What Is Your Vision for Our Church?

One of the questions frequently asked by pastor search committees is, “What is your vision for our church?”

The question is well-intentioned. Search committee members usually want to know the general directions a prospective pastor plans for the congregation. By learning of the potential pastor’s vision for the church, search committee members hope to learn the emphases they can expect if the candidate is called as pastor of their church.

Unfortunately, some potential pastors yield to temptation and answer the question. They speak of a baptismal goal, of Sunday School attendance, of worship style, of many things. Most of the time, the vision sounds good, even exciting. Unfortunately, most of the time, the vision has no basis in reality.

Norris Smith, a consultant in LeaderCare for LifeWay Christian Resources, says when a potential pastor describes his vision for a new church, he usually is describing his dream. He speaks of the mythical church he has always wanted to serve as pastor. The question provides an opportunity for the candidate’s ego to shine as he describes the kind of situation where he has always seen himself serving.

Sometimes the vision shared by the potential pastor is a description of the church he has been told he is supposed to serve. At denominational conferences, the pastor has been told the characteristics of a “good church.” It is that description he shares with the pastor search committee in response to their inquiry.

Sometimes the response is a reactionary description. The pastor’s present church has a particular problem, a painful problem. Perhaps some effort resulted in disappointment. For whatever reason, the pastor’s hurt surfaces in his “vision” for the new congregation. There, victories replace defeats, and pain gives way to pleasure.

To ask a potential pastor “What is your vision for our church?” is an unfair question. If he does not answer, he may be judged as unresponsive, even arrogant. If he does answer, his words have no foundation in the reality of the new situation.

The goal of the discussion should be to determine God’s vision for the church, not the pastor’s vision. God’s vision is always tied to the needs of the church, the opportunities before the congregation, the resources God has gathered in that place, ministry possibilities, the church’s history, who the people of the church are and much more.

Vision is about the future, but vision is connected to the past and to the present.

A potential pastor cannot know these things about a church. Therefore, he cannot possess a vision from God about the church. That will come only after he has lived with the people for a time, after he has learned them and loved them and embraced what God wants to do in and through them.

Occasionally, God reveals His plan for a church in a magnificent, over-arching vision. More often, the vision emerges one piece at a time. That means a pastor must be careful about announcing that his vision for the church will be shared a few weeks after his arrival. God may not work on the same timetable.

A well-prepared pastor search committee will know the church, the people and the community it represents. Committee members will know the needs, the opportunities, the resources, the ministry possibilities. From this information a vision of what God wants to do in a church will begin to emerge within the committee. In turn, that information will enlighten pastor search committee members about the kind of ministry skills and gifts needed by the next pastor.

It is important for a search committee to know the emphases and general directions of a potential pastor. Learning about the individual, about his ministry history, about his personal goals and objectives, might be more helpful than asking “What is your vision for our church?”

Since the search committee will be seeking a leader with particular ministry gifts, perhaps it is the potential pastor who should be asking about vision. Perhaps the pastor should ask the search committee “What is your vision for your church?” That way the pastor can judge if the ministry opportunity is a place consistent with the gifts and calling he has received from God.