Do you have a clear vision for your life? How about your church? Once you have a clear understanding of the Biblical mission of the church you are ready to build your vision. Vision must above all else reflect the biblical mission.
Mission answers the question, "Why the church exists?" To make it personal, "Why I exist?" Mission is found in Scripture alone.
Vision declares, "What your church desires to look like?" Or, "What is your personalized life purpose as a disciple of Jesus Christ?" Vision is based on Scripture and God's individual design. Vision reflects your "DNA" and dreams.
Defining a vision requires several critical areas of understanding including the following:
What is the personality profile of the church? Or, your personal profile.
What has God uniquely gifted our church to do?
What natural abilities has God equipped our church with?
What has God given our church a passion for?
What are the resources God has given our church?
What experiences has God uniquely used in our church?
A coaching process can add to the self-discovery by exploring what God is using in other ministries to build vision, or how God is using churches and ministries to enable believers to build and fulfill their mission. Ex-ploring what God is doing in other ministries is not about duplicating another ministry but about learning how to apply the lessons of others to our lives and ministries.
Once we have these questions answered and have explored God's movements we are ready to begin to refine our "DREAM(S)." The dreams then need to be connected to the "Mission." Vision statements should reflect not only desire but the biblical mission given to the church. Dreams should reflect both reality and faith. The vision should not be easy accomplishments but challenging ideas that cause us to petition and trust God in prayer. Ultimately the vision should reflect goals that need the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The resulting feature of visionary leadership is that it leads to discovering a new dimension of faith.
The mission is absolute and unchangeable. Vision is changeable reflecting cultural and situational changes without compromise of the biblical mission. Vision is where mission is joined to faith.
Where there is no vision, the people perish [no restraint or direction] . . . Prov. 29:18