Questions small churches must answer - 4

Today's question is "What is your church's vision for ministry?" The mission of the church is very simple: It's the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. This mission is the same for every church regardless of size. However, the church's vision will be different for every church because it describes how it will carry out the mission.

I have advocated for years that God has a unique vision for every church because every church is unique. Each church is made up of different people with different spiritual gifts and different passions for doing ministry. When those two factors are combined with a ministry need in the community you will find God's vision for the church.

Notice that I said God's vision. The pastor's vision is immaterial. So is the deacon's or elder's. The only vision that matters is God's vision for your church. This vision is not determined by a majority vote but by discerning the mind of God. There are steps a church can take in the process of discerning that vision, but it must come from God.

Over the years I have asked many small church leaders to tell me their church's vision. None could do it. Some referred to a "Vision Statement" which no one knew without searching for the document where it was written. This tells me that what they were calling a vision was not considered in any of their ministry plans, budgeting or any other decision made by the church. They didn't have a vision; they had a document gathering dust on a shelf.

If you really want to know a church's vision you will find it by looking at their checkbook and calendar. Regardless of what anyone says is their vision for ministry, the real vision is found in those two documents. In a majority of cases, these documents reveal that the primary vision of the church in focused inward. They are about survival, not mission. Little, if any, money is spent on evangelism or ministering to the community outside the walls of the church. Few, if any, ministries in the community are found in their calendar. So...exactly how does such a church expect to fulfill the mission they've been given if their focus is solely on themselves.

The most exciting time in a church's life is when it discerns a fresh vision from God and begins to live into that vision. That is when you see God move and lives change. Again I ask, "What is your church's vision for ministry?"