Three Things Communicated by Vision
Leadership and vision go hand in
hand. Therefore, leadership must begin with a clear vision: whether it be
for our personal life, our family, our church, or organization. If people
around us don’t know where we’re going and where we’re trying to take them,
they will have a hard time making the journey.
A clear vision communicates
three things:
1. Why we’re here: our purpose.
What “business” are we in?
Why do we exist? Why am I married? Why do we have children? What is
the purpose of our parenting? Why is our church here? What is the ormiary goal
of this company?
A clear vision should express a
higher purpose for a greater good that gives meaning to each person’s efforts.
A clear purpose provides direction.
2. Where we’re going: a picture of
the future.
Where are we going? What will our
future look like if we accomplish our purpose? A clear picture provides
motivation.
3. What guides us along the way:
what we value.
What do I stand for? What’s
important around here? What governs our character and relationships?
Values protect and provide guard rails.
Without clear vision, we’ll never
end up where we want to be, much less where we need to be; and neither will
anyone else! That’s what God tells us:
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) “Where
there is no vision, the people perish.”
Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) “Where
there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.”
So how does this flesh itself out in
our lives, families, churches, and jobs?
Five Confessions of a Failed Church Planter

I think that doing an “autopsy” is a
helpful part of the learning experience, and something which is not done often
enough. Here is one such reflection from John Thomas, a former
planter.
As an aside, one of the more
fascinating documents we references in Viral Churches was an autopsy report by Todd Hunter. At the time, Todd was
director of church planting for the Vineyard… and later the head of the
Vineyard. Now, he is an Anglican Bishop (and we shared a pulpit and some fellowship time last week
with the Anglican Church in America). You can download that report– from 1986 (an eternity in
church planting years) here.
——————————————————————————————————-
A Guest Post from John
Thomas
Of course, I had heard the stats
about church planting failures. Regardless, I went for it knowing the Lord was
leading me to start a new church for His glory. I read all the books, attended
the conferences, took church planting classes in college and seminary, planned,
prayed, pleaded with and persuaded others to join the team, raised money,
developed a killer logo; even my wife was onboard! How could I
fail?
But failure did not come easily. I
have never worked harder in my life. Hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, a
myriad of spent dreams, and 18 short months later: she was gone!
That took place just over 6 years
ago. Sure, there were tons of things that happened along the way which could be
blamed for my failure…yada, yada, yada. Yet, after much reflection,
evaluation–and ultimately repentance–I realized that I am to blame. I confess:
I am responsible.
There are five major–and
painful–confessions that I am ready to own up to:
1. Prayerlessness– I failed to pray as I ought. Self-reliance and fierce
independence marked the day. Strategy and proven methods were my fail-safe, not
sweet communion with the One who held the answers to my unasked questions, let
alone the immediate needs of the day. Bootstrap theology and iron-will
methodology only carried me as far as my boots (metaphorically speaking) and
wherewithal would take me. And that was not far enough. I was, after all,
wrestling with the eternal and weighty matters of gathering the bride of
Christ.
The lesson I learned: Prayer as the foundation for church planting is not just a
spiritual slogan. It is a necessity and must be part of the planter’s DNA long
before it becomes a core value for the church.
2. Lack of Personal Focus– I was too spread out…not laser-focused on the mission. Add
together being a husband, father, Ph.D. student, Bible college professor,
church planter, and what do you get? A demented dabbler! Dabbling in many
things may have made me a great dabbler. Being a lead planter requires grit,
determination, and surrender: complete surrender. I failed to take into account
the immensity of the burden to lead a church plant and the personal focus it
required.
The lesson I learned: This calling requires everything. It cannot be dabbled with.
A church planter must count the costs of intense and extended focus and then be
willing to pay them.
3. Lack of Gospel Centeredness– Yes, I preached the gospel and lives were changed. But, the
fact is that I did not center the work on the gospel. When I met with potential
partners, the gospel was not central, money was. When I met with my leadership
and core group, the gospel was not central, the launch was. Sure, the gospel
was mentioned but only as a means to an end. We were after all planting a
church! Missing the mark here was to the detriment of building genuine and
lasting community.
The lesson I learned: The gospel must permeate all things. For this to happen, the
church planter must purposefully look through the lens of the gospel as he
casts vision, develops strategy, raises money, teaches the core group, loves
and cares for his family, hauls equipment in and out of the venue, ad
infinitum.
4. Lack of Honest Critique– I neither invited nor wanted critique from the outside by
folks who I was convinced “didn’t get it.” This was a huge mistake. My lack of
confidence in the Holy Spirit’s leadership in this area astounds me. I often
sensed the need to open up to colleagues and friends; I opted instead to
operate from a conceited and sinful mindset of, “I got this!” I knew if someone
leaned in too far they would quickly see my faults.
The lesson I learned: There are no Lone Rangers in ministry…for long. The lead
planter must associate himself with a person, group or organization that will
not only coach him but critique him as he honestly shares his journey–warts and
all. The pain of transparency is greatly diminished when you realize you are
not the first to struggle, fail, and question.
5. Lack of Partnership– I almost want to give myself a pass here, but it just won’t
work. In 2006, church planting networks and partnerships did not abound as they
do today. Yet, there were some. I chose to go it alone instead of partnering
with those who did not cross every theological “t” nor dot every methodological
“i” as I did. Those distinctions, while very important, should not have been as
great a barrier as I made them out to be.
The lesson I learned: Camaraderie is priceless. The church planter needs to walk
with others that are a little farther ahead on the journey. Church planting
networks are popping up all over. Some are regional. Some are national. There
is a network for every church planter’s ilk. Find a network and belong. Use its
resources and wisdom. You are going to need them.
Looking back, any one of these
errors was enough to sink the ship. There are dozens of other failures that I
could note. These seem to be the most egregious; the ones that had they been
dealt with at the time would likely have made the difference between failure
and viability.
It’s my hope and prayer that these
confessions will help those who are in the throes of leading a plant or those
who will lead a plant in the future, not to make the same mistakes I made along
the way. It is also my hope that the Lord will continue to raise up an army of
men who will, in spite of the odds, take up the banner of church planting for
the glory of God!
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