What do you do when your vision is growing apart from your church’s vision?
That was the question posed by a young man I’m mentoring these days. He’s on staff in a local church, and is finding that the direction he wants to take his department is at odds with the overall direction of the church.
How do you handle that?
Here are the 4 steps I suggested to him, and these may serve you if you find your vision growing apart from your church’s vision.
1. Remain fiercely loyal to the leadership of the church
Your vision may be different than the vision being cast by the church leadership. Your vision may even be better than the “big church” vision.
But at the end of the day, the leaders of the church are the leaders of the church. And your job begins with whole-heartedly supporting the direction they are taking the church.
2. Pour your energies into producing great results
You mustn’t allow your concern for “big church” issues to divert you from doing your job with excellence.
3. Be a positive voice of change
Who knows? You may be stewarding a vision that God will want to use to steer the entire direction of the church. So you must position yourself to be able to “lead up” to those steering the organization.
And for your voice to be heard you must be increasingly seen as a positive voice, not a dripping faucet of complaint. You must be positioned as one who cares deeply and passionately about the overall church and who is willing to suggest creative ways to move her forward.
4. Make the tough decision
What if step’s one, two and three prove ineffective? What if you remain loyal, do your job well, and attempt to positively influence change, all to no avail?
If you can’t reconcile the gap between your vision and that of the church you may have no other choice but to “take your vision elsewhere” and resign your post.
(If it comes to that, leave well…but that’s a post for another day!)
Have you ever found yourself at odds with the vision of your church? How did you handle it?
