Why Your Church’s Vision Stinks

Everyone Ignores Your Vision

If your church is like most, your vision isn’t sticking. You share it. You post it. You preach about it.

But no one seems all that thrilled with it. No one seems to be listening to it. No one seems to be following it.

Frankly, your church’s vision stinks.

And guess what? That’s a problem.

“When there is no vision, the people cherish something that is far less important to the nature of what it means to be a church,” says Will Mancini, founder of Auxano, during the free Pushpay webinar, the Top 5 Church Vision Problems and How to Fix Them.

During the webinar, Mancini shares five critical reasons most visions don’t inspire anyone to follow them.

5 Church Vision Problems

1. No time frames

“It’s hard for people to take seriously our hopes and our dreams when it sounds like waxing eloquently on a lot of hot air,” Mancini says.

2. Too many goals

Mancini quoted management consultant Peter Drucker: “If you have five goals, you have none.” He noted most of our churches are trying to do too much and the community can’t follow it. Too many goals render all of them useless, Mancini added.

3. Nothing exciting

Mancini says that “vision transfers through people not paper.” That means if you can’t get people excited about your church’s vision, it will go nowhere.

4. Team disconnect

Often, Mancini says, the team is scattered and focused on their own agendas rather than the common goals of the church. He noted the frequent disconnect between “dreamers” and “achievers” on a church staff. Dreamers are thinking about the future; achievers are focusing on the everyday tasks of ministry. Their disconnect means the vision falls flat.

5. Not shareable

Many churches are really intentional about developing their vision, but no one passes it on. “You might as well not even have a vision,” Mancini says. “If your vision is on paper, it’s paged. It has to be living in the minds and hearts of people if it’s going to do anything.”

The Problem of Generic Vision

Mancini says the result of all five of these vision problems is a generic vision, such as:

• Love God, Love Others
• Glorifying God
• Change the World
• Reach More
• Launch More

All of those messages are great biblical ideas that must drive mission, but they do not represent vision itself. Mancini says it’s important to name this problem of generic vision so you can get busy developing a real vision that can get your church excited.

“Vision is nothing more than a picture,” Mancini says. “It’s a preferred future. It’s a dream. It’s an aspirational snapshot of the future.”

Mancini went on to describe a tool he coaches church leaders through to help them express a concrete vision to their community.