Vision – God’s Future for the Church
Rev. Dr. Michael J Nel
Introduction
Strategic planning is essential for the ongoing development of any businesses or organization. Without such a plan which includes a vision statement, a mission statement and goals and objectives, the organization will drift into the future without a clear sense of identity, direction and purpose. Its importance cannot be underestimated since it provides not only a context but also a framework for all corporate decisions.
A Vision Statement is the first step in the development of a strategic plan since it provides “... a view into the future with hope and a positive outlook.” [i] Its importance is underscored by a number of consultants.
1. It articulates a clear vision of the purpose of the organization and what it hopes to achieve in the future. “A vision statement is the anchor point of any strategic plan. It outlines what an organization would like to ultimately achieve and gives purpose to the existence of the organization.” [ii] It is an “... aspirational statement of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future.” [iii]
2. A vision statement “...is aligned with your deepest values and priorities.” [iv]
3. Provides the organization with a guide for decision making. “It is intended to serve as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action.” [v]
The Community Tool Box summarizes the nature of a vision statement and its importance for corporations and organizations:
Your vision is your dream. It's what your organization believes are the ideal conditions for your community; that is, how things would look if the issue important to you were completely, perfectly addressed. It might be a world without war, or a community in which all people are treated as equals, regardless of gender or racial background.
Whatever your organization's dream is, it may be well articulated by one or more vision statements, which are short phrases or sentences that convey your community's hopes for the future. By developing a vision statement or statements, your organization clarifies the beliefs and governing principles of your organization, first for yourselves, and then for the greater community.
There are certain characteristics that most vision statements have in common. In general, vision statements should be:
· Understood and shared by members of the community
· Broad enough to include a diverse variety of local perspectives
· Inspiring and uplifting to everyone involved in your effort
· Easy to communicate - for example, they are generally short enough to fit on a T-shirt [vi]
The Church and God’s vision for the future – Acceptance and Belonging
Is this process of first developing a Vision Statement applicable to the church and its congregations? Is the Church like all other organizations when the members reflect on the future of the organization and then draft a vision statement? When members define the vision of the Church it makes them the subject and God the object in the process. What then is the origin of the church’s vision? Even though the Church is a social organization and subject to many of the same processes as other organizations, there is, however, a major difference. For the Church the subject is always God and this includes its vision for the future. It is God who gifts a vision of the future, not just of the Church but of the world. The Church’s vision is not the creation of the church but a gift from God.
A few years after accepting the call to First Lutheran Church in Vancouver a member of the congregation approached me and quoted the following verse, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). This comment came out of the parishioner’s concern for the future of the congregation which had for some time been wandering in the wilderness without a sense of purpose or direction. It had no clear vision. It had failed in some ways to grasps God’s vision as an invitation to live as God’s people of faith, shaped and informed by God’s vision, in and for the world. Called to live as a people of faith then meant that any planning for the future meant needed to be an expression of God’s vision. This is the purpose of the strategic planning process for congregations. The vision is from God, but the living out of that vision is to be discerned and articulated in its mission statement, goals and objectives. The strategic planning process contemporizes and actualizes God’s vision for that time and place.
This is the starting place for strategic planning in the church, namely, God’s vision. In facilitating congregational strategic planning processes Pamela Nel starts the process with the following two questions;
Who is God calling us to be?
What is God calling us to do at this time and in this place?
Discerning God’s vision for the church and the world is the ongoing and central task of the church: of each congregation. God’s vision turns the focus of the church to the future as a call to live out in the world and for the world the promises of God. God’s vision provides insight in the deepest values that are to shape the Church as well determining its priorities in this place and at this time. Lastly is God’s vision informs the decisions and shapes the response of the church. This makes the Church rather unique as a social organization since it means that the Church is not defined by its past but by God’s promised future. In order for the Church to live out God’s vision, the theologian John F Haught believes that the Church needs to affirm a metaphysics of the future.
A metaphysics of the future is rooted in the intuition, expressed primordialilly in the biblical experience of what is “really real,” that the abode of the ultimate reality is not limited to the causal past nor to a fixed and timeless present “up above.” Rather, it is to be found most characteristically in the constantly arriving and renewing future. Such a vision, conceptually difficult though it may be, can suitably accommodate both the data of evolutionary biology and the extravagant claims of biblical religion about how a promising God relate to the world.[vii]
Unfortunately as the Church grows increasing anxious about declining membership it becomes more focussed on the present than the future. It seeks quick fixes as solutions which ultimately fail to calm its anxious heart. Metaphorically its eyes turn inward and away from God’s promised future. Having relinquished its grasp on God’s promised future it not only becomes confused about its direction but more importantly about its identity. To rediscover its mission the Church needs to start any process of renewal with God’s vision. For the Church or its congregations to embark on a strategic plan needs to start with God’ vision of a promised future for the Church and the world. Only then will the Church discover its mission. It is God’s vision for the Church that informs the Church what it is of value. As we will see from certain biblical accounts, it is God’s vision that challenges the often deeply held prevailing values. God’s vision calls on the Church to live out new and radical values which has transformed not only the Church in the past but also the Church today. This is the process that has shaped the Church from it very beginning.
Visions have had a major role in shaping and directing God’s people. Samuel is called by God through a vision (1Sam. 3:1). This call comes during a period of vision drought “And the Word of the Lord was rare in those days: there was no frequent vision.” (1Sam 3:1 RSV) The response to God’s vision is “Speak Lord for thy servant hears.” (1Sam. 3:10 RSV) By responding to God’s vision, Samuel provides new leadership for the people of Israel. The exiles in Babylon are discouraged; they have no hope for the future until Ezekiel receives a vision from God about how God can bring life to a valley of dry bones. The vision lifts the eyes of the people away from themselves to God and God’s promised future. This fills them with hope and anticipation for a new future, for new possibilities.
At that time the Church was is centered in Jerusalem and its members were Jewish converts who brought with them their Jewish traditions, understanding and values. These values became problematic when the Church started to expand beyond Jerusalem and into the non-Jewish world. These deeply help beliefs and values were being challenged by the new situation. The responsibility for any change resided in the Jerusalem Council centered in Jerusalem. The future of the Church was in its hands since all major decisions were to be made by the Council. They are confronted by the first major challenge by Peter. Peter had accepted the prevailing attitude towards non-Jews, namely, that they were unclean. In a vision God challenges Peter’s understanding.
9 About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” 15 The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven. (Acts 10:9-16 NRSV)[viii]
In spite of the vision, Peter “was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision which he had which he had seen might mean,...” (Acts 10:17) To assist Peter in discerning the significance of the vision, God sends 3 men to take Peter to the home of Cornelius, a centurion. (Acts 10:22) Here Peter is called by God to accept this non-Jew who is described as “an upright and Godfearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation...” (Acts 10:22) The event challenges Peter even further since he is informed that it is a “holy angel” who informed Cornelius to request Peter to come to his house. (Acts 10:22) Well here is Peter’s dilemma he is expected to break Jewish tradition that he had continued to accept and to which he conformed.
28 and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?” (Acts 10:28-29 NRSV)
Peter has undergone a major transformation as a consequence of God’s vision about what is clean and unclean. His old values and beliefs that had been so central to his life are not only rejected, but he is expected to adopt a whole set of new beliefs and values that is to shape all his relationships and ministry.
Peter confesses to Cornelius “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34-35 NRSV) It is not only Peter who is surprised by this turn of events, those Jewish Christians who accompanied him were equally surprised.
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,.. (Acts 10:44-45 NRSV)
Peter responds to the new non-Jewish Christians with a challenge asking if there is anyone who can forbid them to be baptized. (Acts 10:47)
The Peter goes to the Council in Jerusalem with this new message the vision from God about the nature and future of the Church. He shares with the Council the profound transformation he has undergone as a result of God’s vision and also through his experience with Cornelius and the other new Gentile Christians. As Peter was challenged by God, now through the witness of Peter God challenges the biases of the Church. The issue is about who is acceptable and who belongs. What can Peter expect from the Council in Jerusalem consisting of those who share his old views? If a Gentile to become a Christian does it mean that he must first be circumcised, meaning adopt Jewish practices? The implication is that all Christian males had to be circumcised and that these new Christians had to participate in and accept the traditional Jewish values and views. But this begged the question whether the Church was truly open to non-Jews? Were they not believed to be unclean? Did these new Christians have to become like the Jerusalem Christians to be acceptable, to be clean? This is not simply about the Church in the first century. This same debate over who may belong, i.e. who is clean, has divided the Church over the past few years. The more recent debate focused on the acceptance of the LBGQ community. The early Church welcomed the message of vision and was transformed. How will the Council respond now? The challenge to the Church is concerns who is acceptable and may belong. God’s vision challenges the values about what it meant then and now to be a Christian and the Church. The Church cannot ignore God’s vision to Peter and believe it can fulfill God’s mission in and for the world.
The response of the Council to Peter’s witness was extremely positive. They confronted the challenge to their accepted biases and welcomed the new. It was not all plain sailing for Peter. He faced criticism from the circumcision party who objected to his eating with the uncircumcised. (Acts 11:3) Peter is undeterred by their criticism and responds by telling the Council about the vision he had from God and about his experience with the Gentiles. He told how the Holy Spirit had come upon these Gentiles as “on us at the beginning.” (Acts 11:15) In spite of tradition and accepted beliefs, Peter confesses “who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:1&) Peter’s witness to God’s vision brings about a major transformation that shapes the future of the Church. The Council acknowledges, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.” (Acts 11:18)
The Apostle Paul also addressed this same concern in his letter to Galatians. He too battled with those who argued that to be a Christian one had first to be circumcised. Paul emphatically rejected this claim since he saw this as the undermining the Gospel. Furthermore, he rejected this claim that one had first to fulfill the law in order that grace may become available. To be under the law, according to Paul, is to be “under a curse.” (Gal. 3:10) His language is very sharp when he states, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Gal. 3:1 NRSV) Not only is this the nullification of God’s promise but the cementing of distinctions which makes some acceptable and other not. Paul states emphatically that
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,[a] heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:25-29 NRSV)
Paul travels to Jerusalem where he, like Peter, addresses the Council in Jerusalem questioning the apparent biases in the Church’s understanding of who is acceptable and belongs to the Church. (Acts 15) After Peter has addressed the Council, Paul and Barnabas relate their experiences ministering to the Gentiles. (Acts 15:12) The response is transformational. They heard the voice of God in Peter’s witness to God’s vision and his experience with the Gentiles. The change in attitudes and values is dramatic and still informs the Church today.
God’s vision shapes the church in a dramatically new way. By initiating and directing the Church God reorients the Church to God’s future not just for the Church but for the world. It is the responsibility of the Church to live out that vision, a vision that calls upon the Church to drop all requirements about who is acceptable and belongs. As with the early Church, this vision still leads the Church to a radical transformation about membership. It strips the Church of all legalistic judgements and prerequisites and clearly state that the only access to the Church of Jesus the Christ is the grace of God. Membership is not a matter of meeting certain requirements, or laws.
God’s vision to Peter is still the starting point for any strategic plan that the Church and its congregations may develop. It requires the church to be open to God’s future and to God’s values. Peter’s vision that what God has made cannot be assigned to categories of unclean and clean is applicable to the Church today. Given the experience in the Church the past few years as it debated membership and requirements especially of the LBGTQ community, it still needs to be affirmed with conviction and joy just as it was received by the Council in Jerusalem.
God’s Vision for the Future – Mission to all Nations
Integral to God’s vision for the Church is that God does not recognize the artificial national boundaries created by humankind. The Holy Spirit is like the wind it blows wherever it wills. The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. But this was not the position of the early church centred in Jerusalem. The challenge to this limited vision started with a vision to Paul.
9 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 9:1-8 NRAV)
Ananias, a disciple in Damascus receives a vision from God to go to Paul and lay his hands on him to heal him so that Paul may receive his sight. Ananias resists the call since he is well acquainted with Paul’s reputation as a persecutor of the Church. “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts 10:15 NRSV) This is the start not just of a radical transformation of an individual, Paul, but of the whole Church.
6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district[c] of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. (Acts 19:6-15 NRSV)
After being blocked from the route on which he wanted to travel, Paul finds himself in Troas. It is there that God gives Paul a vision in which a man of Macedonia requests Paul to come over to help. Paul wastes no time in responding to the call. He travels from Troas to Philippi which is described as “a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.” (Acts 19:12) Paul finds himself in a very foreign place that is populated by Roman non-believers. There appears to be no synagogue in Philippi where he can go and pray. He roams the city only to discover that there is no Christian community in it as well. So on the Sabbath he leaves the city and goes down to the river where he finds a group of women meeting under the leadership of Lydia. They are eager to hear Paul share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ with them. Not only are they open to listen, but they respond by being baptized as well.
God’s vision to Paul led to him breaching the prevailing boundaries of the church’s understanding of the Jewish realm of the Gospel. When Paul shares this with the Council in Jerusalem they like Paul are taken out of their comfort zone into unknown territory. Both Paul and the members of the Council could have reacted to their anxiety and shut down. Instead Paul accepts the challenge of the vision and “immediately” seeks to leave while the Council responds positively as well. God’s vision has expanded the Church’s understanding that its mission is to include all nations. There could be no exclusions based on ethnicity or race to the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The radical transformation for Paul and the Church was that the Gospel is at its heart missional.
God transforms the Church’s understanding of itself through these two visions. The positive response by the Church brings about a major transformation. These visions call the Church to step out of its restrictive comfort zone into a new future, a future defined by God. This call has major implications for the Lutheran Church which has been focused on, and defined by ethnicity. God’s vision, a call to be in mission to the world, is still to form the basis of any strategic plan. This vision transforms the thinking of the Church by God inviting it to see the world from God’s perspective and not from our limited human viewpoint. God’s vision invites the Church to reject all that would limit its vision since the invitation to the Church is to be a Church in Mission to the world. God’s vision is an invitation, a call, to the Church to a new future filled with new possibilities.
God’s Vision for the Church – Making All Things New
God’s vision is one in which God promises to make all things new. John in Revelation receives a vision from God of the new future God is planning for the world.
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the
home[a] of God is
among mortals.
He will dwell[b] with them;
they will be his peoples,[c]
and God himself will be with them;[d]
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. (Revelation 21:1-6 NRSV)
This vision transforms and reorients the Church into the Church of the future, of the new. This vision lifts the eyes of the church from the present to the future. That is what essentially informs its strategic plan. The Church lives proleptically in the present out of God’s vision of the future. A vision of a new world informs how the Church lives and functions, a world in which there will be no more hunger, thirst, pain or suffering. There will be enough to satisfy the needs of all. Its mission, objectives and goals are shaped by this promised future. The Church lives in the present as if the future has arrived. This eschatological ethic shapes any strategic plan upon which the Church may embark.
Conclusion
Unlike businesses and other organizations, the vision of the Church is given by God. God is therefore the subject of this vision rather than its object. God’s vision for the Church transforms its thinking but more importantly it reorients it towards God’s promised future for the world. As God is for the world so the Church is called by God to be in and for the world.
The Church throughout history has been called to be shaped by the vision to Peter concerning membership. The core understanding of the Church is that it cannot make distinctions, whether race, colour, ethnicity or gender, in its membership. The Church is open to all people. The driving force behind this transformative attitude is the vision that the Church dare not call unclean what God has called clean. The invitation of the Gospel is to all people, irrespective of who they are or where they live. “Who is God calling us to be?” is the question to which the Church and its congregations need to respond. It is not sufficient to limit its understanding to questions of identify. It also has to hear the call of the man from Macedonia. This call breaks through all boundaries and invites the Church to reach out in mission to the world. The story of Paul’s response to the call to proclaim the Gospel in “foreign” lands surprised the Church. How could they not affirm the call to mission? To do so would be to ignore the work of the Holy Spirit. This call to breach the boundaries of thinking and action needs to be reflected in the Church’s and its congregations as they partake in a strategic planning process. “What is God calling us to do at this time and in this place?” is the question that responds to God’s call to mission.
John’s vision is an invitation, or call, to live out in the present God’s promised future for the world. This promised future is a constant call for the Church to reorient itself to God’s future and away from its often narrow and anxious activities trying to save itself. This call is a call for the Church, like Abraham, to step out in faith into the future trusting God. It is a call for the Church to allow God to awaken in it a spirit of adventure as it journeys into the new. The future is assured by God. This makes the Church unique among social institutions since its future is known.
[i] Madison Hawthorne; Reviewed by Jayne Thompson, LLB, LLM;https://smallbusiness.chron.com › ... › Strategic Planning
[ii] Bain and Company https://www.bain.com › insights › management-tools-mission-and-vision-...
[iii] Britt Skrabanek https://www.clearvoice.com › blog › difference-between-mission-vision-s...
[iv] Kelly Breslin Wrighthttps://medium.com › thrive-global
[v] Britt Skrabanek https://www.clearvoice.com › blog › difference-between-mission-vision-s...
[vi] The Community Tool Box is a service of the Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/vision-mission-statements/main
[vii] Haught, John F. (2000). God after Darwin: A theology of evolution, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
[viii] New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved
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