Vision
Special to United Methodist Insight
If you’ve ever been part of a visioning process in a local church, you can probably call to mind the process. Exciting brainstorming sessions with sticky notes and whiteboards, dreaming and excitement. But when we consider discernment, you may recall something more serious and prayerful in your mind’s eye: the process of seeking God's will for your church or ministry.
Perhaps like many, you don’t have any reference or thought of congregational or institutional discernment. But what if visioning and discernment were two sides of the same coin? What if visioning, when done the way it should be done, is simply discernment rebranded, a fresh way of looking at how we discover God's preferred future for our congregations?
Congregational discernment is about listening for God's voice, seeking His guidance, and aligning our desires with His purposes for your church. Visioning, at its core, is about imagining the future God desires for us, a future where we are living more fully into our calling and making a greater impact in the world.
There are several motivations and directions this often takes, as I have found at the onset of many of my Congregational Discernment workshops. But, when we approach visioning as a spiritual practice, we open ourselves up to the possibility that God might surprise us with unexpected ideas and directions. We move beyond simply brainstorming what we think might work and instead seek to discern what God is already doing in and through our communities.
This is the difference between guessing what God has in store for your church and prayerfully asking. Visioning should be discernment because you are looking to follow God's vision. A “Church Vision” should be a flashy rebrand for “God’s Will for Our Church.”
Discernment is a skill and a practice, one that we should do in our lives and in our institutions. There are some practical ways to integrate Congregational Discernment into your church's visioning process, so you can be faithful in your leadership:
- Start with Prayer: Begin every visioning session with prayer, inviting the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts and conversations. In my workshops, I actually have the group write a prayer they will always pray in their meetings and in their personal discernment.
- Listen Deeply: Create space for individuals to share their dreams, hopes and concerns for the church's future. Encourage active listening and respectful dialogue. Talking about what we are hearing is a subskill that we don’t always develop in group settings; but it is crucial in group discernment.
- Seek God's Word: Ground your visioning process in Scripture, exploring biblical principles and stories that can illuminate your path forward. Your church mission should be one of the ways you evaluate your discernment, and vice versa. That’s a difficult reality of congregational discernment; starting with a new vision can sometimes lead to evaluating your current mission and ministries, too.
- Consider Your Context: Be mindful of the unique needs and challenges of your community. How is God already at work in your context? Where are the opportunities for your church to make a difference? Context is the question that God’s call will answer. Defining it first will help your church interpret the vision properly.
- Embrace the Unknown: Be open to the possibility that God's vision for your church might be different from what you initially imagined. Be willing to step out in faith and embrace the unknown. By listening openly, without looking for a specific answer or solution, you will have the best chance to hear what God is actually inviting your church to join in on.
By viewing visioning as congregational discernment rebranded, we can create a more intentional and Spirit-led process for shaping the future of our churches. We can move beyond simply planning for what we want to do and instead seek to discern what God is calling us to do.
Visioning, when considered in this way, can lead the church into its next season. It can lead to a more fulfilling and impactful ministry and deepen our relationship with God, as we learn to listen to God’s voice and trust God’s guidance.
When we align our vision with God's purposes, we can be confident that we are on the right path, even if it leads us in unexpected directions. So, the next time your church embarks on a visioning process, remember that it's not just about brainstorming ideas or setting goals. Visioning is about discerning God's preferred future for your congregation.
Kellen Roggenbuck
The Rev. Kellen Roggenbuck serves Stoughton UMC in Stoughton, Wisconsin, and teaches Evangelism and Discipleship at the Iowa Conference Licensing School.