After you identify your audience (and perhaps before you identify an audience, depending if you’re currently in a church or seeking one), you need to identify your vision.
Remember the Bible verse, “without a vision, people (that’s your audience) will perish“? It’s so true!
Some people believe that Scripture is talking about “the vision” being the path to Christ — which is what I’m talking about. A clear, distinct pathway to giving purpose to a specific audience. And, in the nature of all Churches, it’s a bit broader than that too.
This is the hardest part of ministry. How do you have a unique vision or mission that relates (contextualized) to a specific audience? How do you know what God has called you to lead your congregation to do?
Perhaps Dreamlining will help. This is the act of discovering your vision and attaching it to a timeline. Here’s the simple (yet thought-provoking steps):
- What would you do if God promised you, you wouldn’t fail.
List dreams of having (things you’ll need or want),
being (be fluent in Spanish, be a better listener, etc.),
doing (going to Holy Land, talk to a Design Builder, etc.). - What would excite you to wake up to every day? (narrow the list)
- Create a Timeline (3-4 steps to each dream) and Costs (for each step).
- Start the first step today.
We often think that we need to get people to have their own vision — and/or follow ours. But we haven’t even clearly identified and written it down!It’s hard to get people to follow after a vision, when you really don’t know what it is. No wonder Churches stagnate.
Homework: This week, go through the 4 steps of Dreamlining. Pray about this — it’s so important! Perhaps do a Bible study of Paul (or another Biblical character) and his vision. Make sure your vision is scriptural and challenging. Then make sure you write the timeline down — then pray about each step. The exciting part is coming — when God allows you to complete the tasks.
