At first glance you may disagree with the title of this blog, but let me explain and after I'm done I think you'll agree with me.
Consider the following example: put 100 "Christians" in a room and ask them a series of questions. First, "How many of you don't want people going to hell?" How many hands do you think would go up, hopefully you'll see all 100 hands. Question #2, "How many of you will invite your friends/family that are going to hell to church with you next Sunday morning?" How many hands go up? Let's say 75, (I know it's a high estimate, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Question #3, "How many of you believe in the vision so much that you will actively volunteer every other week to see people far from God brought near to Him?" Watcha think, maybe 15-20 hands go up? Question #4, "How many of you believe in the vision so much you would learn to live below you means so that you can be generous with the resources God has given you and systematically tithe 10% or more of your income into the church to see people not go to hell?" According to George Barna, 8% of "Christians" tithe to the local church. That's 8 out of the 100 hands going up.
Vision isn't a statement, it's what you do. The more you clarify the vision the more divisive it is. It draws a line in the sand that says either jump on board or get out of the way because here's where this church is going. For too long churches have muddied the vision keeping in nebulous and ill defined. When vision is only something you say, anything goes. But when you drill it down to what you do people are forced to do something...either get on board or go somewhere else.
So if you're starting a church don't build your systems around keeping the 100, build them around identify and harnessing the power of the 8. Overtime you'll have 100 people in the room who are sold out for the vision. If you're in a church that has stalled or isn't being ineffective clarify the vision, put definable metrics in place and watch what happens.
Jesus was divisive - people either loved Him or hated Him, but no-one just hung out with him. People were moved toward Him or away from Him, they were affected one way or another when they encountered Him. In your church, how many people are just hanging out? How many people are walking in each week only to leave unaffected? How many are walking out the exact same as they were when they walked in?
Vision is divisive....
Consider the following example: put 100 "Christians" in a room and ask them a series of questions. First, "How many of you don't want people going to hell?" How many hands do you think would go up, hopefully you'll see all 100 hands. Question #2, "How many of you will invite your friends/family that are going to hell to church with you next Sunday morning?" How many hands go up? Let's say 75, (I know it's a high estimate, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Question #3, "How many of you believe in the vision so much that you will actively volunteer every other week to see people far from God brought near to Him?" Watcha think, maybe 15-20 hands go up? Question #4, "How many of you believe in the vision so much you would learn to live below you means so that you can be generous with the resources God has given you and systematically tithe 10% or more of your income into the church to see people not go to hell?" According to George Barna, 8% of "Christians" tithe to the local church. That's 8 out of the 100 hands going up.
Vision isn't a statement, it's what you do. The more you clarify the vision the more divisive it is. It draws a line in the sand that says either jump on board or get out of the way because here's where this church is going. For too long churches have muddied the vision keeping in nebulous and ill defined. When vision is only something you say, anything goes. But when you drill it down to what you do people are forced to do something...either get on board or go somewhere else.
So if you're starting a church don't build your systems around keeping the 100, build them around identify and harnessing the power of the 8. Overtime you'll have 100 people in the room who are sold out for the vision. If you're in a church that has stalled or isn't being ineffective clarify the vision, put definable metrics in place and watch what happens.
Jesus was divisive - people either loved Him or hated Him, but no-one just hung out with him. People were moved toward Him or away from Him, they were affected one way or another when they encountered Him. In your church, how many people are just hanging out? How many people are walking in each week only to leave unaffected? How many are walking out the exact same as they were when they walked in?
Vision is divisive....
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4 comments:
Great stuff, LB.
spot on swami Larry!
I actually used those questions in my last message from Acts 2 about how the early church and the apostles gave EVERYTHING for Christ and we barely give our time to show up with a good attitude on Sunday mornings. Since our last discussion, this thought you posted has been on my mind a lot. I posed these questions last week and have got a great response from a few. We'll build off those few...
Love your take on this -- vision is divisive, but it'a also catalytic when you have a clear strategy that helps people take practical steps to accomplish the mission God has given you.
Quoted you in a post of my own:
http://blog.visionnavigator.com/2008/09/linking-vision-and-reality.html
Blessings
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