suggest a `vision statement' for every church: ·To see every member grow in Christlike character. To see every member's gifts, ministries and callings identified, endorsed and fully employed. ·To see every member's daily sphere of influence recognized as a very important ministry of their church.

The result? Every member becoming more like Christ. Every member fulfilling the ministries for which God has gifted them. Every member pursuing the concerns and convictions God has given them. Every member accomplishing the assignments to which He has called them. Every member honouring God in their daily spheres of influence. This is the Lord's vision for every church.

This is a vision to last a church a lifetime. Equally applicable whether a church has a visionary pastor or no pastor at all. It can be pursued with or without money, with or without property, by churches large and small. God's vision is achievable by every church. A church must embrace and pursue this vision. It must never allow itself to be distracted from it. No matter how attractive some goal-oriented, program-based approaches to church life may seem, they are poor substitutes for the vision God has for his churches.

A church is not a quarry of potential volunteers. A church is people in whose hearts and minds God has invested abilities, capacities, knowledge, concerns, convictions, priorities, compassion, gifts and callings which fit them to do what he wants to do in their neighbourhoods, their nation, and their world. We are entrusted with this marvellous God-given
resource.

We are to be facilitators, not recruiters. Assist your members to fulfil their God-given assignments, not simply to fill vacancies in your church departments. Occasionally they will coincide but these days, often, they will not, because many church activities are Christendom- orientated, and that era has gone. Many are more about maintenance than mission. These days God is calling many of His people to assignments outside the church program. This may be `different' and perplexing, but God wants us to do all we can to endorse and support them.

Vision statements often spell out what members believe their church should become. That is their vision. Of far more importance is what God wants each member to do. That is His vision. The outcomes are very different. The former often results in labour intensive programs devised to help reach that goal. The latter results in members, both individually, and with others of like calling, extending God's love and justice to the wider world in ways beautifully appropriate to each person's gifts, personalities and heart concerns.

What we need most is not the `right structure' or the `right programs' nor, dare I say it, a `visionary pastor'. Today's need is for churches to make God's vision their own.

His vision is to see every one of His people's potential fully realised for His Kingdom's sake. Dare we have any other?

Gil Cann is a resource contact for ACC congregations. He is available to train elders and run missions. He is financed independently of the ACC by his work in Uniting Churches and other denominations here and interstate, but he is able to represent and promote the work of ACC Victoria. For further information see: http://www.confessingcongregations.com/resources/item/helping-equip-gods-people-in-the-uniting-church/

 

 

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