The Six Vehicles for Church Vision: How Many Are You Using?
Every pastor wants to get people excited about God’s activity in the world through their local church. But not every pastor understands how to use the multiple vehicles at their disposal.
The idea of vehicle is easy to understand. If a community is in desperate need of medical supplies, what vehicles are you going to use? A wheelbarrow or a 18-Wheeler or a C-130 cargo aircraft? And if you could, would you want five C-130’s or just one? You get the picture.
Keep in mind that the concepts we are covering are very powerful when implemented. The truth is that pastors have trucks in their fleet that have never seen drive time. The cost is high as the precious cargo of motivational kingdom fuel never dispenses to hearts and minds of their people. But get those rucks rollin and you will see things happen like you’ve never seen before!
This post is the second in a series on “Vehicles for Vision.” The first post dealt with a primary challenge on the subject- the default setting in the pastor’s mind that preaching is the primary vehicle for vision. It is the default mode because it is the easiest. After all, pastors are preparing messages every Sunday already and they don’t have to get other people involved in the delivery process. It’s simple and clean.
In that post we revealed that despite the important role of preaching, the primary vehicle is the church’s connecting environment. So let’s start there and continue our list:
Vehicle #1: The Connecting Environment. This is the primary vehicle because it is the most relationally intensive. Therefore most of the validation, understanding and appreciation takes place here. Don’t complicate this too much. If you have small groups or Sunday school or missional communities, I am suggesting that those leaders or facilitators and the environments that they create are crucial to the delivery of vision.
Vehicle #2: The Leadership Pipeline. If you understand the importance of vehicle one, you might be asking, “How does that actually work?” That’s a great question because it reveals an even more foundational vehicle. In fact, I consider it the prime mover. The leadership pipeline is the vehicle where vision is transferred from leaders to other leaders. It assumes a leadership development culture. It supposes there are time and places where only leaders meet to pray, dream, dialogue and train together.
Vehicle #3: The Preaching Event. Now we get to everyone’s favorite. And this vehicle is important as it carries a special authority and motivational dynamic with the congregation at large. Preaching connects the vision to the Word of God, to the act of worship, and rallies the entire body of Christ together in a unique way.
Vehicle #4: The Structural Story. This is a meaningful piece that I look forward to unpacking with you. By structural story I mean everything from staff and volunteer position titles, to budget categories, to systems. It’s everything in the background; the supporting processes of the organization. And these pieces will either make a random, static-like noise or work together to contribute to the story and the vision.
Vehicle #5: The Visual Brand. From screens and worship guides, to curriculum and websites, your church is creating visual palettes from which people are digesting information. It may be a church sign, or a e-mail from the pastor. Everything speaks. As we explore this often overlooked vehicle we will show how you can constantly reflect and reinforce your vision.
Vehicle #6 The Voice of Each One. The icing on the cake is always the word on the street. Vision transfers through people not paper. And the ultimate test is not how well vision was communicated leader to leader, but from a participant to participant. By that I mean, what does Joe attendee say to a co-workers after he’s visited your church for six months? There are important steps that you can take, to help the vision transfer on the front line. Do you know what they are?
As we continue the series we will explore each vehicle further. For now I would encourage you to evaluate your ministry. How many of these vehicles are you currently using?
10 Surprising Mobile Web Stats for Church Leaders
Why should a church leader invest in online presence and functionality for mobile devises today?
These ten stats might surprise you.
1. There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that’s 77 percent of the world population).
2. Within 5 years mobile will overtake PC as the most popoular way to get on the Web.
3. In 2011 over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web.
4. 25% of mobile Web users in the US are mobile only.
5. The number of mobile Web searches has quadrupled in the last year.
6. 71 percent of smartphone users that see TV, press or online ad, do a mobile search.
7. Mobile ad spend worldwide is predicted to sky rocket to $20.6 billion in 2015.
8. The most used mobile apps in the US are games; news; maps; social and music.
9. Paying by mobile i.e. m-payments will be worth US$240 billion in 2011
10. M-payments could reach over US$1 trillion by 2015.
After a few moments of reflection any leader dialing into these stats will want to take action. Here are some questions to consider:
- How do you leverage mobile internet access for the mission of your church?
- How does mobile web and marketing relate to classic ways of building awareness?
- How does mobile web provide new possibilities for brick-and-mortar ministries?
- How does mobile web create a new possibilities for equipping and connecting?
- How does mobile web impact the landscape of missions and missional living?
- How will the mobile web shape how we give?
These ten stats were taken from the longer list at MobiThinking. I found them thru a tweet from DJ Chuang. DJ, by the way, is a great guy who consults with dual passions- the Asian-America church and ministry technology- specifically web and social media. Another guy who can help you stay on top of the technology curve is Tim Peters, a church communications consultant with Auxano.
“I’ve been looking for something like this for years” Now it’s FREE through July
The title of this post came from one of our Church Unique Visual Summary readers. He was able to boil down his review to four words. “Amazing design, profound content.”
Yesterday Auxano sent an announcement that the Visual Summary will be FREE through July.
Church Unique Snapshot: The Vision Frame of “the Church” in Madison, Wisconsin
I had lunch today with Jeff Meyer, lead pastor of “the Church” and lead navigator with Auxano. I asked him to share his Vision Frame to illustrate the power of clarity for everyday pastors.
Jeff is a very intentional leader and is gifted at coaching and consulting churches through their own clarity journey that we call the Vision Pathway. In addition, he is one of the few innovative practitioners with the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) in charting a new course, not just of multi-site, but of serious missional engagement. For example I love Jeff’s switch from “Every member a minister” commodity language to “Every member a missionary.” You might enjoy connecting with Jeff at jeffm@auxano.com or follow him on twitter: pjfire. In addition, he is speaking this week with Alan Hirsch and others at the FiveTwo conference in Houston.
One thing to remember as Jeff shares his four mission measures of “life-marks,” is that each one is broken down into four developmental areas, creating a dashboard with 16 spiritual growth areas.
A Thanks to Blog Readers and Clarity Seekers
I got an e-mail from Alltop alerting that my blog was now listed under the Christianity section.
I am…
- Diagonal to Donald Miller.
- Just right of “Don’t Eat the Fruit” blog which is thoughtful look at the nature of technology in life. The guy is a Dallas Theological Seminary student (my seminary) and has his first book coming out shortly, From the Garden to the City.
- Above the “Greater Seas” blog which is a well designed site that looks at the intersection of Christian faith and business.
The BEST part of being on Alltop: I have been jealous of Ed Stezter’s Alltop badge, so now I can have one on my blog too.
The WORST part of being on Alltop: When my wife Romina saw the categories, she was more interested in “Chile” category (her home country) which is right above the “Christianity” category. Oh well.
I want to express my appreciation to you for connecting with my blog. Thanks for the comments and encouragement along the way. May God give you grace to discover clear vision for your life and ministry and the courage to follow Him into a better future.
If you have not been to the Alltop site take a look around!
