Talking about Vision & Mission is not uncommon amongst Church Leaders, but what is less common is ensuring the Vision & Mission are built so robustly that they have a genuine impact on the Church.
Let’s explore the ‘how’ of Church Mission & Vision.
Your Church Mission
What is a mission? Your mission is your purpose as a Church and why you exist. It can be broken into three important and distinct parts:
A couple of rules about creating your mission & vision:
- It should be succinct
- It should be striking
- Your members should be able to articulate it naturally if asked
- It should be repeated often so that it becomes meaningful in the lives of your members.
I was a member of a relatively large church in Sydney that had what they called their 20-20 Vision. The Vision involved Church planting whereby they would grow to 1000 Churches, each with an average of 500 members, by the year 2020. At the time they had a network of around 140 Churches. The vision was compelling and realistic. It was mentioned regularly (almost weekly as part of their announcements), and I remember it to this day despite having left long ago.
Let me give you an example using our sister company – Wealth with Purpose.
Mission example
“Train Christians to Honor God and Live Freely through Wise Biblical Money Management”
What: Biblical Money Management Courses
Who: Christians
How: Train
VISION
Your vision should provide an image in the minds of your staff and members of what your church will achieve over time. It will be the inevitable result of fulfilling your mission. It should be the inspiration to what the church could look like in the future, in five, ten or more years. From an employee’s perspective, they will understand what their work is contributing to and what they will be accomplishing.
As part of the interview process for potential paid staff or for identifying future leaders within the Church, finding out whether they know the vision of your church is a good first test. Furthermore, their reaction when you discuss it with them should be very telling. If they sound genuinely enthusiastic about where you are going then they may well make good employees.
Vision example: Wealth with Purpose
“Christians Investing for Eternity”
It is our desire that through our courses we will see Christians get their finances in order first and foremost, and upon achieving that they will then redirect their focus towards “investing in eternity,” using the resources that God has blessed them with to fund the great commission, help the poor and be a blessing to others.
TIPS FOR CREATING A GREAT VISION
- Clear & Concise – your members need to know exactly what it means and should be able to articulate when asked.
- Memorable – ideally something that is simple and sufficiently catchy that they can easily recall it. Do you still remember the slogans for Coca-Cola back in the 1980s? I do. Why? Because they were clear and succinct.
- What will the future look like? – Paint an image of the results. Christians are a generous bunch when they can see a kingdom outcome at the end.
- Use Storytelling – most Pastors are great at this already as they are giving week-in week-out sermons. People love stories as they bring messages to life. Stories create a powerful image in people’s minds that can be used to change attitudes and shape behavior.
- Faith vs Foolishness – As Christians we are called to live by faith. Faith is hope for things unseen. We want to create hope with our v However there is a fine line. If your Church’s track record is one of stagnation or decline, then setting a vision that is “too” grand may be perceived as foolish. Remember, as you start kicking goals you can extend the vision.
- Would you want to give to it? – Do I want to be part of this? If you don’t want to be, they wont either!
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