By Bill Howard at BHoward@TheColumbiaPartnership.org. [Contact Bill for information about all five steps.]
Download Five Critical Steps of Communicating Vision
Have you wondered how successful pastors get
their people to follow their lead? Have
you ever wanted to share a vision, but feared your congregation would vote it
down? Successful vision casting is a skill every pastor and leader can
learn. Read on to discover the five
Critical Steps of Communicating a Vision that will get a YES! from your
congregation.
First, let me share with you two critical mistakes
of vision casting.
Mistake One - Vision by
Declaration
Vision by declaration is where the minister
declares to the congregation what the Lord has said and what the church should
do about it.
Unfortunately, ministers often take this
approach. You may get your motion passed this way. You can get a majority to vote for a new
building, or ministry project or new staff position, but you will notice that
several negative results comes from this approach:
- You will have a low
percentage of people voting
-
You will have a low
percentage of people volunteering
-
You will have a low
percentage of people giving financially
- You will create an
undercurrent that sooner or later will negatively affect your ministry.
Mistake Two - Vision in Hope of a Positive Church Vote
This is where the minister communicates the
vision, schedules a time to discuss and vote, and hopes and prays for the
best.
A minister who has properly communicated
vision should go into a church decision process with a 95 percent certainty of
how the vote will turn out. He doesn’t have to be a prophet to have this
ability, but he does have to do his homework.
Doing your homework begins with determining
a critical core belief. Answer this
question: When God has a vision for a congregation, does He tell just the
pastor or the pastor and the people?
If you believe that God communicates the
vision solely to the pastor, then the pastor forever has the responsibility of
convincing the people of what God said.
Have you ever tried to do this, convince someone of something God told
you, but didn’t bother to tell them? Remember the old saying “If your only tool
is a hammer, you’ll tend to see everything as a nail.” Convincing people is a very difficult and
never ending assignment. However, if you
believe that God shares the vision with the pastor and the people, then you can
breathe a sigh of relief knowing God will speak to your people just as He spoke
to you.
A vision with a future has 3 parts:
- God giving it to the minister or leaders
- The minister communicating it the people for their
evaluation
- The people praying, hearing from God, and accepting
the vision
Here’s how the process works.
Step One:
State Clearly How You Received the Vision
How you receive the vision will determine
how you communicate it.
Did you receive a direct word from the Lord?
These are “Saul on the road to Damascus” and “Moses and
the burning bush” type experiences where God steps in and speaks in a direct
unmistakable way. These God size
encounters do happen, but they happen rarely.
When the Lord speaks to you directly, you
must stand boldly and in love proclaim what God has said. The key to doing this successfully is
understanding your assignment is to proclaim what God said, not to proclaim how
the church will respond to what God said.
Even when God gives you a direct word, your
people still have the freedom to accept or reject His word. Remember, the Lord
tells us what He wants us to do – not what we have to do. Your people always have a choice. They may choose to be out of God’s will, and
will have to suffer the consequences. But still, they have a choice.
Key Truth: Vision cannot be forced on your
people.
A person convinced against her will - isn’t
convinced. Always respect their right to seek the Lord and confirm the
vision.
Did you receive an indirect word from the Lord?
These are the vast majority of the times
when God allows you to seek Him, pray for an understanding of His will, and
then to use your intellect and strategic gifts to determine the next step in
reaching your community and world for Christ.
Caution:
Don’t ever claim to have a direct word, when you have instead, an indirect word
(or a leading in your spirit).
Deuteronomy 18:22 “If what a prophet
proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a
message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously.”
If you claim to have a direct word from the
Lord, when you do not, your people may follow you to a place utterly outside of
God’s will or your people may choose not to follow you, resulting in you
loosing your credibility and ability to lead.
Know what God is saying and how He said it to
you, and clearly communicate this to your people.
Note: For steps two
through five, contact Bill at BHoward@TheColumbiaPartnership.org
and a copy of the full article will be sent to you.
