WHY?
WHAT?
HOW?
Many people are asking, "What are we going to do as a church?" That's a very good question. After all, we need to have a specific vision if we are really going to reach our redemptive potential as a church. But to be the most effective, there is a question we need to ask and answer before we begin to think about the "WHAT."
First, we must ask ourselves, "WHY." There needs to be a purpose behind the "WHAT." We can sit around and come up with a whole list of exciting "WHAT's." But unless these "WHAT's" stem from a "WHY" we will not reach our maximum effectiveness. Here's why! If all I do is bring forward a list of "WHAT's," some of you will like them and some of you won't. It will be very difficult to get complete buy-in and unity on this list of "WHAT's" because everyone's focus will be only be on the list of "WHAT's."
So we need to start with the "WHY!" WHY do we exist as a church? This deals with our purpose. If we can settle on that first, it gives a foundation for a more purposeful and strategic vision plan. If the WHY is something we can all get behind and say, "Yep, that is exactly what our church should be all about! That is something I can give my time, talent and treasure to accomplishing," then it becomes much easier to get unity on the list of "WHAT's," even if that list may look a bit different than my own personal thoughts and preferences. In other words, if I am fully behind the WHY, then I am willing to be ore open to a different WHAT than I personally would like to see myself.
Then comes the "HOW!" First we answer the question, "Why do we exist as a church?" Second, based on the answer to that "WHY," we then must answer the question, "What are we going to do in order to accomplish that purpose?" Once that is settled, we then can ask the "HOW." HOW are we going to accomplish this plan?
We make a mistake when we get the questions out of order. The WHAT is difficult to answer and transfer to others until we first know the WHY. That is the question we in leadership here at E-Free are asking and answering right now. Why do we exist? I'll give you a preview of that answer in my blog tomorrow.
Pastor Scott, you hit the nail on the head! The why is everything.
ReplyDeleteI love these passages below because if we follow Christ's example, we can see how He did what He did for us. Read below, "because He never lost sight of where He was headed" other translations talk about "because of the joy awaiting Him".
How do we run? We follow Christ's example and know first WHY, then because we know why, we can write the vision He has for us and we can then run with endurance! When you decide to run and do something great for God, pain will come, critics will come, but with our eyes on the why (Christ) we can keep moving forward regardless of our circumstances or resistance. Why, because of the joy that we know is before us and therefore we don't grow weary in well doing! If we all (at EFREE) know the why, we can set aside our differences and be unified in the what! When that happens, man what will God do here in Gaylord? Carrie and I are with you!!!
Hebrews 12:1-2
The Message (MSG)
Hebrews 12
Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Habakkuk 2:2-3
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
2 Then the LORD answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.