Gone Fishing!

Hi all

This blog didn't really get much interest and after getting no input from it I decided to go offline and work in Power point.

I presented my proposal on Monday 10th July 2006 to the evangelism committee.

In the mean time a new project was launched to look at the need fro a Mission and vision statement for the entire church. The work that was done in formulating the evangelism vision will now become input into this project.

The committee agreed that no further work should be done on the Evangelism Vision.

Thanks to those of you who did contriubute via the Blog or directly with me.

Regards

Roger

Post 2.2 The characteristics of a Vision Statement?

1. What is Vision ( from The Power of Vision)

• Vision is clear
• Vision is preferable to the current state
• Vision concentrates on the future
• Vision is from God
• Vision is a gift to leaders that is tailored to the circumstances
• Vision reflects a realistic perspective
• Vision is dreaming the most possible dream
• Vision is built on reality
• A Visionary pastor is a successful pastor

2. Chip Ingram uses these words in the "How to grow a High Impact Church" series.

A vision:

• Must be Dynamic
• Must be simple & focused
• Must be Clear
• Must be Compelling
• Must be Measurable

3. A vision statement should therefore be:

• A short sentence
• Describing the vision
• Able to recreate a picture in people's minds
• Desirable to the listeners
• A stretch
• Possible, but not necessarily on the current resources
• A leading of God

Please comment:

1. Do you agree with the above definitions and explanations of Vision
2. Can you think of something else you would add to the list

Post 2.1 Does Vision really mobilise people?

I've seen Graeme's "Mind the Gap" presentation twice now and both times the highlight for me has been when he explains the "Bosberaad" and the emphasis on Visioning, Mission statement, Strategic objectives and so on. Whilst this part is very funny he does make the point that the Boomers used these techniques to change the world. I've never managed to catch up with him to find out what he really believes about this topic, I'm sure it can't be as bad as he makes it out to be. With Graeme you never know.

A few years back I learned a lot from a my cousin and Rene Horacks who both worked for the Pacific Institute and facilitated business courses that included Vision setting as a core part of the curriculum. They tell many first hand accounts of companies that have been turned around from losing market share and making losses to being leaders in the industries. Virtually every success story starts with the leadership creating a vision and then rallying their staff to contribute.
It's funny but people love change if it benefits them somehow and most people on the ground get fired up when they understand the strategy of their organisation and understand their own personal role in realizing the vision. When people at the coal face understand and like a vision, they somehow remove the obstacles without being told

More recently I have been reading George Barna's books on vision:

1. The Power of Vision
2. Turning Vision into Action

I will unpack some of the key issues from these 2 books in Post 2.3.

Today I was chatting to Atholl Tomlinson about how our company is changing.

• Our customers requirements and spending patterns are changing all the time;
• Our business models for how we mange the business are changing
• Our IT systems, business processes are being replaced, resulting in further change
• Human resources demands and socio-political forces also causes constant change

2 Observations we agreed on:

1. The right way to change a business is to begin with a vision of what you want the business to become.
2. Changing a business incrementally (based on opportunities that present themselves) is very difficult to mange through as you don't really know the final outcome. Keeping the people motivated becomes very challenging.

I personally am goal-driven and have found over the years that my biggest personal achievements (perhaps they would not be seen as successes for everyone) have all started with a clear picture of a desired outcome. The pictures were always vivid but only lasted a few seconds. I would then try and work out in detail what needed to be done to achieve the vision. Unfortunately a vision does not give the answer it simply gives you hope and energy to keep at it.

The bottom line is that a Vision (within the context of good leadership) is a very powerful tool in mobilsing organisations and people changing their world for the better.

Please comment:

1. Do you think a clear vision is key to changing an organisation?

Step 2.0 - The basics of a vision

This post consists of the following 5 topics:

1. Does vision really mobilise people?
2. Characteristic of a Vision
3. Differences between our Mission , Vision, Values, Strategies, Goals, Plans etc?
4. Biblical examples of Vision
5. Secular examples of Vision

Although the focus of this process has changed from trying to formulate a BBC church vision to the "Bringing-in Ministry" vision, we still feel that it is a worthwhile step as we would want the vision for this ministry to be clear and enticing.

1.5 Meeting with the Deacons

(click on the image to enlarge)


The meeting with the deaconate was held on 10 April 2006 where we presented all the material and thoughts that had been gathered over the last few months.

Leading up to the meeting with the deaconate, I was having doubts over whether we should be tackling the BBC vision and not rather narrow the scope to that of the "Bringing-in" vision(Evangelism). Gareth and I had a telephone conversation that same afternoon and he told me of a concern that someone had raised with him over the same issue. Gareth then asked me what I thought and immediately opted for narrowing the scope to bringing-in. We decided to discuss it in more depth at the deacons meeting that evening.

I went home and added the above slide into my presentation and put the question (in the format of 3 models) to the deacons (Philip and Kevin were not at the meeting).

The deacons meeting started with Chip Ingram's talk on prayer which seemed to touch each person present and set a special tone for the rest of the meeting.

Key Conclusions

1. Model 1 was dismissed quite quickly
2. Model 3 was considered ideal but not really practical and would take time work through
3. Model 2 was the favourite and I was encouraged to continue the visioning process but limited to Bringing-in. Model 2 obviously carries the risk that evangelism will be left to the Bringing-in Committee and that people may stand back and observe with interest. This will need to be guarded against and in fact it cannot prosper unless everyone gets involved (starting with all levels of leadership).

Other Observations

Much more important than the models discussed above was that the Holy Spirit touched that meeting. This lead to a time of prayer and confession before the Lord and each other, mainly in the following areas:

1. We don't pray enough as a church
2. We are not as dependent on God as we should be
3. We are "wallowing in our busyness" (personal lives and within the church's ministries)
4. God expects more of a this leadership team than we are currently giving Him. We need to make things right before we can continue with our plans.
5. In the area of envangelism, we have failed the Lord personally and as a church (in the last few years)
6. The above conclusions lead to the change in the visioning process.
   
   
   Please comment
   
   

1. Which of the 3 models would you have opted for

2. As part of the leadership team, has God recently convicted you of any of the above areas or in other areas? Please elaborate (unless it is personal)

1.4 - Meeting with the Ministry Leaders, Elders and Deacons

At the meeting held on 2 April, again we shared the status of the Envangelism ministry and communicated most of the information that is documented in this BLOG.

We also took time to survey those who were there in terms of BBC's current vision and the poll to the left shows the results.

Key Observations and Outcomes:

1. From the results shown above, it appears that those present did not have clarity on the vision/mission/direction/ strategy of the church. (Perhaps the poll was out of context or the wording/terminology of the question was ambiguous which could have lead to these results. We should revisit this sometime in the future)
2. A couple of the leaders shared openly and basically confirmed that they are not discipling people adequately and perhaps are too comfortable at BBC.
3. The team agreed to participate in the 6 step visioning process and we indicated that this would be done via a BLOG.
4. The deacons will be receiving an update on the ministry on 10 April.

Please Comment:

1. Please comment on, or provide your interpetation of the results of the above poll.

1.3 - Meeting with the Elders

After the 1st Brining-in committee meeting, I tested the conclusions we had reached with those in leadership or people who are core "members". Those who I spoke to were very positive about the concept of a vision to reach the lost even though the vision is not yet articulated. This was very encouraging and exactly opposite to how congregants in typical churches would respond.

In a survey done in the states in over a 1000 churches:

1. 89% Of congregants said, "The church's purpose is to take care of my family's and my needs."
2. The remaining 11% of the congregants said, " The purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus."

The pastors of the same churches were then surveyed and the results were exactly the opposite to what the congregations had said.

- Source "The Purpose Driven Church"

In mid-March I met with Robbie and shared basically what is documented in post 1.2 below. Robbie was very open to exploring the concept of a visioning process and suggested that the topic be discussed in the next elders meeting, which it was.

Observations and Outcomes of the meetings:

1. When discussing the topic of visioning, terminology is very important. There are differences between missions, visions, values, strategies, goals, plans etc, and we all seem to have different understanding of what the terminology means. This obviously can result in talking cross-purpose and step 2 in this process will address the key terminology so that we can all sing from the same hymn sheet (do we still use hymn sheets?)
2. Certain BBC practises which I thought were "holy cows" are in fact not so. (Holy cows are also not biblical!)
3. The elders were keen to start the process immediately and asked me to help facilitate it. This has resulted in the BLOG being created. I believe it is a useful tool to include as many of the leadership as possible, to allow the participants to have their say, to brainstorm effectively, to survey and collect information, and to create visibility and transparency.

Please Comment:

In response to the survey described in the Purpose Driven Church, what would you say is the purpose of the Church?