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Pastor's February 2010 Message |
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VISION FOR THE FUTURE“Without a revelatory vision, the people are left to their own devices.” Proverbs 29:18 As we began the Leadership Retreat the evening of January 8th, I had a devotion based on the scripture about – Proverbs 29:18. Without a unifying vision, everyone inserts their own preferences into the vacuum – everybody “does their own thing.” A greater vision seeks to unify people so that everyone is “pulling in the same direction.” But it needs to be a “greater vision.” For a church, the unifying vision needs to be revelatory; that is, it must be from God. The goal of the Leadership Retreat was to examine once again Messiah’s Vision Statement, and then to identify a couple areas that are critical to carrying out that vision. Our prayer was, and is, that the results of the Retreat were, and are, from God – His Vision. The overall goal of the retreat was NOT to ask God to join us and bless our plans, but that we would see His Will for Messiah and join HIM! Before I say anymore on this, I should define some terms. For the purposes of this article, a Mission Statement presents the reason or purpose of an organization’s existence. A Vision Statement presents a picture of what things should look like when an organization is fulfilling its Mission. Thus the Vision concretizes the results of doing the Mission. A Critical Target is a goal or objective that an organization believes must be accomplished in order to realize the Vision and accomplish the Mission. Using those definitions, Messiah’s Mission Statement has been the same for years: Look Up…, Look Around…, Look Outward…. This Mission Statement, when fleshed out, is simply another way of stating the Purpose and Mission (Commission) that Christ has given to all His Churches. “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations…” Matthew 28: 19ff. How each church accomplishes that ‘commission’ is dependent on its unique Vision of Ministry. Although the Mission does not change, the Vision can. The Leadership determined to continue pursuing the same Vision that Messiah has had for the last four years: Messiah Lutheran Church – impacting the community by growing families in Christ through the Word of God. It was under this vision that Messiah extended a Divine Call to Paula Weiss to be our Minister of Family Life and Youth. The milieu that Messiah is in consists of families. Families are under attack both covertly and overtly. Taking those two things together, Messiah’s Vision Statement sets us on a course to help strengthen and preserve embattled families through the only source that can truly be of help – God’s power through God’s Word. Our point of impact that fulfills our Mission of making disciples is growing families in Christ. Messiah seeks to be a family for all her members (Look Around in Mission Statement), and to reach out into our community filled with families in need so as to incorporate them into our family’s care (Look Outward). Such incorporation points them, along with all of us, toward the Heavenly Father of us all (Look Up) so that all of us can grow in His love and do His will. In a future Newsletter Article, I will share a couple of areas that Messiah’s Leadership identified as Critical to attaining the Vision and accomplishing the Mission.
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