This statement, from Proverbs 29:18 (“Where there is no vision, the people perish”) is used over and over to put forth a corporate church vision by “church leadership” asking everyone to fall into line and support “what God is doing” in the church. I have used this verse myself in just this way.
How freeing to the Body of Christ to discover that every believer can reach for the vision and calling that God has placed in his/her own heart and fulfill the destiny of a life shaped and sent by the Creator.
Yet, I am finding that the verse is still applicable. If believers do not seek out and open themselves to God’s vision for their life, they often do become rudderless and begin to drift in their spiritual life.
Sometimes, as people transition out of more structured churches where the corporate vision is provided by leadership, they do not transition into a sense of personal vision and do, at times, become spiritual drifters.
This is a conversation we are introducing at some of our churches this year. Having transitioned out of a corporately assigned vision, have we transitioned into a personal vision for our lives and spiritual family… or have we found ourselves adrift? What, if anything, do we want to do about this?
Comments
3 responses to “Without a Vision, People Perish”
I read this article and went “limp”. I have been having GREAT difficulty trying to find a group of believers to grow and share faith with. For me its been almost 10yrs now. I left the corporate church structure in 1998 and completely cut all ties by 2001. Trying to establish a will for my personal life has been one of great difficulty because I was programed to function under the Pastors corporate will for the church. The transition has been difficult. I am drifting, but not at my own personal decision. I have SOUGHT out fellowships in the Metro Chicago area and have yet to find any. This is one area (personal vision) that I have been struggling with.
I have to agree with R Goff, I’ve only been out of the ”church” for about 1 1/2 years, but haven’t been able to connect with anyone who is traveling the same road I am. When I’ve approached others about house churches or anything remotely like it, they look at me like I’m a backslidder and try to get me to go to their church. Here lately I’ve been going to the Lifestream.org and the website for Divine Nobodies. Both of these sites have been very encouraging while I’m floating out there by myself…actually we aren’t by ourselves-Jesus is always with us.
Hi,
I have come to similar conclusions myself about vision and its place in church/personal life.
As often happens, we can throw out the baby with the bath water if we’re not careful. Prophets (among others) are surely a gift to the body and part of their function is to paint a picture of God’s purpose in the earth. This, of course, is slightly different from creating a “vision statement” that defines corporate structure and allocation of resources and which people feel they must either embrace or leave.
We need to be exposed to “visionary” people who (if they are genuine) will be pointing us to God’s eternal purpose in Christ and to the fulfillment of his promise to bless every family of the earth through Abraham’s Seed.
I think that’s a vision worth embracing, without it needing to squash individual initiative, gifting or freedom.