Restoring Vision and Purpose

            After a season of vision and purpose most churches fall into the plateau or decline of maintenance mode.  This can happen to what we term as “contemporary” churches as much as it can to “traditional” churches.  It can be true of a church of 100 or a church of 1,000.  You can determine if this has happened to your church by asking a few simple questions:

            1.  Can most people state the vision statement of the church?

            1.  Are you comfortable with allowing people to leave the church?

            2.  Is your annual per-convert-cost under $10,000?  (vision and purpose can be measured)

            3.  Are you seeing at least one new face every weekend?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions there is a good chance that you have drifted into maintenance mode.

            A well-defined and communicated vision declares a destination and defines the way we are going to get there. It is attractive to many, but it also repels many.  If no one is saying, “what you're doing is just not for me”, you probably do not have a well-defined and communicated vision.

            A well-defined vision eliminates and says no to more activities and programs than it chooses.  A clear vision says no to good things so that you can focus on great things.

            Jesus had a clear vision statement.  It is stated in Luke 19:10.  “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”   This defined the places He went, the people He engaged, and the controversy He endured.  It allowed Him to say “no” to temptation in the desert and “yes” to the cost of the cross in the garden.  

            The church at Ephesus experienced an exciting, launch when the apostle Paul brought the gospel to their city.  (1Cor16:8-9) A generation later, God sent a message to them in the book of Revelation and pointed out that they had drifted into maintenance mode.  They were doing everything correctly.  They “defended the faith”, knew who the bad guys were and worked hard at “church”.   But they had drifted from their original vision and purpose, which was to rock Ephesus with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They had lost their love for God’s gospel vision.  They had stopped doing what they did at first.  (Rev 2:2-5)

            It took an outside messenger to help the church at Ephesus define the problem.  Paul helped the church at Corinth see its problems.  He coached Timothy when he was challenged with the difficulties of God’s call on his life.  James encouraged the Jewish converts who were scattered by persecution.  If you sense that you have entered into maintenance mode, it may be time to call someone to put some objective eyes on the ministry. 

            The exciting news is that vision and purpose can be re-established and a local church can once again experience the excitement of seeing God use them to transform lives and advance His kingdom.