A Vision to Live By

As we prepare ourselves to enter a new year, with its own personal and communal challenges, struggles, joys and expectations, and as we embark on the exciting journey of the joining together of St. Jude’s and St. David’s congregations into one united congregation, and as I begin, after an extended hiatus, to blog again, I thought it fitting that I share with you my sense of direction for our Church.  This direction is something that has been written in my heart, in prayer, over many years, and continues to be the fuel that sets my heart on fire still today.  I have heard it said at conferences from leaders I trust and I have read it in some of my best leadership books: “While goals change from time to time and as some of them are accomplished and new goals are created, the general Vision of an organization does not change from day to day or year to year.  The Vision of the organization or its leader stays relatively fixed.”  A Vision, if it is a Godly Vision, comes from the Lord, and its focus is always His pleasure and purposes.  I always begin to cast Vision with the question, “What does God want to see? What would please the heart of God?”  This is where I began to cast the Vision of St. David’s several years ago.

First let me share with you the Purpose for which I exist and that drives my ministry and pretty much all that I do: The Purpose of my life, and of St. David’s, the organization which I lead with the Lord’s help, is “To Make Disciples of Jesus Christ.”  To bring men and women—young and old and every age in between—to Jesus, and to help them become close followers of Jesus in their own lives until “Jesus is all and in all.”

Second, the Mission Statement of St. David’s, the “how” we are going to implement the overarching Vision of our church, is To Live Jesus, To Share Jesus, To Teach Jesus and To Take Jesus to others in the Power of the Holy Spirit.”  This Mission Statement together with the Purpose stated above are the legs and arms of our overall Vision.  Of course, each of these statements must be followed by specific and measurable Goals.

Third, the Vision Statement of St. David’s, the big picture and Godly call to our church, what the Lord guided my heart to in prayer, is this:

 “St. David’s is a Christian Church, with no less than 250 active members, who are fully equipped in God’s Word, empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit, and sent to carry out the ministry for which we have been called.”

First of all, this is a very measurable Vision, measured by the number 250 but also by the adjectives used to describe it: active, fully equipped, empowered, and sent.  By making it measurable, we should be able to tell at any given time how we are doing in fulfilling it.  Clearly this is a bit of an audacious vision for us—it was always intended to be so—yet reachable, and it will remain so into the future, because we are nowhere near 250 active members yet.  But the work of equipping for ministry, empowering in the Holy Spirit and sending out in mission is a constant that we must do daily, monthly and annually.

Please let me know your thoughts, and where you see yourself fitting into this framework of Vision, Mission and Purpose.

Let’s Blog!