Vision isn’t “one size fits all.” It’s a custom fit.
Once upon a time, a leader decided his family needed the best of what he had to offer, which he assumed was his leadership. And leadership equals vision, right?
Because he’d been raised in a home with a passion for reading, he had a similar vision for his family: “We are a group that honors God by being people of the Word and of words.” Sort of catchy, he thought. He envisioned evenings spent reading and telling stories—expanding the mind, enthralling the children and their guests.
The dream shaped the home atmosphere and family budget. Bookshelves lined bedrooms.
For a while, the vision fit. Child 1 loved to read, listened carefully to stories, and developed a knack for telling stories with great detail.
But Child 2 complicated the picture. Child 2 didn’t have Child 1’s interest in books. Child 2 was a natural athlete, developed into an outstanding gymnast, and while tolerating the reading-and-story culture, wasn’t inclined to be literary. Family conversations shifted from books to balance-beam routines and flyaway dismounts.
Child 3 complicated the picture further. Child 3 was born with serious mental disabilities. Reading would never be within Child 3’s experience; even learning to speak would prove impossible. Child 3 led the family into another world—medical centers, physical therapy, support groups for families of children with disabilities.
Question: what takes priority—the vision or the people? For the family above (with whom I’m, uh, somewhat acquainted) telling those members who weren’t “aligned with the vision” to find another family simply wasn’t an option.
No, the vision needed to be expanded to include the new realities—the needs of all those God brought into the family. The family’s vision enlarged: “To honor God through words, deeds, and presence.” It was lived by each family member differently.
When a church’s vision and the church’s people clash, what’s the answer? Sometimes it’s adjusting the vision. A church, like a family, is at least partly defined by those God has placed within it.
Most church leaders are telling me these days that vision isn’t something they predetermine and then “sell” to the followers. Vision takes the people into account.
Like a basketball coach who develops an offense based on plays the players are capable of running, so church leaders develop vision and direction for the church based on the biblical “rules of the game” and the congregation’s capabilities.
With the biblical essentials of the church (making disciples) in mind, the question for church leaders becomes: How do we get there from here? Pastors will clearly state the purpose of the church as taught in Scripture. The next step: how to embody that here and now? Part of that depends on who’s in the family.
If vision isn’t “one size fits all,” neither is effective leadership. For an up-close and enlightening look at a variety of approaches to healthy church leadership, I invite you to join us at the first annual (we hope) National Pastors Convention in San Diego, February 13-17, 2001. Speakers will include people you’ve met in the pages of Leadership, including Philip Yancey, Joseph Garlington, Will Willimon, Larry Crabb, Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, Erwin McManus, and many more.
For more information, see www.NationalPastorsConvention.com. Hope to see you there.
Marshall Shelley is editor of Leadership.
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