When it comes to developing the strategy for your organization it is important to begin with three things: Vision, Mission, Values.Some people lump vision/mission together and say they are the same. You can do that if you want. Others change vision and call it purpose, you can do that if you want as well. No matter what you do it is important that you have a clear cut picture of the future or your organization and have a strategy of how to get there.
I think that it is important to point out that a church or organization can only have one vision. Youth ministry, children's ministry, grand-ma sewing ministry...your vision is the vision of the church. When it comes to a church you don't get to choose your vision. God gives the vision for the whole house through the lead person whom He chooses. It is then the role of the youth ministry or any sub ministry to develop a strategy of how they are going to achieve the vision.
Ready for one more curve ball???? If you have thought through this whole process well, the vision, mission, and values should flow through the whole organization no matter what major department.
It is the goal of the leader when creating the vision/mission to keep it simple enough for every major department to follow. The only major difference then would be in goals and tasks of accomplishing the vision.
This is a hard point for some to swallow especially when, for example, as the youth pastor your head doesn't have a clear cut vision or even understand this process. I worked at one church where you wouldn't have known the vision of our church, because there wasn't one articulated nor written. I also worked in one where the lead pastor had the mission statement as the vision statement. For me it didn't paint the picture, it showed me the process, but there wasn't a clear articulated picture of the future. I knew what we were doing but not where we were going.
Senior Pastor/Lead Pastor/Business Leader, as the lead person for your organization it is important for you to get this one right. Tomorrow, in Part 2, I will define each of these three and give you some examples. And then in Part 3 we will wrap it up with some details for our plan.
How clear is the vision where you are at?
2 comments:
I agree. The fact is the entire organization must rally around one defined mission, vision and values. Why? Because that's the best way to make sure everyone is using the same measuring stick when examining the functions and successes of their areas of ministry. If values, mission and/or vision differ, then you'll find one area of ministry drifting off into a different direction. Reduces your effectiveness dramatically. Looking forward to the next post.
Great point to tag on there about drifting. There is so much danger in drifting due to so many visions....
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