In the past, when pastors discussed visions, they usually thought of building churches, forming new ministries, or sending missionaries. However, after the pandemic, pastors began to realize that a church needs to have a clear understanding of its vision and promote the vision through a unified team to materialize it.
Recently, Yao Hui, a grassroots pastor from East China, shared his experience with how his church received and promoted visions.
Yao Hui pointed out that the vision is actually a clear vision given by God. He expounded the relationship between vision, mission, team, and materialization through four steps.
First of all, Yao mentioned that in a revelation of God, He expects people to see his will, walk in the vision, and make it come true.
"Many people misinterpret their visions and mistakenly think of their mission or declaration of action as a vision, which causes them to stumble when they act because the vision that God has given them is not immediately clear. Vision is what is in God's will and connects to the future insight that God has provided," he said.
"Since a church has a vision first, and then it has a corresponding mission team. If the followers of the pastor share the same spirit, when they hear about the visions the pastor has seen, a sense of mission will emerge, and everyone will come together to make plans that are in line with the vision," he added.
Third, he emphasized that cohesive teams are necessary for achieving visions. When the church can establish a unified team, those who receive the vision can achieve it with different missions and burdens. The realization of the mission requires diverse and unified teamwork that integrates people with different gifts. The ministry should be united in the Holy Spirit and keep moving forward.
Last but not least, he stated that the basis for those who receive visions and missions is that they have been born again and called by the Lord. "He who is not born again is not united in the Holy Spirit and cannot receive the vision. In addition, everyone on the team needs to be a good believer in Christ, not a weak believer who has just believed in the Lord for too long. Just because he has enthusiasm does not mean that he can join the work. It requires a certain foundation of faith."
Yao also mentioned that in the stories from the Old Testament to the New Testament, any team has the right to fight only if it is united in God. In the Old Testament, Joshua won a war or drove out his enemies not by one person but by a team of elite soldiers with one spirit and mind. Unity in God’s will gives birth to heavenly authority so that the enemy can be driven away.
The pastor also shared his experience of failure. He said, “I have also started some ministries to promote visions. We invited colleagues to participate, but they suddenly quit after working with us for a while. Although they joined the team, they did not feel the same spirit and did not meet the vision. So they failed to establish an absolute trust and commitment relationship with the people who received the vision. People on the team should first agree with the vision and then rely on the Lord to follow it. Otherwise, they will leave the team for various reasons later. The third is that the team should lead and have a spiritually healthy life, relationship, and culture together.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
