Glenn Gibson

Only twenty years after being planted, the church was slowly heading for trouble. They had grown to almost 200 worshippers in a village of 1,800 (in a township of 4,200 people).  But then things began to go the other way.

By the summer of 2002, they had been without a senior pastor for more than a year. They had reached the bottom of the list with no prospects in sight. Attendance was now less than 100 and offerings were slowly declining. Pockets of turmoil bubbled just below a placid façade of Christian kindness. Board concern was now on the rise.

It was summertime and congregational morale was sagging badly. “A lot of people are on holidays,” said the youth pastor as we looked at the twenty people sprinkled across the sanctuary for a July evening meeting. “But we’ll tape your presentation and people can hear it when they get back.” I kept my expectations low and gave my standard description of the “Vision Renewal” process. After answering some questions, I headed for home, assuming that nothing much would result.

But I was wrong – and not for the first time. It took four months, two more presentations, and a congregational vote. But when they started “Vision Renewal” in November, they had made the commitment to “dream again” as a church.

“Vision Renewal” is a simple approach to helping a congregation to seek God’s vision for future ministry. It addresses the tendency of the local church to shift their focus over the years from the possibilities of the future to their present problems and past successes. Vision Renewal invites the whole church family to a season of prayer and listening to God and each other as a way of revitalizing congregational life. Following an “A-B-C-D” process, the church takes a 37 week journey that they themselves direct with the help of a “coach” and a resource packet. So the process started with both hope and nervousness.

After forming a “20-20” team of eight key members, they establishing the December 1 morning service as the “kick off ” of stage one (“Assess the Church Situation”). Beginning the congregational prayer adventure and conducting a church-wide (everyone age 13 and up) “Ministry Fitness Check” survey were the two big items on the agenda that day (or so I thought). “Oh, by the way,” said the church secretary as we finalized the service plans, “the other thing in the morning service is that the youth pastor is reading his letter of resignation.” “Oh, no!” I thought. “This will kill whatever momentum they have left.”

But I was wrong again. Not only did the whole congregation complete the survey, the youth participated fervently in the prayer experiences of Vision Renewal.

When the church met in early January 2003 to discover the results of their self- assessment, all ages participated and came to quick agreement about where God was blessing as well as what challenges loomed before them in the future. It was then that the 20-20 Team kicked into gear and began to “Build the Profiles”. One group did an “inventory” of church assets to realistically determine what possibilities could be tackled in the future. Another surveyed key members to compile a profile of the unique values and purpose that had shaped their church identity and calling within their community since their earliest days. A third gathered community information and talked to residents and leaders about needs and opportunities to serve that their church could be meeting in the future.

The church literally changed direction. It happened in the meeting in which the “profiles” were reported and the congregation discussed what they had learned. Standing at the end for closing prayer, the 20-20 Team chair invited the congregation (their seating plan points away from their village) to turn around to look out the back windows at their “mission field.” Prayer statements, like “Lord, forgive us for forgetting why we’re here” and “give us a love for our town”, sprang spontaneously from those who led. Some of the underlying conflict between people got straightened out too. It is my opinion that much of what was happening resulted from all the praying during Vision Renewal. This became evident when stage three, “Cast the Vision”, got underway. Meeting in clusters of eight to ten people all over the sanctuary, everyone was invited to share the ideas, images, and projects that had been impressed on them while listening to God in prayer. Taking risky steps, people opened up and the high degree of agreement they discovered was both a surprise and delight! The “vision statement” that emerged with the help of the 20-20 Team is unique to the church and to this chapter of their history.

“By the year 2008 …” is how they were talking now. The people were now “pumped” because they “get it” – they helped to create the statement by listening to Jesus together. In early June 2003, the 20-20, church board, and key leaders held an “off-site” overnight planning retreat to “Develop the Action Plan”. Going an hour away from home to a hotel with a meeting room, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. On the Friday night, I helped them break the vision statement down into several measurable goals. We taped them up on the wall and then knocked off for the night. After breakfast, I showed them how to brainstorm the key steps to reach those goals and began to tape them on the wall under the goals. By lunch time, one of their leaders said, “We get what to do — just take a seat and watch us finish this off!” They not only added completion dates, but names to the projects. They now had a working ministry plan!

A lot has happened since then – the community leaders’ banquet, a new senior pastor (selected out of three enthusiastic candidates), the church sponsored skate park, and more. But that’s another story.

“Vision Renewal helped us to identify the strengths and the areas of need in our congregation,” said their 20-20 Team chair. “We learned how the community views us as well as what our community needs. We came together as a church family to seek God’s guidance and now we have an action plan for the future.”

Glenn Gibson is the Director of Church Revitalization Ministries of Outreach Canada and serves as Consultant on Church Development with the Free Methodist Church in Canada