Vision is kind of important. In a practical way, vision means seeing what's in front of you...so you don't trip and fall over it. Anyone who has ever stumbled through the house in the middle of the night trying to find the bathroom only to stub their tow and a chair can tell you that vision is important. One might ask, "Why not turn on the light?" The truth is if you spend enough time in the darkness, the light becomes painful...not just to you, but to those around you. My wife will kill me if I hit that light switch. But also, I can actually see a little bit in the dark. Just not well enough to do it well.
Depending on what study you're looking at, anywhere from 5,000-7,000 churches close their doors every year (Check Lifeway Research). An even greater number have plateaued or are declining. Those established churches that are growing are largely a product of transfer growth as opposed to evangelistic growth. "The only documentable evangelistic and congregational growth experienced by evangelicals within America's major urban areas directly traces back to newly planted churches - and replanted churches" (Mohler, in
A Guide to Church Revitalization, 2015; pg. 8). Well that's scary. Why aren't our established churches reaching their communities with the gospel? Well the answer is as simple as it is complicated.
It's not as much having a lack of vision as it is having the wrong vision. Proverbs 29:18 says that "where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained." This doesn't really characterized our modern churches. We are restrained by a lot of things: 1. tradition, 2. declining congregations, 3. declining giving.
Rather than losing vision entirely, our vision in the church has shifted away from reaching the community to simply keeping the doors open.
But we don't keep the doors of the church open, God does. But God will only keep the doors of His church open when our vision for His church is in line with His vision for His church.
Just because you're declining doesn't mean you're vision isn't in line with God's vision. In if many established churches got in line with God's vision, they would probably face decline. It would be a serious time of testing in which they would wonder if God was going to show up. But God always rewards the faithful. My belief is that when you are obedient to God's word, eventually things will turn around.
So, how do you know when you have the wrong vision?
- Important change is avoided for fear of losing existing members.
- Whenever a church cares more about what people think than what God thinks, that's a good sign we've gone off track.
- Change in the church is necessary if we are to continue His work beyond this generation.
- We need not change the timeless Gospel, but our methods for reaching a community must be contextualized for that community.
- Why is it that the contextualization of the Gospel (i.e. sharing the Gospel in a way that people in a particular community can understand) is required for oversees missions, but is often forbidden in our American churches? If we are to carry the Gospel to the next generation, we must contextualize the gospel for the next generation. How often does the previous generation get in the way of needed changes?
- Policy is more important to the church than people.
- Policy is good when its purpose is to protect people, but when those policies become what we value, we've gone off track.
- Sometimes policies are put in place to keep certain people out of leadership based on age or life experience.
- Sometimes policies are put in place to discriminate against groups of people in the congregation and marginalize their influence.
- Sometimes policies are put in place to restrict what a pastor can and cannot do during his or her workday. Pastors who spend all of their time in their office are not being effective or obedient to their calling.
- There is no strategy for training the younger generation for present and future leadership.
- The largest generation (The Millennials) is coming of age while their parents, the second largest generation (The Baby boomers) is in the process of retiring. Which means that communities are growing younger, while churches are growing older. Many Millennials who grew up in the church will not be a part of the church in adulthood because they were never made to feel a part of the church in their youth.
- It might seem harsh, but eventually each generation dies. The church doesn't have to die with each generation. The time to train up the new leaders of the church is when they are young. The only way to train new leaders is to give them new leadership when they are young.
- I'm always amazed at the job postings for pastoral positions. Jesus couldn't get hired with the expectations for most churches. Young pastors have to start somewhere. Spurgeon started somewhere. John MacArthur started somewhere. Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Allister Begg, and even Billy Graham all started somewhere. Why is your church too good for them to start there?
- A new generation brings new ideas. A new generation brings necessary change. And that's okay.
- There is no strategy or concern for reaching the community.
- Every church seems to have a mission statement. However, many churches seem to operate under the mission statement, "We exist to meet the needs of those already attending our church and keep them happy so that they'll keep coming, giving, and serving those already in our church."
- It's pretty well established that most of a church's budget is designated for meeting the needs of those already attending the church.
- Most of a pastor's time will be spent attending to the needs of the congregation.
- Most of the events will likely be meant to provide fellowship opportunities for those in the church.
- What is often overlooked will be missions, community service and outreach, personal evangelism (beyond the expected responsibility of the pastor...on his own time).
If any given church is to make it to the next generation, they must align their vision with God. God's desire has an always will be to seek and save the lost (Isaiah 49:6; Luke 19:10; Matthew 28:18-20). That must be our vision as well. And God will keep the doors open when we are obedient and faithful.
The alternative? Ask the 7 churches of Revelation who were warned by God to renew their vision. How many of those churches still exist today? None. And Turkey is one of the least Christian nations on Earth. What will the United States look like in 100 years?
God renew our vision!