From Incubator to Vision

It was a joy last month to take part in a Spiritual Leadership Incubator with people from the United Methodist churches of Northwest Iowa. The goal was to provide relationships and resources to help congregations be successful in their mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We used the term, “incubator” instead of “training” because an incubator suggests an environment that prepares for new birth. We are in uncharted territory when it comes to being the church in a new world, so there is no predetermined path on how to be successful. We must discover it as we go. As with any team of explorers, we must rely on trusting relationships, an openness to innovation, a willingness to experiment and constant evaluation. This means an ongoing cycle of Reflection, Adjusting and Doing. (RAD is the acronym used by Spiritual Leadership Incorporated, a group that is working with the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.)

In one of the breakout sessions at the Leadership Incubator we talked about casting a vision of God’s preferred future through an annual meeting of the congregation. I proposed that each local church develop their own vision casting event and prepare an annual report for the people of the congregation. From my perspective, our annual Charge Conferences in Iowa have gravitated toward administrative tasks of preparing reports and setting the pastor’s salary. I feel that the most important work of leadership is to cast a vision of where the church is going. The one most important question in our current report form that should be given the highest priority is: “Based on your current reality, what is God asking of you at this time?” Unfortunately, the answer to that question often gets overshadowed by all of the other administrative tasks and details. I would like to see that change.

I am inviting the churches of northwest Iowa to begin now to prepare to cast a vision for their congregations at a vision casting event in each local church. Part of that event will be a report that can be presented to the congregation that includes the following information:

1. Why we exist. (the mission, vision, and values of the church)

2. What we’ve done. (A sharing of the accomplishments and learnings)

3. What we want to do. (the vision and goals for the coming year.)

4. An invitation to help make the vision happen. (with next steps for action.)

Discipleship involves earning the trust of the people around you, casing a vision of God’s preferred future and then helping disciples to make it happen. It’s an ongoing process, but it’s how we can help God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Moving from an incubator to a vision of God's preferred future to action is that task of leaders and all followers of Jesus Christ. It can make a world of difference to the people in the communities where we serve.