Casting vision is one of the core responsibilities of a leader. Being able to translate the mission of who you are as a church and communicate where you’re headed is what inspires unity and purpose throughout your congregation. When the vision is understood, everyone can work together towards that future.
Casting a vision for your congregation gives clarity of where your church is headed, provides inspiration about the future, and unites everyone around what your church is doing. This can feel like a daunting task at times, though, can’t it?
Here are some of our favorite tips on casting vision for your congregation:
1. Make Sure You Have a Clear Mission
Vision starts with mission. Vision is about how you’re accomplishing your purpose even better in the future. So if your unique mission is a little fuzzy, set aside some time to answer this question: Why does our church exist in our community at this time?
That mission is the core of who you are as a congregation, and who you are in the context of a larger surrounding community.
Your vision is the expansion of that mission. It is the place that God is calling you to that will extend that mission in even greater ways. Vision is the picture you can paint for the people you lead of where you all are headed, together.
2. Dream and Plan With Your Team
Vision clarity starts with your core team of staff and leadership. Before you consider casting vision for your congregation, make sure you have a plan in place on how you will accomplish it. Your team will be able to provide feedback, identify ways you can practically accomplish the vision, and help you discover the pieces of the puzzle that will help the church move forward effectively.
Let the vision breathe, change, and expand as you share what God has placed on your heart with your team!
3. Connect Exciting Vision Initiatives Back to the Mission
It’s always exciting to share vision initiatives with your congregation! But we can forget to connect these back to the mission, which is who we are and why we exist as a church.
It’s important that exciting new goals don’t get communicated as goals for the sake of goals. By sharing how new vision initiatives connect back to your mission, you can ensure your congregation remembers your greater mission and how this particular initiative fulfills your church’s purpose.
4. Remind People of the Vision and Mission Often
Perhaps you’ve heard the famous leadership principle: “Vision leaks.” This is very true! Vision isn’t something you can set once and then forget—this is something we have to consistently nurture.
In order to do that, we need to be talking about our vision and mission often! Doing this not only keeps it at the forefront of your congregations’ minds, but will help them actively look for opportunities to move towards that vision in their daily life.
5. Let Yourself Be Excited!
Casting vision is something to get excited about. God is at work within you, in your church, and in your community! Let yourself dream and get excited about how He is at work.
When you lead from a place of excitement, it becomes contagious. This is one of the core ways of how your congregation can “catch” the vision and how your church can become eager to move forward in unity.
