What Do You See?

vi·sion [vizh-uhn]

1. the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.
2. the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be
3. something seen; an object of sight
4. glimpsing the image of our future that exists in the mind of God.

Vision is not just some kind of nifty idea for church growth. In fact, it has very little to do with growing a big church. It has everything to do with seeing what God wants for us and having the intestinal fortitude to pursue it, despite what it might do to our ‘comfort zone.’

Vision is about seeing what God sees when he looks at our congregation. No one possesses it; no one can make it up on their own (although many have tried). It is all his; and we can only see glimpses of the glory he has prepared for us – not just in heaven but here on earth.

Yesterday, we did A LOT of vision-casting at Grace Baptist Church. We laid out a lot of the things the elders and other leaders have been praying about and discussing over the past nine months.  No doubt, people have questions about how this vision will happen. No doubt, some people are wondering how we’re going to pay for this.

To begin answering some of these questions, I have to ask a couple of questions:

• Do you believe that God is truly at work in our congregation?
• Do you trust the spiritual leadership of our elders?
• Are you ready to stop just doing ‘church’ and help make Jesus’ vision for our congregation a reality?

You, as a congregation, have the potential to grow into something amazing and wonderful – but it requires that we see God’s vision, not our own.

What do you see when you look at our church? Do you look at our church? Do you see what was or do you see what could be? I do not believe Jesus sees the past glory days. I certainly don’t believe he wants us to recreate them. Jesus sees the future – and we get glimpses of that future. We get to be his hands and feet to make that future a reality.

What do you see?