Do You Know Where You Are Going?

Leaders See the Road Ahead
Will Mancini of Auxano provides a great summary of what he calls the Vision Frame.[1]  It is a quick way to review the work of the church in light of its mission and thus shift the focus of assessment from attendance and money to the outcomes the church is commissioned to generate.

The Vision Frame focuses thinking on values, measures, mission and strategy.  The frame is illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1: The Vision Frame

Frame Component

Missional Reorientation

Answers

Irreducible Question of Leadership

Mission

Mandate

Question zero

What are we doing?

Values

Motives

Question hero

Why are we doing it?

Strategy

Map

Question how

How are we doing it?

Measures

Marks

Question now

When are we successful?

Vision Proper

Mountain top + milestones

Question wow

Where is God taking us?

The question asked by Mancini is, “Do you have compelling answer to these five questions?”  These questions define the DNA of your congregation so to the degree to which the answers are fuzzy your team will lack focus and experience dissonance between what they hope to carry out and what is actually happening.

Next Steps

Now that you have these questions in hand why not take time with your key leaders and work through each of them. Keep it simple.  The task is to bring clarity that inspires action in the same direction. As a leader you serve as a catalyst to this kind of thinking.

Not sure if you are a leader?  Consider the definition below.  If you find yourself living out these characteristics then you do want to take another look at how you assess your influence.

If you are confident you are a leader then use the definition below to double-check how you are doing.

What is leadership?

Leadership is the capacity, moral authority and skill needed to influence a group’s goal attainment in an ethical, spiritual and socially responsible way. Leadership is a spiritual gift (Romans 12: 3, 8). The Apostle Paul encourages leaders to do act with diligence i.e., earnest thoroughness and attentiveness in accomplishing the task.

Lead well!  Have fun!


[1] Will Mancini. “The Vision Frame; The Core Tool for Visionary Church Leaders” available at http://www.willmancini.com/the-vision-frame-the-core-tool-for-visionary-church-leaders; accessed 2 Sep 2011.