Thursday, May 6, 2010

toxicity of vision

One of the things which I think sucks the life out of individuals in the church is "Visionary thinking". It rife. It comes from a corporate culture which runs on goals and objectives. It acecpts 'collateral damage' for the sake of the cause. 

Its interesting how when you set yourself aside from this type of church driveness, you begin to see its toxicity. You can see it in yourself. Everything is evaluated by it. Should I have tea with this person. Mmmm Better to have tea with these people they have more of the skill mix the church needs. It starts to rot to the core.

Its interesting for me that when we dropped the 'vision' stuff at Ranges The place took on more of an organic feel and even more interesting people seemed to grow.  Peoples own vision where encouraged and the Churches place was just to blow air, to encourage the flame.

Naked pastor has written 'frustrate visionary thinking' on how to frustrate vision thinking in the church. Here is a snippet::

  1.  It is one thing for individuals to have personal visions and dreams. It is the application of these to a community that is dangerous.
  2. Don’t see the church group as an entity, but primarily a voluntary gathering of free individuals.
  3. Similarly, the church as an entity cannot fix people’s problems or make their lives happy. It is their own responsibility that other individuals can assist in.
  4. Embrace diversity of thought and expression. Do not set goals for the church.
  5. Do not measure success in terms of numbers, money or reputation.
  6. See that mission is expressed individually. Each person is salt and light.
  7. Any corporate mission that is genuine will seem spontaneous and have an “of course” feeling to it.
  8. Share the oversight of the church. Avoid autocratic rule that provides the richest culture for visionary thinking.
  9. Don’t pretend to know the future of the church prophetically, statistically or otherwise. You don’t!
  10. Respect the pressure the people are under to want a king, to desire favor, and to think in terms of marketing to promote success. Almost all the literature available is written by successful pastors of successful churches. But don’t bow to this pressure.