Discerning Vision for Your Ministry

Rev. Michael Foss, Senior Pastor, Prince of Peace

Scripture Text: Acts 16:6-10 NIV

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them.

God has been shaping visions for ministry for centuries. This text not only gives us insight into Paul’s vision for the church, but highlights insights for us today in casting and carrying out vision for our ministry. As a mission-driven, vision-led congregation, I want to share my understanding of Paul’s discovering of his vision, as well as learnings I have discovered in casting and implementing the vision for Prince of Peace.

#1 – Vision is often birthed out of frustration.

Vision doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Vision usually happens because of frustration. Something is just not moving with the energy that we would like it to have. In our Acts text, note that twice it says that God blocked their plans. God said no.

Sometimes our frustrations and confusion is simply the way God gets our attention. When I read the scriptures, one of the things I look for is when something is repeated two or three times in a short passage. That usually means it’s worth my attention. The same can be true in life. If you experience frustration or a blockage, the first thing I would encourage you to do is to begin to consider what God is trying to say to you? Stand there. Be in wonder about it. God is saying something.

There would not have been a vision for Paul in Acts 16:6 if there hadn’t been frustration. Paul had to be prepared to receive the vision that God was going to give him. The preparation for his vision was his inability to believe what he really believed God was calling him to do.

God has a vision for you. I don’t know what level that vision will fit within the ministry, but God has a vision for you. If you are feeling blocked internally, it is time to step back and watch and pray and pay attention for God to open the door.

#2 – Vision comes to the leader.

If we go back to the text, it is interesting to note the language. Paul and his companions were part of a small community, a small cell of the early church. The companions moved throughout Phrygia and Galatia and the Holy Spirit kept them from preaching the word in Asia, the area that most of know as Turkey. Then they came to Bithynia, Mysia and the Spirit wouldn’t allow them to preach. Twice blocked. And then there is something that happens. They passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. "During the night, Paul," and the language stops and shifts gears. It is no longer about Paul. It is about a leader. The Biblical truth about vision is that it always comes to the leader.

I believe we are in an Acts time. I don’t think it is post-Christian, I believe it is pre-Christian, similar to the time of Paul. I was educated at a time when we believed that vision ought to bubble up like a spring out of the people. There is only one problem with that perspective. After twenty-some years of studying vision in the church, in politics, and in business – I have never seen it happen. I’m not saying that it never has. I am saying that I have never read about it, or seen it. If you read Scripture, vision never comes through a committee. I have had all kinds of vision committees and I have always been frustrated that we couldn’t get things moving. The truth of the matter is that vision comes to a leader.

The language of this text shifts dramatically from the team to Paul, the leader. We need to pay attention to that. The frustration now will shift to the leader and become turned inside out into an opportunity. God’s no becomes a yes.

It is the call of the leader to cast the vision. This vision must, however, be a vision big enough so that those who participate and buy into the vision will be able to have their own vision that will advance the larger one

#3 - The power of vision is that it creates community.

The vision first comes to the leader, but the leader has to give it away. In other words, it first comes to the leader, then through the leader.

Let’s return to the text - During the night, Paul, the leader had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and saying, "Come over, please and help us." Then there is another linguistic shift in this text. After Paul had seen the vision, "We got ready." When Paul receives the vision and shares it with the group, their frustration turns into opportunity and it creates community. Doors then begin to open.

When you are able to discern God’s vision and you walk through that door, God will begin to line up resourcing for you. The text continues. "We put out to sea sailing straight for Samothrace and the next day onto Neapolis and from there onto Philippi." From this point on God will just keep opening one door after another.

#4 – Resourcing the vision

One of the problems we have in the church is that we separate resourcing from vision. Resourcing, whether the resources are people (the ultimate resource God gives the church), money, property, or buildings always follows vision.

What we now have is the vision process. Vision has come to the leader, born out of, to a large degree, the fertile soil of frustration, a sense that something is not quite right. God is blocking it and then when the leader receives the vision, it goes through the leader to the people. Then it becomes a dynamic process. What we see happen when we follow the book of Acts is that Paul will share the vision of the ministry, and it will start going all over the place. As people hear the vision, it stirs their hearts, they buy into it, and they start owning it. They will begin to create nuances, shades, and directions that will advance the vision and create a clearer picture.

Sometimes I get questions from people who feel that God has strongly laid it on their heart to change the vision of their church. To this I suggest that if you wait for them (the team) to produce the vision, it won’t happen. God is frustrating you. They (the team) may not even share the same level of frustration that you do. So, you experience it, then others can be transformed into catching sight of the vision. Then you will share it and your team will help reshape and enlarge that vision within the context of your vision and that will help create your team.

#5 - What are the costs of vision?

One of the costs is that as you share the vision, people will catch sight of the vision and opt out. That shouldn’t surprise us. Remember Paul, Barnabas, and others? The obligation of those who have been given a vision by God is first of all not to sit on it. Secondly, as you share it, invite others in and allow them to make their decision, not only by what they say, but also by what they do to advance the vision.

I had been at Prince of Peace for two or three years and the vision for the second generation began to emerge. Within another year I had become so convinced of the vision - that we would take this church and transform it from a low expectation church to a high expectation church, from a membership based ministry to a discipling ministry. I became so convinced that God was calling me to do this that I first went home to my wife and I said, "Honey, God is calling me to do this." I knew that she was anxious that I would ask her to move again.

Frankly, I wasn't sure if Prince of Peace would buy into this or not. I told her, " If they don’t buy it, you won’t have to move. I will figure out a way to plant a church and I will do it there. It’s so compelling for me."

Barna talks about it this way – he describes a vision for the leader that is so compelling that you can almost taste and touch it. That doesn’t mean you have all the particulars. It means you know what it’s about. Everything else becomes secondary. I was absolutely serious. My wife and I prayed about it and she said, "Okay, I’m with you."

Then I went to the board and I began to meet with them one-on-one. We talked about what it would be like to be a discipling church. Then I said, "By the way, you can’t lead unless you are first a disciple." Now in my denomination, that kind of language from a pastor to a member of the board just doesn’t happen. I met with them one-on-one, I talked about what it meant, I said leaders lead and its all about practicing our faith.

I said, "If you are going to be a passionate follower of Jesus Christ you will: pray daily, worship weekly, read the Scriptures daily, serve within and outside of the congregation, be in relationship for spiritual growth and give of your time and talents – your treasures. "

The board agreed, which really surprised me. It was interesting that no one really challenged me on the tithing. One guy said, "How can I worship weekly? I live in Minnesota and this man told me he has a cabin up north at the lake. Do I have to sell my cabin? I said, "No. My assumption is that when you are at there, you don’t loose your spiritual need for worship. Is there a church nearby?" He said, "Well, there is a little church down the road…" I said, "That’s the answer!"

Let me share with you the other piece of it. Isn’t the shape of his question interesting? We underestimate the power of vision to align people so they make significant decisions. He was ready to sell his cabin. That is the power of vision.

#6 – Communicating the vision

Communicating the vision is a pivotal point in the visioning process. Once I received the vision, it took me another year to listen to what the Spirit was saying within our community. As I shared it, it became more and more clear.

It happened to me when I first launched a vision for our church. We, as a church, are committed to reaching those outside "the church" as well as churchgoers looking for a change. I came out with a vision that said God is going to make Prince of Peace into a cathedral church! I was thinking, as an amateur historian, of a place where people would come to be restored and then go out into the world and live their faith. They thought of a building. This is a community of faith where, at the time, we worshiped in a building bought in 1976. It had brown carpeting and was in the shape of a triangle with a low ceiling. They thought I was crazy.

You do not have to have all the right words to communicate the vision. God will give you a team that will help you unpack and repack it. So when I say, wait, be in scripture and prayer; also be in relationship with those you trust around the vision: those who have demonstrated loyalty and a friendship that is truth telling. You don’t need friends who will tell you what they think you want to hear, nor do you want people who are not loyal to you and your ministry.

As you listen, it is interactive. You have the opportunity to restate. As you listen, restate. Most protestant churches in the United States that are failing are not failing because the leaders and the people don’t care; they are failing from lack of vision. The vision may have indeed been accomplished at one time, but the world doesn’t stop there. It keeps moving. Vision is incredibly time-sensitive. It needs to be restated and reformed, particularly as it is grounded in the cultural realities.

Lyle Schaller, student of the church, says that churches normally reinvent themselves every forty years. Businesses right now reinvent themselves every three to five years. Schaller goes on to say that churches ought to reinvent themselves every sixteen or seventeen years. With all due respect, I believe he is wrong. We need to reinvent ourselves every 7 to 8 years, because that’s the movement of our culture. In that reinvention, the vision can still carry some of the best from the past, but it doesn’t carry all of the past. Just because it is being done, doesn’t mean it is worthy of the ministry of today or the future.

John Kotter, of Harvard Business School, is the author of What Leaders Do and Leading Change. I have found these to be very helpful. He says, "Leaders under communicate by a factor of ten." Those of us that own the vision and live with it day in and day out, often misread the general culture. For fear of talking down to our people or thinking we are becoming repetitive, we state the vision and then move on. When it comes to sharing the vision, however, don’t stop short.

In the course of five years, our vision is being proclaimed in its third iteration again next fall. Once again, we will have a series of sermons that will ground us in our vision to be a discipling community of faith.

How do you do that? Within your area of ministry if you have vision, don’t under-communicate it. Talk about it, over and over again. At Prince of Peace, I would guess that about 35% of the people who have gone there for the last five years would really know the vision. From there it tapers off. But we’re working on it.

An important part of communicating the vision is with the staff and board members, because they are our missionary teammates. There is no such thing as just jobs in ministry anymore, we are all missionaries. We have people who not only have been de-churched, they have never been churched. They don’t know that the member of the facility team (a custodian) is different from a senior pastor. If they see someone who they can identify as staff or as a leader, they ask that person questions expecting that they will be able to articulate the spirituality and understanding of faith that we all have. As we move to clarify the vision, we need to take these perspectives into account.

The great thing about having a team of missionaries is that the teams will be able to work the vision in their areas. You can see that the larger vision becomes replicated. Every piece of ministry ought to be reflective of the whole vision. If, for example, a family only experiences your church from the vantagepoint of children’s ministry, they will still get a picture of the overall ministry vision. These teams begin to embody the vision and that creates this wonderful momentum.

#7 – Risks in vision casting

In discovering God’s vision for your ministry we need to talk about the risks. As we took this vision to the staff, and if all areas were to be part of the mission team, then all staff needed to be aligned with the larger vision. One of the risks we experienced was the loss of a few staff members. As difficult and painful as that was for me, it was not my job to keep everybody on board. It is my job to help people make appropriate decisions, as God would lead them.

Being a leader is not easy. It doesn’t matter where you are in leadership today; you walk around with a bull’s- eye on. Part of what being a leader is about is seeing things that others do not see. Connect with other leaders. Other leaders will help you discern whether it is an idealistic vision or if it is the horizon toward which you are called I belong to two senior pastor’s groups that are cross denominational. We are all leaders of large churches who get together to support one another.

The key leader is one who sees the present reality and the future, gets a picture, then comes back to construct a bridge so that others can come along. The question is, How much do you do or not do? Keep the vision out there, but how far back do you need to go to construct the bridge? Building the bridge can be the hardest part in making the vision become a reality.

Test your vision.

The discipline about vision is to be patient enough to catch sight of the Macedonian Man. My temptation is that, in the absence of a clear picture from God, I will create one. How surprising will it be then, when I charge up the hill and look around to see no troops? Conversely, for those of you who are a bit more cautious, the discipline is once the vision has come, God isn’t going to give you another vision that you will like better. God is not going say, oh, this one doesn’t work for you? How would this work?

If you are willing to catch sight of this risky thing called a vision, in whatever your context is, and you are willing to share it with others and they get on board-- lives change and their commitments will humble you.

We have a lawyer who just left an influential position to come and be on staff at Prince of Peace. That is the power of a clear vision. People get it and they are willing to commit to it in profound ways. That creates resourcing in incredible ways.

It is not about money. It is about people and people’s lives. We live in a culture where people of three generations, at least, are hungering for something worth spending their lives for. You see, we are all spending our lives. You’re spending your life today. The question is not whether we’re spending our lives; it is are we spending it on something that is really worthwhile? We have something called the Gospel. When people get that, they are literally willing to give their all.

#8 – Vision deal breakers.

I learned this the hard way. Some of the most profound lessons I have ever learned, I would rather have read in a book. The lessons I have learned in this area are from real-world experience. The first deal-breaker is with regard to your values. When you find yourself in a conversation with another who doesn’t share your values, or if there is a conflict around values, that’s the first red flag. The second deal-breaker is with regard to mutual trust between individuals and systems. Each person or system has a way of doing business. If the individual or organization’s system does not share methods with your own, then it’s time to part ways. Unlike values, which can be fairly easy to catch up front, methods of doing business often take time to uncover. These methods are the lived-out beliefs. As an organization focused on discipleship, for example, we will not partner with an organization that will not allow us to wear the name Jesus Christ in everything we do. Finally, a deal-breaker is anything that does not help us accomplish our mission and vision. For us, a deal breaker would be when you have something that doesn’t eventually help accomplish discipleship through direct involvement of our people or through the creation of discipling ministries. Part of the power in getting the beliefs, values, mission and vision down in writing gives us permission to say no. The problem is that our choices are not between what is good and what is bad, the problem is in choosing between what is good and what is best. If we can discern that this is good, but not best, then it’s a deal-breaker. If it compromises the health of our community of faith, then it is a deal-breaker and we are out. If the program compromises the fiscal (or physical) well being of the church, then we’re not in. My suspicion is that many of us have found ourselves engaged in conversation about projects and that voice of the Spirit inside of us says that something’s not right. Pay attention to that. There is no easy way, but get out of it. If you understand your deal-breakers, it frees you up to look at all kinds of partnerships and alliances that would have, historically, been closed off. It focuses your energies for the vision.

If you have a senior pastor who hasn’t had or cast a vision, I would encourage you to invite them into a process. There are some great books: Turning Vision into Action, George Barna, or Leading Change by Kotter. These are among the two best.

What if you have a vision that is in collision with the larger vision? It is not possible for any community of faith not to have a vision; maybe it is just not articulated. What if you have a vision, and within your own team there is conflict around the vision? I have yet to see a conflict of vision resolved, because it is either/or. In the example of Paul it would have been, Either we’re going to Macedonia or you are not coming along. That is why I was so serious when I went to my wife and said, "You don’t have to move, but I am going to do this. I cannot not do this." If you can’t not do it, then that is a vision. If there is conflict, walk it through, invite people to get it, but if it comes down to them not buying into the vision, then walk on. Then there is the commitment to see it through. If you read from this point on in Paul’s ministry in Macedonia, you’ll find it was not always pleasant. There is perseverance, catching hold of the vision and being like a pit bull, hanging on and hanging on. The translation of that is into incredible power.

My book, PoWeR SuRGe, talks about where beliefs, mission, vision and values all fit. It lays out that the mission really is the strategy for taking your beliefs and values out to the world in order to get to where you are going. Our vision is "10,000 passionate followers of Jesus Christ in every generation." What’s interesting is that we are already discovering that that vision is too small. That leads to where you need to evaluate. Part of the wonder is once you have seen that future and you have engaged your team around it – that future comes running to you. There is perseverance, but you’ll begin to discern over time that you have gotten a lot further, a lot faster than you ever thought possible.

God’s blessings on your journey!