Emerging from the panic of 2020 and the life patterns of 2021, we now face substantial complexities in shaping, communicating, and realizing vision.
There are at least three challenges we face:
Challenge #1 – We are relearning how current culture views the church.
Over the past twenty years or more church has moved from a central institution in the community to an option. Today, for an increasing number, the physical gathering and engagement in church (the body of Christ) is moving from an option to something no longer seen as necessary.
Challenge #2 – Church leaders are less prone to take risks.
There are clear pitfalls to playing it safe, yet prudence compels us to have some sense of caution when the future remains unclear. Nonetheless, vision is still required, and all real forward-moving vision has risk. What do you risk? What do you protect?
Challenge #3 – Isolation has elevated individualism that seeks its own way.
Vision is designed to be achieved together; the impact is far greater that way. We can do far more together than alone. When human beings drawback from community, especially from fear, their thinking changes from “what we could accomplish together” to “what must I do to survive.” That’s not true for everyone, of course, but the shift is evident.
No matter what we are experiencing, vision remains at the very core of leadership and, when done well, produces the momentum every leader prays for.
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