As you know, I have been reading books on leadership in preparation for
my first two courses in the doctorate of ministry program. This week and next,
eighteen of us plus our professors, Lovett Weems and Denise Dombkowski Hopkins,
are reflecting on this. I want to share some of my notes with you because we
are on this journey together. I may be the one doing the reading, writing and
going to class but it is not a solo journey. It’s all about what God is calling
us to be and do as Christ’s church in our community.
There is no
leadership apart from change--the current state of things cannot ever be deemed
as synonymous with God's will. It's not that there's so much wrong with us,
but that we are never fully in and of God's kingdom.
Our God is God of the past. In our history
there are times in the past we can look when we can say that God was present. We
know that God is not limited to the past; God is present NOW. God has not left
us. We also know that God is not limited to the present; God is also God of the
future--God's work is not finished in me or in the world. We could each say: “I
have been saved, I am being saved, I will be saved.” Change is called for not
as judgment on the past or the present, but as trying to capture that next
vision that God has for us.
Vision is a gift of God given to God's
people. It is often first articulated or named by a leader
or leaders, primarily because leaders tend to be thinking, reading and praying
about these things more.
And I am finally getting a
sense of the distinction between mission
and vision.
Our mission is what we exist to do. Our vision is what, in light of
our mission and our context, God is calling us to do in the near future. What
is the next step to take to grow closer to what God is calling us to be and do?
Jeremiah 29.11:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says
the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with
hope.
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