Consultation | Strategic Planning | Vision Casting

Dream the dream that God has given you!

Vision Casting | Strategic Planning:

Creating a vision (and strategic plan) and learning how to effectively cast that vision to your church members and community is as important as learning how to preach well. Preaching is vital for feeding the flock – but casting a vision is vital for leading the flock. [Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish.]

Casting vision, one of the most important tools in the pastor’s tool belt, sets change in motion. With vision you:

• Excite people about the future;
• Bring necessary changes to the church.
• Mobilize people to solve problems within the community.

Where is vision needed?

Everywhere and in all aspects of your church. The church you lead needs to have an overall vision and plan for the future. There needs to be identifiable objectives, goals and a strategic plan (i.e., Ministry Action Plan). A Ministry Action Plan allows you to discover where you are and make intentional, prayer-directed decisions about where you are called to go.

If you want an area or ministry of the church to look a particular way, you must cast vision and create a plan.

Casting a more effective vision:

So how can you get better at casting vision? There are three things that can improve the effectiveness of casting vision.

Recruit early adopters 
If you are looking to cast big picture vision for the church, do not do it alone. Sit down with influencers and leaders in the church and cast the vision to them first and paint the picture of where you believe the church needs to go. The power of having early adopters and influencers is that they become vision carriers, which helps bring others in the church on board. Early adopters prepares the vision for success.

Raise the urgency levels 
A good vision is a picture of a future that is not yet the reality, but the reality it needs to be. And this requires change. It demands movement. In order to initiate change -- going from “here” (where the church/ministry is currently) to “there” (where it needs to go), you must make staying “here” unbearable. This requires raising the urgency levels for going to “there.” You must make staying put and doing nothing unacceptable.

Cast vision into everything 
A change that could make all the difference in the world in your vision casting is the frequency that it is shared. Rather than waiting for a special meeting or a specific time, learn to cast vision into every interaction in the church – always be planting the vision.

Consultation - Not sure what to do next?

Contact the Faith Community Formation Office to schedule a time for a consultation to discuss your particular needs:

Rev. Tim Thompson, Director & Administrative Assistant to the Bishop: tthompson@mississippi-umc.org

Jane Horstman, Regional Director & Database Manager: jhorstman@mississippi-umc.org or 769-243-7072

Rev. Jason Zebert, Project Coordinator/Office Administrator: jzebert@mississippi-umc.org or 769-243-7073