Vision

Whether it's Facebook Live, Zoom, YouTube, or other media form, digital ministry has become the “new normal” during these unprecedented times.

 We’ve been seeing a lot of TV show reboots lately. Fuller House (a take on the 80’s show Full House) seems to be the most popular one over the last few years, but there are many that have been released, and many more in the works. These reboots take favorite old classics that no one really watches anymore and tweak them a bit, bringing new stories and excitement, and a fresh new group of fans.

As we enter a new year and start to set new goals for our churches, we often look to our vision and mission statements to help guide our strategy. But what if our vision is kind of like that old classic TV show? It had its day, but now it’s kind of outdated and irrelevant—no one gets excited about it or inspired to action. Could it be that your vision statement needs a reboot?

Recently I was part of a discussion with a pastor who sent an email to his membership asking where they wanted to grow spiritually. Two days later there were no responses.

If we want our churches to grow and reach more people for Jesus over time, change is a requirement. But how do we know if we’re part of an organization that’s even capable of change?

For many churches, we know we’re supposed to reach and evangelize our communities, but the people… they’re so…. Different!

I recently attended a church service where a pastor admitted they have always taken the perspective of “people are responsible for themselves. If they choose not to engage and participate, it’s not our problem.”

Just like football has its “Super Day” every year, many churches view Easter Sunday as their “Super Day” for reaching out to the community. People who only come a few times a year are getting their “Sunday Best” ready and you want them at your church!

The New Year is a great time for your church leadership to meet and set goals for your next year of ministry, and to lay down the framework for how those goals will be achieved.

Guests come to your church for many reasons, with many different interests and goals. That means they’ll have different questions they need answered as they decide to join your church.

It seems in our post-Christian culture that the courage (or perhaps even willingness) to share our faith is becoming rare. Why is that?