Leading Ministry with Vision
Vision Makes a Difference
Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.-Habakkuk 2:2 (NKJV)
Vision is a part of leadership, especially in ministry. The leader is responsible for communicating the vision. This has long been touted as casting the vision before the people. In ministry, the leader must lead with vision. Otherwise, the leader may not see his or her people being led anywhere at all.
You cast the vision so that others will catch the vision. If you never cast the vision as the leader, then you can never expect those under your leadership to ever catch the vision. Your vision gives your followers something to aim at and strive towards. As the Bible says, people perish due to the absence of vision.
You cast the vision by communicating the vision. Make it plain and make it known. If the people cannot understand it, they certainly will not grasp it or go after it. If the people have never heard it addressed or announced, they can assume that it is not important to the leader. You need to communicate the vision clearly and continually in order to keep it at the forefront of the people.
The leader needs to share the vision with the people in order to generate some buy-in for the vision. If people do not buy into it, then they surely will not back it up or support it. You need to continually build up buy-in since the vision is part of long-term planning. Lack of vision leads to idle activity, causing the ministry to seem to go round and round in a circular fashion. Share the vision so that people can buy into it.
When leaders fail to communicate the vision and offer leadership on the direction of the ministry, people fall out and fall off. Fewer people show up. Smaller numbers of people sign up for the ministry. If you want to either sustain or strengthen your ministry, you will need to have a vision and share that vision with people convincingly. If not, things can go on and never grow.
Vision makes a difference. Having a vision is not enough. Communicate your vision with your people. Keep saying it. Keep sharing it. Make it plain to all. Make it known to as many as possible.
Maintaining Momentum
People get excited about vision. That is the leader's opportunity to take things further. The leader has to seize the opportunity available and build further buy-in for the vision.
How?
The leader needs to have a constant communications plan. There needs to be communication before and during the quest for the vision. The communications for the vision must be ongoing. If not, people will lose interest and wane or waver.
Communicating the vision should be ongoing because it keeps people:
- Informed
- Interested
- Involved
If people are informed, then they can be both aware and abreast of what the vision entails. When you get the interested, you can get their input. That allows you to fine tune the vision further. Interested people usually become involved people. They become the donors, volunteers, and spokespeople for the vision to become a reality. An ongoing communication of the vision keeps people connected to the vision on one level or another.
It is your job as a leader to maintain momentum. you do so with your communications plan. You keep people on board by how much, how often and how well you keep the vision before the people.