Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine. He was asking my opinion about a technique that some churches use but was unsettling for him. Through our conversation, our focus shifted from tactics to vision. The essential question that we settled on was “How does someone buy into the vision of a church?”
Our conversation made it clear that as much as we would like to think that our people know the vision we have laid out, many are still unclear on where the ministry is going. Since they do not know the vision of the ministry, they are not bought into what God is doing.
In this article, I would like to identify three important factors that will ensure the people in your care know and buy into the vision God has given to you for the ministry.
1. The Vision Must be God Centered
No matter how great the vision is, no matter how many times you share it with people, no matter how great of a leader and communicator you are, if your vision is not 100% God centered, then you will not have total buy in from all leaders. Sure there may be some that will follow. This may come from a passion for students and a desire to serve you, the leader. But when the storms come and it becomes hard to see the bigger picture, people will become disheartened and leave the ministry if the vision is not God centered.
2. The Vision Must be Told Often
A man once said, “if you say something long enough, loud enough and often enough, people start to believe it.” This quote is so true. When your volunteers, students, parents and staff hear the vision for your ministry again and again and again, it begins to sink into their hearts and minds. When a member of your ministry has communicated constantly about the vision, then they understand it, believe in it and begin to live it out in their own lives. You will know your message is getting through when you hear them use the same words you have been using.
Part of telling the vision often is expressing it in creative ways. If you stand in front of a group of parents, students, volunteers or staff and just speak the in the same repetitive way, people will begin to hear you like the teacher in Charlie Brown, “bla blabla blabla blabla.” Mix up your communication, be creative, help them take ownership and every time you can, cast the vision again and again.
3. The Vision Must be Bigger than Life
No one wants to be a part of something small and insignificant. Goals that are smaller than the potential of the team or individual are not compelling. The vision, if it is God centered, will be bigger than life. This is what our culture is desiring. It is not a new fad or something that just emerged over the last few years. People have been wanting to accomplish HUGE goals for centuries.
The vision for your ministry should be no different. If your students, parents, volunteers and staff don’t feel that the ministry is HUGE, then their involvement will be minimal. Talk about your vision as if it were life and death. In an eternal sense it is. Make the case compelling and you will see your followers start to take ownership in new and surprising ways.
Vision is essential to the success of any organization, especially a ministry. If you do not have a God-centered-bigger-than-life vision that you are talking about often and in creative ways, then get alone with God and allow Him to show you what He wants to be your focus. The people in your ministry are looking to you to give them something they can buy into. They are looking to you to receive a bigger than life vision from God, something they can grab hold of and pour everything they have into. May your vision be God’s and may it your people share it.
