Living the Vision

If a church or Christian organization agrees that the Spirit is leading them in a particular way, then the life of that church may need to change. Financial resources may need to be found, people's ministries redirected to focus on realising the vision. Unless the process of vision-seeking merely confirms the direction a church was heading in anyway, change, and quite probably radical change, is inevitable. If the organization is able to adopt the values and culture necessary for the vision to be achieved at an early stage, it is much more likely that the physical tasks required will be successfully completed. It is important that these green shoots of vision are affirmed and encouraged, and leaders clearly have a key role in doing this.

Whilst there are some visions that are never fully achieved, there will be others that have a finite end, when the achievement of the vision can be marked and celebrated. There is tremendous opportunity for recognition of the hard work that has gone into achieving the vision, but also of thankfulness to God for his provision and guidance. Once an organization has achieved a vision, it will enter a new phase in its development :

Firstly it is good to have a time of consolidation, allowing the new culture and arrangements to settle down and for the group to be comfortable with this. It is important not to rush immediately into the next change (particularly if the organization is a voluntary one or a church.) However, this is not to say that it isn't useful to break a large vision down into blocks, where the achievement of each building block can be seperately recognized and celebrated.

At some stage the organization will begin to seek the next element of God's call, and returns to the vision forming phase. The achievement of the first vision has moved the organization into a different place along its journey, and it may well be that where God is calling the organization to move next could not have been possible without the achievement of the previous vision.

Some vision focuses on doing - creation and completion of various tasks. Other visions focus on being - on adopting values and cultures. Even the former visions are likely to require different behaviours. These may need careful monitoring and sustaining if the organization is not to regress to old behaviours.