As I sat across the desk from the pastor, I heard him describe a congregation with many great qualities. But they had no idea about where they were headed, much less what God’s empowering vision might be for their next seven years.
The hope of the pastor was that a proposed new interstate highway spur was going to route vehicles to a main street in town that bordered the rear property line of the church facilities. It never happened.
Concrete vision does not come from building a highway. It comes from allowing God to inspire in us a Kingdom-worthy vision for the future of our congregation for which we have spiritual and strategic clarity.
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What I was hearing from this pastor was the story of a congregation with high-quality programs, ministries and activities. But there was no empowering vision for where God was leading them, just a desire to push harder and hope for a breakthrough.
Management rules
The management years of congregations are when the power of management — how we do things around this congregation — has snuffed out God’s empowering vision. Management people, processes and programs are now in charge.
Membership and attendance have plateaued. Pushing forward has replaced being pulled forward by God. Trying harder to make the programs of the congregation as successful as they were in the past is the primary goal.
To an extent this works if quality is the best measurement. In these cases what the congregations do, they often do with excellence. They have a great reputation for their programs, ministries and activities among their denominations and in their community contexts.
Money is not usually a problem. As this pastor said to me, “Attendance is flat. Not as many people are joining the congregation as they once did. Some faithful families have moved farther away and do not attend anymore. But money is way up. We raised much more money last year than our budget required.”
If four key factors of the life of a congregation were personified as passengers in a car, management would be driving, but vision would be in the back seat taking a nap. Programs would be in the front seat riding shotgun and telling management the route to take. Disciple-making would be alongside Vision in the back seat, also asleep.
Addressing vision
The management years typically begin just as congregations reach the 21st anniversary since they were launched. This calls for their third year of sabbatical to be conducted during the first year that management is the dominant driving force.
These years are the third of three phases during the lost years of congregations shared in a previous column titled “Engaging the lost years of congregations.”
This sabbatical is different. Many transitions have arisen in the congregation’s context or among the people groups it serves.
This calls for not just updating the vision and its implementation to achieve and sustain clarity and alignment. It calls for a significantly new understanding of God’s empowering vision.
The stranglehold of management must be broken up. Management people and processes do well at obtaining power but don’t do well at engaging during transitions. They especially do not do well at seeing a fresh new vision from God.
For the first time the congregation is no longer led by vision. A new, empowering vision is mandatory to continue their spiritual and strategic journey.
An associational role
Associations can provide outside assistance to help these congregations gain a clear perspective on their current situation. They can broker a process or provide a consultant to work with the congregation.
One method an association can use is helping the congregation pull together from its membership the best people to help seek a fresh vision.
These are the people who have a spiritual passion about the future of the congregation toward which God is leading it. They are not necessarily the people who hold the key leadership positions.
They are positive about their congregation. Their reputation is that they are people of spiritual character. They are passionate about the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the great commandment.
These people can serve as an enduring visionary leadership community during the sabbatical year. They can guide the creation of a new spiritual and strategic journey for the congregation.
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent 45 years in denominational ministry. He served on the staff of three associations, was a key staff person working with associations in two state conventions and served on the association missions division staff of the former Home Mission Board of the SBC. He retired in June 2022 as director of Columbia Metro Baptist Association in South Carolina. He has led strategic planning processes in more than 100 associations and has written extensively in this area. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry and a correspondent for The Baptist Paper.
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