Church Vision

[CubsIn07]

Does your church have a specific church vision apart from something like "making people complete in Christ" or a version of the Great Commission? If they do, what is it and how do they go about implementing it? If they don't have a stated church vision, do you wish they did?

I have just been hearing from a number of people and sources that they wish their church leaders had better vision for how they wish the church could reach the community.

 

[Wannabee]

This is a crucial question in today's churches of rampant pragmaticism and microwave mentalities (instant gratification).

Something interesting has happened in the last 100 years or so. The Christian church has embraced the culture in regard to this. The communists came along and said, "we can't do this in our time, but we will sow the seeds so that our children, or our children's children, or their children, will one day see communism succeed where all others have failed. The Christian church turned and said, "just get a decision." Our churches have failed to embrace an eternal vision in the process. Our churches have failed to embrace a multigenerational vision. Rather than seeing our children as arrows we shape and equipping them to stand on our shoulders, we simply meet the status quo and try to get by as best we can.

This isn't helped by the fact that most churches are full of lacadasical Christians, who are more concerned with their jobs, sports, portfolios, etc., than the things of God. What do people talk about immediately after the sermon? That tells us much about a church, and generally reveals where our hearts are.

A vision for evangelism must be centered, as all vision within the church, on one central goal. That's where the general statements are good, but inadequate if not followed through with establishing a vision to accomplish this central goal in every aspect of the church ministry.

If a local church doesn't have a clear focus on the centrality of Christ and Scripture, then all their "vision" will be pragmatic, looking for results rather than faithfulness. A good vision for reaching the community needs to start at home, with a local body who resembles the Lord Jesus and is dedicated to mutual edification within the body, with a focus centered on Christ's glory (not numbers, not programs, not baptisms, not etc). Then the leadership must equip the people to proclaim Christ. An evangelism and apologetics class would be invaluable.

Here's what we're attempting. Right now we have monthly memory verses. Each verse is designed to help us proclaim the Gospel. Beginning with God and creation, the verses show our accountabilty and hopelessness, need for a Savior and provision in Christ. This should take us about 15 to 18 months. During that time we have curriculum for apologetics this fall, plus another class next spring. After we finish the last of our memory verses we will begin a class on evangelism, attempting to bring all these things together.

We're still working through it, but I think that we'll probably begin reaching out to the neighborhood around our church first, making our presence known and sharing Christ as much as we're able. One thing needs to be made clear though, if the leadership is not sharing Christ and reaching out to the community then they can't expect others to do so. With that in mind, we have been talking about ways we can be proactive in this regard. Starting last week, we share in our elders' meetings at least one person we witnessed to. It's a simple goal of witnessing to at least one person each week.


Well, I don't know that I answered your question. But hopefully it'll stimulate thought and discussion.