mDNA - The role of Vision
Some more soup ….
The role of Vision
Five years ago, when we began nccc’s journey there was significant pressure to create a five year strategic plan, but I resisted this impulse. Leonard Sweet and Alan Roxburgh were helpful in providing some articulation of what I was feeling. Alan writes
We have left the long stable period of Christendom behind. We have entered a liminal place, a place of transition between two worlds, one that is rapidly passing away and one that has not emerged. Confused and uncertain, the Church struggles to know how to think about itself and its place, normative in the transition of change
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(Roxburgh A (with Mike Regele), Crossing the Bridge – Church leadership in a time of change, Percept Group, 2000, p155)
The leadership style that relies on creating detailed strategic documents is driven by a view of the world that assumes no significant change will take place. It presumes that the environment can be predicted for the next five, ten or twenty years. In contrast, apostolic leaders are attempting to lead churches in an environment of rapid change. It is a new context. One quote that has been important for us, to remind ourselves of this new environment is this one by Jean Houston:
We are the people of the parenthesis; at the end of one era but not quite at the beginning of the next one. Maps no longer fit the new territories. In order to make sense of it all, we must cultivate a vision.
I love the imagery of the word cultivate. It just says so much about the style and the feel of the required leadership for this new time. When nccc began at the end of 1999, the map had not yet been written. We were only in the early stages of a process of discovering our way. We came to recognise that most of the maps for being a successful church were written 50 years ago and came from other places. It was time to explore new ways to be followers of Jesus in the northern suburbs.
While we could not see exactly where we would be in five or ten years, seven signposts for our direction were already emerging in our ministry by 2001. Instead of creating a strategic plan, we identified a number of things that we felt God was calling us towards. We call these our signposts as they point the way, even though we do not know in detail what we will do or what the future would bring.
I believe that the decision not to create a strategic plan released the apostolic environment that Alan Hirsch says is necessary for the future of the Church. Two key signposts for us were our intention to create new styles of congregations in different places and times and to release missional teams to serve the community. In other words, the intention was to create movement and experimentation. It is this commitment that I believe has created an environment in which apostolic leadership has been encouraged. Strategic plans are by their very static nature restrictive for apostolic types that like freedom, creativity and
innovative space to response quickly and intuitively to their environment. We hope that this is what is happening at Northern Community Church of Christ.
Our seven signposts are:
1. Our Core Values - Developing community, deepening spirituality and demonstrating compassion.
2. Multi-Congregational - Having many congregations responding to the different subgroups and cultures in the northern suburbs.
3. Post-Modern Context - Discovering new ways to do church that are true to our post-modern context.
4. Expanding Leadership - Needing an expanding pool of leaders to serve in the church.
5. Local Ministry Centres - Ministering in many locations across Darebin and Banyule, using shop-fronts, homes or other centres throughout the region.
6. Strategic Partnerships - Entering partnerships with other churches and community groups.
7. Compassionate Ministries - Desiring the church to develop more compassionate ministries.