Visions 20/20 in Three Tenses

Vision 20/20 Past

Vision 20/20 is the strategic plan the church adopted in September 2017 after a 9-month process facilitated by Bill Wilson of the Center for Healthy Churches. During this process of congregational meetings, we discerned what God wanted us to be and do as a church.

We identified six areas or initiatives that built on the best of our past and established a trajectory for our future. We called those initiatives Vital Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Radical Hospitality, Risk-taking Missions, Passionate Community, and Generous Stewardship. We even identified some activities to undertake as we started to implement that plan.

The process was to be overseen by a Coordinating Council made up of leaders of these six initiatives.

In approving the plan, we consciously and deliberately decided to let to our ministries be guided by the gifts and callings of our membership, not the pre-existing needs of an organizational chart.

In approving the plan, we consciously and deliberately committed to a lengthy process of up to five years during which organizational structure, staffing, and facility use would gradually be maximized to help us live out this plan.

The organizational chart on the back of this handout shows the initial structure for how existing church committees and organizations would fit into the six initiatives. The expectation was that it would change over time.

We got off to a slow start. COVID hit. Anxieties flared. Staff transitions happened. The implementation clock stopped.

Vision 20/20 Present

Many of the details of that original plan are not relevant anymore as we are not the same church we were in 2017. Moreover, the world of 2021 is not the world of 2017.

But the vision remains relevant. Our task now is to remain faithful to the broad structure and spirit of that vision, not all the details.

To that end, the Coordinating Council has become active and is meeting monthly. Leaders of the initiatives are working to do what we can in these odd times between the times. We have reported on and will continue to report on our meetings. We welcome questions and suggestions. Paul Lewis is the contact person (lewis_pa@mercer.edu).

We can continue to move into that future. Or we can let our anxieties derail us. That is where Vision 20/20 is at present. It is a Kairos moment for us.

Vision 20/20 Future

This depends on how we respond to the challenges and opportunities of the present.

 

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