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Turning Your Vision Into Action

By J. David Schmidt

In 1966, the only way to cross the 4 1/2-mile-wide Columbia River that forms the border between Oregon and Washington, was to take a ferry. It was a beautiful ride through the splendor of the Pacific Northwest as the ferryboat plied the river’s waters. But it was also a time-consuming, 2-hour ride. Then someone had a vision—build a bridge that would span the river.

The debate was fierce. "Too costly," some said.

"How will we pay for it?" others asked.

Still others stated, "This bridge doesn’t connect any two cities, so why build it?"

But the vision persisted and the project began. As the bridge progressed, scoffers gave it a name: the bridge to nowhere. Today, that "bridge to nowhere"—the Astoria-Megler Bridge—carries more than 2 million cars annually between Oregon and Washington.

In contrast, during the same years, there truly was a "bridge to nowhere" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An off-ramp of the parkway system in that city extended out into one of the rivers and ended abruptly with barricades. For years it sat there connecting the riverbank with nothing. Across the country there have been other bridges that were never completed and became nothing more than conversation pieces or the focus of political haggling.

Bridges only work if they connect two different places. The same is true with vision. Without a plan of action, our vision for what God might do in our church becomes just another bridge to nowhere.

YOUR CHURCH’S VISION NEEDS TO GO SOMEWHERE

In the previous two issues of Enrichment, I addressed the value of every church having a written vision statement—one or two pages of dreams that indicate where the pastor and church leaders sense the Lord is leading their church in the future. I also mentioned the importance of having a sense of God’s preferred future for your church. The Assemblies of God has provided every church in the Fellowship a vision tool kit to help pastors and their church leaders work through this process of vision discovery. These articles also stressed the importance of communicating that vision creatively through a variety of means, including giving people in your congregation an opportunity to shape the vision’s contents through dialogue with leaders—so they might own it as their own in their hearts.

Two common questions often emerge once a church has a vision statement: "How do I convert the ideas on paper into decisions and actions that will make a difference?" and, "How do I use our vision to lead and bring about needed change?"

A partial but important answer to these questions is this: it takes an action plan. Proverbs 24:3,4 in the Living Bible states, "Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts." Visions need plans to bring them to life.

A written, communicated, and widely owned vision statement is a "bridge to nowhere" without an action plan. An action plan converts dreams into decisions that reallocate the resources of your church to undergird the new vision.

A key pitfall to avoid is writing a vision and then doing church the same as always. A fresh vision calls for fresh activity. Without a plan of action, it is simply the fruit of a team in your church putting dreams on paper. It might as well be made into a paper airplane and flown from the steeple of your church.

To build trust, maintain credibility, and to honor those who participated—as well as honor God—your vision statement must move from written words into new decisions, new prayers, reallocated human and financial resources, and change. A vision that lacks concrete decisions leading to actions will never result in people hearing the message that can change lives—the good news of Jesus Christ.

TURNING VISION INTO ACTION

Assuming you have worked hard to communicate your church’s vision to the congregation and key leaders, here are the steps to create an action plan for your vision:

1. Put together an action team. Ideally the team that helped develop the vision is a good place to start. But consider adding to it key volunteers, department heads, or staff who will help live out the vision action plan.

2. Walk through the vision statement and identify the key ideas or initiatives and list them on a chalkboard or overhead transparency. A simple way to do this is to identify key action phrases such as, "We envision that our evangelism will become more culturally relevant."

3. Prioritize the vision ideas. Identify those ideas that you sense you need to tackle first, second, third, and so on, because of their strategic importance to your church’s vitality.

4. Assign a leader to each of these priorities. Nothing of substance will happen unless you do this. Every priority needs a leader. If you do not have enough leaders to cover all the priorities, launch only those for which you have leadership. While this step requires discernment, you may need to expand the leadership potential in your church. Even if someone is young in the Lord or lacks tenure in your church, prayerfully consider who has the potential and gifts to lead an initiative. Often we overlook people, when what they really need is a leadership challenge that requires them to lean on the Lord for wisdom and strength.

It is difficult to decide how many priorities to have. Three to seven are probably about all the initiatives a church can handle at one time. Focus on a few things that are doable rather than trying to implement your entire vision at once. Set a date 6 months in the future to convene the team and decide if you can add any new priorities at that time.

5. Empower (give the authority and the responsibility to) your leaders to develop each of the priorities. Challenge them to think outside the box. Ask them to answer the question: "What could we do differently that would change and strengthen our church’s ministry in this area?" Another question to challenge them is, "To achieve this priority, what must we as a church start, stop, or continue?"

This strategic thinking is critical to breakthroughs. Without it, all churches are prone to take the path of least resistance, which rarely leads to new vitality. Once this brainstorming is done, then goals can be set, action steps laid out, people assigned, and calendars and budgets established.

PAPER AIRPLANE OR ACTION PLAN—WHAT WILL YOUR VISION BE?

When Paul wrote to the church in Colosse, he challenged them: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving" (Colossians 3:23,24, NIV).

Paul’s words challenge our work ethic—not just to work hard, but to work for the right motives and focus on the One for whom we are working. In church work, it is easy to get our focus on other things: the compliments of others, to accomplish our agenda, to correct something we think is wrong. We might also work out of guilt or as people pleasers or worse, to keep a tradition or a good feeling going. This kind of church work burns us out because it lacks spiritual authority and the power of God.

It is hard work to turn your vision into action, but it’s not impossible. It will go better if the action plans you lay out are pursued with gusto. Your church’s vision simply won’t come to life without the blessing that only God can ultimately give according to His will. It won’t come about if the faithful few end up carrying the ball. Visions come to life as committed people build a bridge together—to serve the Lord. Some of that work will include prayer. Some of it will mean taking risks. It will require your church to sort the treasures from the baggage and even the garbage that has built up in your church. Some of the work will require that you stay the course. Whatever the work, bridge-building will connect what you want your church to become and what it will be.

Today, we must realize that our unchurched and lost friends and relatives are not church hungry; they are God hungry—even if they don’t know it. And God has placed you and your church strategically near them so they might hear the gospel. You and your church have a unique role to play in their salvation. What is it? Only God knows. It is He who builds the chains made up of links of believers who live out their own salvation in winsome ways.

But one thing is sure—these people will not hear the gospel unless you and your church work hard to build a bridge that moves your dreams into action.

J. David Schmidt is president of David Schmidt & Associates, Inc., a management consulting firm that has served Christian organizations, denominations, and local churches for 23 years. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois.