VISION
Give us clear
vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we
stand for something, we shall fall for anything.
Peter Marshall
God
loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the
impossible.
William Booth
A
vision gives life and if there is no vision, the seeds of death are being sown
and it is just a matter of time until death will prevail.
Harris W. Lee
From Effective Church Leadership by Harris W. Lee copyright © 1990 Augsburg
Publishing House.
Vision
without execution is hallucination
Vision and
mission provide both the starting point and direction for your efforts and are
the dual lenses through which myriad future decisions must be evaluated.
Stephen Anderson
Preparing to Build, AMI, 2006, p. 34.
Vision can
sometimes be a terrible burden. God may give a vision without the context of
the time it will take to become the vision. Sometimes church leaders feel that
because they have a vision, it must happen quickly. I am reminded of Joseph and
the vision he had from God. I wonder how often Joseph sat in that jail cell
expecting to be delivered at any moment, when it was going to be over 13 years
until he was free and God’s vision began to manifest itself. What a long time
and much preparation between vision and the working out of the vision! Wisdom
would dictate that we prepare to do what we can when we can, and then wait on
the Lord and His timing to bring the vision to fruition.
Stephen Anderson
Preparing to Build, AMI, 2006, p. 35-36.
To be
effective, vision must be:
1.
Clearly
and repeatedly communicated in several different ways.
2.
Be
understood by the congregation – they need to understand it the way the leaders
do.
3.
Embraced
by the congregation – it has to become their vision.
4.
Able
to provoke a response from the members of the church.
Stephen Anderson
Preparing to Build, AMI, 2006, p. 37.
Leaders take
lessons from the past, but never sacrifice the future for the sake of mere
continuity. People of vision gauge decisions on the future; the story of the
past cannot be rewritten.
Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 57.