People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
The Pastor as Leader: Vision-Caster
by James W. Moss, Sr.
What is the role of the pastor of a local church as leader? It has been my observation that the larger a church, the more significant the role of pastor as a leader becomes. Any organization can only rise as high as the leader’s capacity to lead. If a person goes to pastor a church larger than his/her leadership capacity, that church will shrink to the level of that person’s giftedness. This is the first in a series of articles touching on key leadership issues for pastors.
The pastor has to be the point person on vision. Seldom can a significant vision be fulfilled without the whole-hearted support of the pastor.
Every current positive reality began as a dream in someone’s mind. In his classic book, Leading Your Church to Growth, C. Peter Wagner writes, “When God wants to build His church, He always begins with a [person]—a [person] with a vision and a burden, a [person] with a deep desire to honor the Lord, a passion to lead others to Him and to follow the principles of Church Growth found in the New Testament” (p. 126).
It is important to dream big dreams. Allow your mind to roam. Look at the present reality of your church. Look honestly and candidly. Can you conceive that it may be more than it is? If your answer is no, maybe it is time to examine whether your ministry is completed at this place. What could your church be in five years? What could your church be in ten years?
However, contrary to the opinion of some, it is best to unpack the dream in increments. The whole picture may frighten your people. Most people, especially in churches with an average of less than 200, will have a difficult time conceiving of their church growing larger than 50 more than its current attendance. In churches of 200-500, the increment may be 100. The vision may have to be unpacked in pieces to make it believable to the people. This is important because people will never take the first step to fulfill a vision that they don’t believe can be achieved.
The foundation has to be laid for larger growth, but the vision has to be shared in increments. The vision becomes the plot plan. The overall plot plan helps to keep you from making mistakes that will hinder the fulfillment of the vision. The rendering is the artist’s concept of what the dream looks like when it is fulfilled. The rendering is what sells a project. You have to visualize what the total dream will look like. That becomes your plot plan. Then you have to break it into believable pieces and paint word pictures of what it will look like when achieved. That is the rendering.
A blueprint is the plan to build the building and it is absolutely essential to proper construction. However, most people have trouble translating blueprints into a vision of the building. Vision is one part of the picture. Implementation of the vision is the second. Some can dream big dreams. They just never happen. The implementation strategy is as important as the vision.
The pastor may have to enlist people who have the capacity to flesh out the dream into a present reality. What strategies will have to be employed to equip the church to fulfill the vision? What skills will be necessary for all of this to happen? Who can be recruited from within? Who may have to be hired from without, because some necessary skills are absent?
Woodrow Wilson said, “I use not only all the brains I have, but all that I can borrow.”
The pastor leader also has to help people in the church buy into the dream. This involves the capacity to build shared vision. I like the concept of shared vision. This is a unique ability. Some people can dream dreams. They just can’t communicate those dreams sufficiently so others will own them. Effective leaders have the capacity to communicate and gather others around them who share the vision and have the ability to bring it to reality one step at a time.
I’m sure you understand that I’m not just talking about building a building. I’m describing the building of the church as the body of Christ. A building may be included in the vision. But building the church is the critical issue.
Napoleon Hill wrote, “Thoughts are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their fulfillment.”
“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4).
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Next:
 | The Pastor as Leader: Survivor |
Also in this series:
| The Pastor as Leader: Risk-Taker |
| The Pastor as Leader: Accountability |
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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July 14, 2004. Volume 7, Issue 12. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.