Leadership: Develop a Vision

Proverbs 29:18. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

We talked last time about finding your passion, your “holy discontent.” Having a just cause to pursue is vital, but pursuing it to what end? If God blessed your efforts to make a difference, what would the result look like?

If you pursue your passion by yourself, you can wander around without having a clear sense of your desired destination and not do much harm (or much good, either). But if you are leading a group of people, or wanting to influence others to join your cause, you need to be crystal clear in your vision.

A clear vision motivates people. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Those who share your passion want you to tell them what it looks like when that passion is pursued to an exciting end. Hunger ends. Diseases are cured. Relationships are mended. Illiteracy is eliminated. Lives are saved for eternity.

A good vision walks the line between being big and broad enough to elicit a WOW! and being specific enough to not come across as vague or simply wishful thinking. One way to do this is to provide some geographical focus on your vision. Hunger ends in my city.

A good vision almost always comes with a feeling that this could only happen if God makes it happen. A vision is bigger than a person, although a person (the leader) leads the charge.

We have a vision for our church that we summarize as “more grace-changed lives.” We desire to be used by God in his work to reconcile more people to himself. Lots more people. In Hampton Roads and around the world. It’s exciting and motivating!

One of the practical realities of realizing that vision is the need for more space. We own a nice parcel of land (with a big mortgage and a lender who is a bit more conservative now than they were a year ago – like all lenders!) and no funds (yet) to put up a building. And oh by the way we’re in the middle of a bad recession. It is obvious to us that God needs to show up in a big way for us to be meeting in a new building on this land anytime soon. That actually gives us a great deal of peace – the God of the universe, who controls all resources, is in charge of our church and our vision. Who better?

So pray about what your passion looks like when it becomes a fulfilled vision!