According to a survey of LEADERSHIP readers, communicating vision is one of the most frustrating parts of leading a local church. One response to the open-ended question “What is the greatest single problem you face in training your lay leaders?” was “Teaching Christians the vision of a Christlike life.”
It’s also a task young pastors feel poorly equipped to handle. In a comprehensive 1982 study, one major seminary found its alumni felt least prepared in their ability to get people working together toward a common goal. Apparently putting the vision in a form that inspires and energizes is a major hurdle.
Failure to communicate the vision can lead to disaster. Imagine people going to work day after day without knowing their company’s business-yet that’s exactly what happens when church members don’t know what their church is trying to do. At the least, such ignorance can lead to mindless religiosity. Philosopher George Santayana noted that “fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”
But worse than fanaticism, failure to communicate the vision can lead to destruction. Jeremiah told the Israelites that Judah would be destroyed because the prophets “prophesy of visions . . . they have never seen nor heard; they speak foolishness concocted out of their own lying hearts” (14:14).
The importance of leadership communicating vision has not escaped modern business organizations. But management literature doesn’t supply very satisfactory answers about how to do it. Books concur that communicating the beliefs, purposes, and goals of a corporation to employees is essential, but the skill itself remains intangible.
One fact they agree upon: leaders who effectively communicate goals to their followers achieve far beyond those who don’t. In the religious realm, we remember Martin Luther as a particularly successful leader because he was innovative enough to communicate in two ways: translate the Bible into the vernacular and distribute it widely with the miracle of the printing press.
As we put together this issue of LEADERSHIP, we realized that most of us don’t have the opportunity Luther had to exploit a new technology and translate the Bible into the language of the people at the same time. But we are faced with the problem nonetheless-how to get the news to the people who must live it and carry it to others.
For the local church, the task consists of two parts. First, it’s preaching-communicating the vision from the pulpit. No esoteric MBO technique here. When it comes to communicating a message orally, the local-church leader generally feels comfortable. In the seminary survey we mentioned earlier, the researchers found that former students felt most equipped to exegete the text and deliver sermons.
But the second part of the task, modeling the vision, is just as important. Modeling differs from preaching-it means communicating how to think and live Christianly. It’s the task not of one person but the entire congregation, and it’s here that many of us stumble.
After teaching someone how to make Christian decisions, what will convince them to live righteously? Preaching can create maps to guide someone over the land mines of Pharisaism and legalism, but how do you get people to follow the maps? Traditional education techniques fall short when it comes to answering these questions. A recent study showed that there are three things you can’t teach to people-lifestyle, morals, and attitudes. Apparently Oscar Wilde was at least partly right when he said, “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.”
No, some things can be learned only by modeling. Some things can be learned only by living and working in a community devoted to-well, a worthwhile vision. And it’s at that point that articulating the vision so believers at all spiritual levels can understand it is extremely important. But it’s only the first step.
I just finished reading the latest issue of Fuller Theological Seminary’s publication for their alumni, Theology, News and Notes. This issue was devoted to Fuller’s recently rearticulated vision and outlines what the Fuller community sees as its mission for the future. One cannot read this statement without feeling that Fuller knows where it hopes to contribute to the kingdom of God in the years to come.
Do local-church leaders have the time to similarly define the vision of their church and its particular needs? Maybe not with the flair of a Fuller Seminary, but that’s not necessary. In the end, all we’re talking about is believing the vision ourselves, doing our very best to live it, and doing everything in our power to see that others can understand it and practice it, too. As God told Habakkuk, we are to write God’s answer “on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others” (2:2).
That may mean planning, organizing, controlling, and evaluating. Or it may mean getting down on our knees and asking God to bless our five loaves and two fishes as he sees fit.
Both will work if our understanding of the vision comes from the all-seeing mind of God.
Terry C. Muck is editor of LEADERSHIP.
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