Picture this. You’re driving down the highway and your car keeps drifting into the other lane. Even when you pull the wheel in the opposite direction, you keep drifting. The tires are out of alignment. This is the image Craig Groeschel uses to describe a visionless church in It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It, and it highlights the importance of keeping vision in ministry. To return to the analogy, course-correcting the car exhausts the driver, and eventually the wear and tear will damage the vehicle. With that in mind, Groeschel explains, “Without vision alignment, the people are busy doing something. They’re driving along, doing church, but moving without any direction and are easily pulled off center. They’re moving with no destination in mind. Without a compelling vision, people, like tires, quickly wear themselves out…The ministries may have tons of activity, but there’s little spiritual movement. And just like cars with misaligned wheels, ministries can crash.” (Groeschel, 2008, p. 39) At a quick glance, many churches and ministries appear healthily aligned with a good vision, but when one examines their culture and direction more closely, the presence or lack of vision becomes evident. It’s clear that keeping vision in ministry is important, but what exactly is vision?
Over the last ten years, I’ve done communications work for a wide range of churches and nonprofits. While most of these organizations sought help because they desired pretty graphics, growth, or more effective communications, the topic of vision has always surfaced early in the conversation. In order to build trust and communicate well, it’s important to start with the foundational “why.” Why is the car even moving? For some of my clients, their “why” is easy—their vision is strong, ingrained in their people, and permeating their culture. Their vision guides every “yes” and “no,” and shapes everything from their event calendar to their social media tone.
But for others, the “why” is confusing and elusive. In an effort to encompass everything, their vision becomes too broad. They want to drive everywhere. Their openness leads them to say yes to everything good, which ultimately destroys their ability to do a few great things well. They over-complicate their vision by developing long and varied missions, vision statements, initiatives, core values, plans, strategies, objectives, and goals. These are good things by themselves, but their sheer quantity and complexity prevent people from connecting to them. It’s like trying to enter the Indy 500 before you’re even sure your car can go on the highway.
Vision is something every church and ministry wants—but few actually find it and make it stick.
Best-selling author, speaker and founder of North Point Ministries, Andy Stanley is considered one of the leading experts when it comes to the concept of “making vision stick.” In his book of the same title, he remarks, “Vision is the lifeblood of your organization. It should be coursing through the minds and hearts of those you lead, focusing their creativity and galvanizing their efforts…But, in order for that to happen, you’ve got to make your vision stick.” (Anderson, n.d., para. 1) Stanley then offers readers five steps to help leaders accomplish this goal.
The first step is to state the vision simply. Good vision is clear, simple, and easy to understand. If it’s too short or clever, the meaning will get lost. Dr. Sam Chand says “An effective vision will always be memorable, portable, and motivational. (Groeschel, 2008, 45) If it’s too long or complicated, it will confuse instead of connect. People need to be able to take the vision statement and communicate it to others. Vision also needs to compel and move people to action.
The second step is to cast the vision convincingly. Stanley suggests three ways to communicate your vision effectively. First, create healthy dissatisfaction with the present situation by strategically defining the problem. Second, provide a solution that invites and necessitates a response, involvement, and commitment to resolving the problem. Third, offer compelling reasons why action is needed and show people how to take action immediately. Stanley writes, “If you haven’t defined the problem, determined a solution, and discovered a compelling reason why now is the time to act, you aren’t ready to go public with your vision. It won’t stick” (Anderson, n.d., Cast Vision Convincingly section, para. 2) In other words, you can’t keep vision in ministry if you haven’t shared it well.
The third step is to repeat the vision regularly. More often than not, leaders make the mistake of undervaluing and under-communicating the vision. As Stanley often says, “Vision leaks” (just like tires); therefore, it’s of utmost importance to talk repeatedly about the vision. Groeschel (2008) points out that when “you decide that you’ve been talking about it too much, that’s when it’s just beginning to stick with people.” (p. 46) Vision needs to be the underlying theme in everything you do and say. It needs to be the concept everything else is based on. It needs to be the clear filter for what you do and don’t do. People don’t embrace and own vision unless it is the constant, clear heartbeat of a church or ministry.
The fourth step is to celebrate the vision systematically. Part of getting vision to stick is highlighting the practices that advance your vision. Good or bad, we’re innately wired to repeat whatever habits are commended. When a church or ministry celebrates behaviors, values, and decisions that support the vision, it ignites vision-directed movement. If a church or ministry celebrates something in conflict with the vision, it diffuses the vision and distracts people from pursuing the vision.
The fifth and final step is to embrace the vision personally. People reflect the influencers in their lives. Vision sticks when a leader’s life, choices, and actions are marked by the impact of the vision. Vision disconnects and disinterests people when the leader is disconnected and disinterested in the vision. You can’t keep vision in ministry if you can’t keep vision in yourself. People long for direction and meaning. “As leaders, it’s our role to seek God, see the vision, communicate it in a compelling way, and invite people to give their lives for the greatest cause on earth—the cause of Christ.” (Groeschel, 2008, p. 48)
If you’re working in ministry and learning how to re-align your wheels, you can check out this case study about how we partnered with a local church to help them with their Easter service, or you can reach out to us to discuss what a partnership could look like.
