Minister’s letter – Ministry Think Tank update
What will your life look like in 5 years? Do you have any sense of where you will live? What your activities will involve? How your health will be? Arriving at an answer can be a little difficult. How much is really in our control? Our stage of life has a big impact in how we answer the question too. Yet we recognise the wisdom in planning ahead, even though nothing is certain.
This year’s Ministry Think Tank is reading Will Mancini’s God Dreams, a book promising to help churches formulate an effective vision for future ministry. Most recently we discussed chapters 4-5, where Mancini continues to clear away unhelpful notions of what constitutes church vision— it tries to achieve too much, creates meaning only for the few not the many, too complicated, or rigid—before unpacking his own ideas.
For Mancini, churches begin with a picture of what things might look like in 5-20 years. From there a series of supporting goals are set as steps towards the future. But it’s the 5-20 year goal which is the starting point. What might our church look like then? What will we need to do to get there?
Of course, all this planning is done seeking the will and guidance of God himself, because while “in their hearts humans plan their course, the Lord establishes their steps” (Prov 16:9). Continue to pray God will give us a sense of the future!
Martin Kemp
