Communicate your worship ministry vision
If people can see what God revealed to you, they will be likewise compelled. In his article “You’ve Got to Speak your Vision,” Rick Warren says, “Leadership is knowing where you’re going and being able to persuade people to come along with you.” Therefore, we must help people to imagine the future God revealed. Give this process time; just as it took some time for you to receive the vision, it will take time for your people to catch it too… In fact, some may never catch the vision but they can be really good followers. Be persistent and consistent in communicating your vision. People have a tendency to forget why they do certain things and frequently need to be reminded. We do too. That is why writing the vision down is so important.
Enemies of vision
“A cataract is a cloudiness or opacity in the normally transparent crystalline lens of the eye. This cloudiness can cause a decrease in vision and may lead to eventual blindness,” according to the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Spiritual vision, like our physical vision, can be obscured or blocked, too. Let’s consider the personalities that act as spiritual cataracts:
1. Goliath – Those who mock and curse God’s vision for His people.
2. The Philistines – Those who continually fight against God’s promises.
3. Sandbalat – Those who try to distract you from God’s call and your work in Christ (Neh. 6:3). Have you ever heard, “That is a wonderful idea, but let’s finish this other thing first”?
4. Pharaoh – Those who are blind to and oppose God’s call. This could be the elder that says, “If you don’t sing my favorite songs, I will go to a church that does and take my tithe and some of the church with me.” Encourage them to find the place where God is calling them and support that church with everything they have.
5. Job’s wife – Those who criticize you for holding on to your integrity because they don’t understand the movements of the life of faith nor the faith of life. They might say, “We’ve done it this way for three generations; why change now?”
6. Herod – Those who undermine God’s call and view spiritual matters as amusement, philosophy, intellectual stimuli or propositional, but never something that governs your life. They will tell you, “This is an interesting idea,” but will never support you.
7. Delilah (and the serpent in the garden) – Those who manipulate God’s promises and direction for purposes other than what God has destined. They might say to you, “I know you are a godly leader, but let’s face it, nobody has the corner-on-the-market on hearing God. If you back down from such an extreme position (compromise), it will be a lot easier for you.”
8. The rich young ruler – Those who love the things of this world more than what and who they are created for.
9. The Pharisees – Those who cannot see nor allow anything beyond their own observance of their religion. They don’t understand that God speaks to you, also.
10. Jacob’s brothers – Those who don’t see the relevance or importance of your dream and are blinded with envy. They may say, “Why are you always asking for more people to be in the choir? You have most of the volunteers in the church already.”
11. The disciples of Jesus – Those who were bogged down on “the how” vs. “the what.” When Jesus asked them to feed the 5,000 and the 3,000, they forgot they were with God and God was with them. They focused more on what they didn’t have—the opportunity that comes from being in God’s presence.
12. The nations that lived around Israel; those who criticize you because your history.
To be sure, some of these personalities are in our ministries. Keep your eyes clearly fixed on your vision (Heb. 12:2). Do not let people, no matter how good they are or how much you love them, to distract you from proceeding to your vision.
Is the vision greater than your worship resources today? Be sure that people will criticize your for having a big vision. But our God is a BIG GOD and He has BIG visions for our lives. We are creatures of destiny. Eph. 2:10 says God prepared plans for us before we were born. Ps. 33:11 says the plans are eternal. Phil. 1:5b says God will perform His plans in you. Prov. 19:21 says that God’s purposes will prevail. Eph. 1:11 says we are predestined for His plan. Finally Jer. 29:11 says that God’s plans to prosper us and He does not forget about what He promised. Why should we succumb to such criticism? Nehemiah sets a good example; he continued in doing the work of his vision amidst his critics (Neh. 6). Like Nehemiah we have the choice to get distracted or continue to pursue God’s vision in faith.
Planning for your worship ministry vision
Vision is a partnership with God for our future by wisely investing our talents, gifts, time and resources for the greatest profit to the Kingdom of God (Mat 25:14-30). Some may be contemplating transition from hymns to contemporary worship. To continue a course that does not lead to contemporary worship is to bury your resources in the ground until the master returns. To be developing your contemporary praise team and inserting them with more and more frequency and giving instructions about the nature and responsibility of worshipping with all our heart, mind and strength regardless of the musical genre is like investing the your talents to produce more talents. Everyday you must strategically apply your resources toward your vision. Ask yourself everyday if you can do anything to bring you closer to your vision. Having your worship ministry vision written in a place you see it every day makes this job a lot easier.
