Unsame Your Ministry Vision
Are you going to be satisfied with a future for ministry that is more of the same?
Very few pastors break from norm of mediocre church ministry. But I am convinced it doesn’t have to be that way.
Last fall I was honored to participate in Leadership Network’s roll-out of their Leadia Experience. My conribution was FLUX: Four Paths to the Future. FLUX provides a guide for thinking, adapting, and innovating in order to discover new possibilities for your church. It starts with one whiteboard drawing and gives you a matrix for assessing and planning your future.
I encourage you to engage with the full experience. But for now, I challenge you to rethink and reimagine your ministry with this post mini-series from FLUX.
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination, do not become the slave of your model - Vincent Van Gogh
Every once in while, I find a new feature on my Mac or iPhone, because I discover a default switch or button that I didn’t know existed. In fact there is a specific definition for this:
Default: a selection automatically used by a computer program in the absence of a choice made by the user
Many times it’s no big deal, but sometimes I want to kick myself for missing out on some cool functionality. I didn’t know the default switch even existed!
After a decade of daily conversations about vision with ministry teams, I have discovered a hidden vision switch with a default position in the minds of church leaders. But this default setting is not just about missing out on a nifty feature. It’s about a fundamental mode of thinking that’s limiting us.
Let me explain.
One question I always enjoy asking church leaders is “How do you want your church to be different two years from now?”
What kind of answers do I get?
The most common two-word response is “more people.” Of course that expresses itself in many forms:
- Increased worship
- More growth
- Higher attendance
- Additional services
- Reaching more people
- Reversing decline
Think about that for a minute. “How do you want your church to be different in two years?” Imagine the infinite number of answers possible to this question. For example, pastors could have responded with answers like:
- More desperate for Jesus
- More intimacy between husbands and wives
- More engaged in social justice and civic responsibilities
- More families having devotionals together
- More friendships with people far from God
- More students serving other students
But for the most part, they don’t give answers like this. Despite the rainbow variety of gospel-centered, life-transforming possibilities the most common answer is always, in one form or another, “More people.”
Keep in mind that the one-dimensional answer of “more people” transcends an incredibly wide variety of church settings and leaders, from uptown to small town, mainline or online – from the newest staff newbie to the post-retired, hard-to-expire. Everyone wants “more people.”
And “more people” is good. Jesus wants more people too. And yes, churches “should count people because people count.”
But there’s something important behind the answer of “more people.” And that something reveals this default setting in the life of the everyday pastor. Church leaders are not just saying that want “more people.” What they are really saying is…
2012 Barna Report: Pastors Are Most Interested in Clarity of Church’s Vision and Mission
As I’ve watched conversations over the past decade, I have observed a growing interest from church leaders in getting mission and vision right. The latest Barna Group report that studied how pastors plan to improve their churches in the coming year affirms this. David Kinnaman, who directed the research study put it this way:
“Most pastors are open to changing their ministries, yet many of them are struggling with the foundational questions of mission and vision. In other words, they want a clear direction to pursue, not necessarily just more ministry resources, like facilities, equipment, technology or ministry tools.”
Here are a few bullets that highlight important takeaways from the Barna research. You can read the full article here.
- The highest priority for pastors is assessing their church’s mission and vision. (59% said they definitely will; 88% probably will)
- The second priority is to assess the church’s reputation in the community. (38% said they definitely will; 72% probably will)
- Conducting an assessment of spiritual transformation in their church is an important goal. (22% said they definitely will; 50% probably will)
- Measuring demographics and spiritual needs in their local community will be a priority. (31% said they definitely will; 62% probably will)
This report continues to expose the growing interest in and need for vision consulting as higher priority is being put on vision clarity by church leaders. It also reinforces one of the points I mentioned in a previous post, 2011 Vision and Strategy Church Trends where I observed that we are seeing a shift in priorities and needs of church leaders. It is a shift that is moving away from packaged campaigns and programs towards the ability to navigate organic and culture-savvy solutions. Indeed, help in clarifying vision has become the most common reason for a pastor to pursue a consultant.
Sifted: Leading with Brokenness (#Exponential)
I look forward to #Exponential every year. Why? Because it brings together over 5000 church leaders – thought leaders, planters and those in the trenches who gather to share and encourage.
SIFTED is the theme of this year’s conference.
What does it mean to be sifted? The Exponential conference leaders put it this way, “Every ministry leader has a unique story of being sifted, the seemingly painful process through which we face trials that result in us being broken and refined, strengthened and restored.”
How does personal and organizational clarity fit with the Sifted them? You might be surprised. I have found that the most painful periods in my life were also the most significant clarifiers for personal and ministry vision. I talk about this, for example, in God’s Vision vs. Your Projection.
If you have not signed up yet, why not join me along with my Auxano teammates in Orlando. In our workshops, we will share our personal experiences and stories of being sifted – and how clarity can provide insight and direction for your journey. Some of the Auxano team that will be there include Jim Randall, Jeff Harris, Dave Saathoff, Bryan Rose, and Chris Willard. These guys are amazing and have some incredible stories.
To kick it off I will be offering one of the pre-conference intensives Monday afternoon, April 23 and Tuesday morning April 24: Church Unique: How Organic Vision Shapes Cultures and Creates Movement.
Then Tuesday through Thursday, Auxano will host the Intentional Leadership Workshop Track – with categories that include: personal vision, ministry design, team leadership, funding and resourcing, communication and more.
It will be a great time of connecting, learning and understanding how God uses seasons of Sifting. We hope to see you there.
7 Reasons Why Your Church Should Create an Annual Report
You’ve heard of annual reports, but have you thought of creating one for your church? The point of course is not to imitate a common corporate practice, but to leverage every opportunity to cast vision. As we scan a few reasons why you should do this, let’s start with a definition.
Wiki: An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company’s activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company’s activities and financial performance. The details provided in the report are of use to investors to understand the company’s financial position and future direction.
Why you should leverage this communication tool:
#1 An annual report creates a great “excuse” to cast vision. Most people know what an annual report is, but don’t expect their church to provide one. Why not leverage the “placeholder in their mind” to make a positive impact?
#2 An annual report utilizes a natural rhythm for reflection and refocus. Remember, God created the cycle of a year. Since you use the year to define everything else in your life, why not use it to nourish the vision for people in the church?
#3 An annual report is a great tool to retell your best stories. Hopefully you’ve been sharing stories of life change throughout the year. Now tell them again. As a leader, it’s important to know your “folklore-” the stories of God that are worth sharing over and over and over.
#4 An annual report is an act of gratitude toward God. What if you saw the process like writing a thank you note to God. Even if your church didn’t have the best year, you have something for which you can express gratitude to God. Use the report to honor God and point people to Jesus.
#5 An annual report is a helpful accountability mechanism. I get that fact that accountability is not always fun. Sometimes you don’t like prepping sermons. But this Sunday keeps you accountable. Chances are, no one is going to wake up and bug you for that 2011 annual report. That’s what makes this point a big deal. You can initiate the commitment and hold yourself and your team accountable to this kind of vision casting.
#6 An annual report builds credibility with people. While an annual report is not everyone’s “love language,” some people will take a giant step forward because you took the time to provide this tool. It shows the leadership’s willingness to be honest with financial information and communicates the deeper “whys” behind ministry decisions and direction.
#7 An annual report is a perfect project to experiment with some new talent and creativity. Since this communication tool is not weekly or urgent, you can recruit some people who are new or uninvolved and see what they produce. If you haven’t done a report, you have nothing to loose by trying. Ask them for something fresh and different. Here are a few examples of reports to get the creative minds sparked.
If you plan on doing an annual report for the first time, I would love to hear about it. If I can help you in anyway through Auxano Design, let me know.
Great Vision, Bad Execution – 6 Common Mistakes
It’s a delight to watch teams get clear on the future. But it’s a fright to see that hard work of visioning go south when it comes to execution. If the work of visioning can be compared to taking a journey, there are six mistakes I see most:
#1 Spinning Wheel Decision-making. Sometimes a team can have a great vision process only to get bogged down in complex or ineffective decision-making after the fact. On a car ride of a thousand miles, the spark plugs fire a thousands times each mile. If the little steps to make the vision happen don’t fire, you’ll only putter along.
#2 Courage-on-empty: Clarity is no good if there isn’t courage and conviction to act on it. Sometimes the team or the point leader get fired up about the next ministry chapter or new direction only to hit the brakes if a few people push back. This lack of courage may be just another way to describe approval addiction.
#3 Ego Side Trips: Sometimes a team of strong leaders create sideways energy. Maybe two senior leaders have different operating philosophies. Or, maybe youthful vigor on the team insists on going in its own direction. Sometimes leaders gets distracted with building their platform outside of the organization or use a ministry position in a way that promotes personal hobbies and interests. While I don’t often run into ill intent in ministry, I do see lots of strong egos that don’t harness together well.
#4 Communication Breakdown: The best vision in the world will die fast if people are left out of the loop. Meaningful connection to the vision must be sustained by dialogue, vision-soaked media, and vision dripping from the core leadership. After you map out the vision, make sure you map out your communication processes and systems.
#5 False Start: Every now and then, I see a team so anxious to execute that they move to quickly. It may be inexperience, or over-optimism. Sometimes a leader grows to or moves to a larger organization, where implementation requires more steps and nuances to bring everyone along. Sometimes a leader has a mountaintop experience and fails to get the key lieutenants together and on board for a great start.
#6 Running Too Hot: Having clear vision is one thing. Getting there in God’s time is another. Sometimes leaders have the right vision but want to achieve it too fast. In their drivenness, people suffer from burn-out. In times of stress and extreme performance other temptations come to the table. It’s critically important not to let the work for God hinder the work of God in the personal lives of the team. God’s vision should never eclipse the godliness of the visionary.