Do You Have a Vision Problem?

The following is a guest post from my twitter brother @benreed. I commend Ben Reed for drawing attention to this disturbing behavior that is prevalent in a lot of churches (particularly churches that are stagnant and/or have platoed). Studies show that 85% of Southern Baptist churches are dying or have platoed and I believe that Ben' post shed's light on a very likely reason. If we want to reach people for Jesus, we must be both internally and externally focused.

I pray that God will minister to you through the wisdom of this young leader in the Christian community.

Do You Have a Vision Problem
Ben Reed

I visited a church recently, and found it to be less than friendly. In fact, we felt like we were outsiders.

They used lots of “insider” language, barely acknowledged that visitors were even present, and talked about situations that one would only know about if he or she were a regular attender.

The problem, as I saw it, wasn’t a lack of volunteers. It wasn’t even a lack of skilled volunteers. There were plenty of capable folks who could have made us feel warm and welcomed.

The problem wasn’t that the pastor and leaders couldn’t communicate in such a way that first-timers could get it.

The problem wasn’t a lack of organization on the part of the leadership and the “welcome” committee.

The problem is that they didn’t want to.

By not communicating the importance of welcoming outsiders, they had structured their service in such a way that those who are new felt awkward, unwelcomed, and ultimately unwanted.

People want to be led. They’ll be led where the leader takes them.

If there’s a problem with vitally important tasks consistently not being carried out, maybe the finger needs to be pointed at you, the leader.

Are you regularly casting vision for those things that are most important? Where are you taking those you’re leading?

Visit Ben Reed' Blog at www.benreed.net or follow him on twitter www.twitter/benreed