Here is a question many have asked me, and increasingly I have been asking myself lately: What kinds of things must church leaders learn to do very well if they are going to build prevailing Acts 2 churches for Jesus Christ?
God wants every church to prevail. He wants there to be a vitality and a movement from strength to strength. All of heaven is cheering for it to happen in our churches. So, the question I posed above — if God’s glory is at stake and He wants every one of His churches to prevail — then what do we as church leaders need to get better at to help our churches do what God wants them to do?
Based on my three decades in ministry and many of my travels to churches around the world, I offer the following observations. I can honestly say that in every church I have seen eventually prevail, I have witnessed leaders who have gotten good at these kinds of things.
VISION/VISION CASTING
How does a church that is existing at one level of reality ever get to a higher level? Somebody has to stand up in front of that group of people and say, “Hey gang, there is a better future out there. We’re here. The future God has for us is out there, and I believe that in His power and by His strength, we can move there!” That’s what vision casting is. It is absolutely critical toward helping a church reach its redemptive potential, and every leader has to learn how to do it. You have to be able to say, “Imagine the day when ...” and then paint a picture of the future that creates passion in people. If you do that well, peoples’ hearts get set toward the achievement of that vision.
BUILD GREAT TEAMS
When someone casts a compelling vision and gets people excited about it, they’re going to have to build great teams to support that vision. You simply can’t build a prevailing church unless you build great teams. Once you decide what type of team you’re going to build, you look for people’s experience and passion. You look for people who want to get involved and you challenge them. You try to align people by their own gifts so they are doing a part of the vision that excites them and breathes energy into them. I have never seen a church reach its full redemptive potential unless there were fired-up people doing the work of God in teams. All Willow Creek really is a big church made up of thousands of little teams, with leaders, with a focus, with a purpose, and people who are fired up to work together.
PUT ON GREAT SERVICES
This one might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be shocked how many churches are struggling to get this one right. I’ve never seen a church go from strength to strength and reach its full redemptive potential unless some team inside that church decided that their part of the vision from God was to put on really, really good services — the best they are capable of putting on.
