Casting a vision is one thing, but catching a vision is something entirely different. Many of us have cast visions for our local ministries for years often only to see that year end and the vision we cast go unfulfilled. Then we begin to ask: Was it my fault or the congregation? Was it too great of a task to accomplish or did we not do enough to complete it? Was it something the people didn't buy into or something I really didn't expect to happen? Vision casting is real easy. Anyone can do that. It's the vision catchers that I want to be around and hope their experience rubs off on me.
The problem has been for years that our idea of becoming a vision catcher is to go to a seminar or a training session and take the information we learn and try to become what the teacher or trainer told us we could be. Simply put it doesn't always work that way and finally at some of the seminars I last attended the speakers admitted it. Certain things won't work in a rural area that work in a city. Some churches refuse to do anything differently in spite of God's directions and hinder your vision. Other things interfere with vision catching such as the age of the congregation, the acceptance of multi-cultural communities, and the financial limitations that are imposed on church budgets that limit creativity. You can have all the vision casting you want, but if you don't have the means to catch it will never be caught.
Many of our communities in the South are drying up numerically because most of our smaller towns are loosing their industry. That means more and more of our potential attenders/members are leaving those towns or cities to find employment in other places limiting our growth and vision in those areas. As the older folks pass away a lot of their offspring have either left the community or married out of our faith and attend church elsewhere. I was blessed to pastor the Union Church of God for 13 years and found a church in a small town that not only accepted the yearly vision I cast, but also worked with me to try and accomplish it. I saw a lot of visions fulfilled while I was there and have some of my former staff and converts in ministry today continuing to cast and catch their vision. However, that county is almost 14,000 smaller in population today than it was in 1997 when I went there to pastor. It's hard on any pastor to catch their vision when the community around them is drying up and the next generation has moved on from the fellowship.
I personally should have placed more emphasis on individual discipleship. That's what I believe limited me in becoming the vision catcher I wanted to be at my last two churches. When I was growing up in the COG we really placed effort on evangelism and just expected people to become disciples because they accepted Jesus, but in today's society Jesus has become a disposable word to many people. They use His name only when they want something or when they're in trouble. Church is not important nor are the tenants of faith. If we had spent as much time building disciples 25 years ago as we do emphasizing activities and social events today our church would be profoundly stronger and more vision catchers would have emerged.
Cute sayings are wonderful, especially if you incorporate your vision into them, but in our changing society we really need to emphasize discipleship, dedication, and determination. Only these individuals will truly become vision catchers, anointed by God to lead our church into the future. A true disciple never forgets where they have come from and is determined to stay in the Word of God and live a dedicated life to fulfill the vision cast before them. They will stand with the church through thick and thin regardless of the times and work united to catch the vision their pastor has put in front of them. They will adopt a consistent prayer life, become a reader of the Word on a regular basis, and witness every day to the lost and dying. They will see a need and prepare themselves in all areas to fill that need and become a true disciple.
We don't need bigger visions, just some bigger vision catchers.
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