What if God has His Way?

“Without vision, the people perish.”  -Proverbs 29:18

 By Jay Baylor

Tim Keller says, “Vision is a faithful restatement of the Gospel with rich implications for life, ministry, and mission in a type of culture at a moment in history.” The team at the Titus Institute for Church Planting defines vision as a “picture of God’s preferred future for a church, organization or person.”

So, if God has His way, what will you see? God’s way is so much bigger than ours! The fact that He can do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine is astounding. And, sometimes, it can feel greedy/intimidating/overwhelming/scary/ ______________ (fill-in-the-blank) to dream as big as God encourages us to do.

Church Planters, please, dream big! (And leaders of established churches, don’t be afraid to do the same.)

“We are on a mission from God” is not just a line from the “Blues Brothers” movie. We get to live mission out in front of our community, in our community, and with our community.

Think about it. What would be different if God’s reign was established in your community?  It’s an amazing question. Every locale has issues that do not line up with the reign of God, right? So, choose one or two of those issues, and determine to make those things right, by the grace of God, in your community

If you get started right now, what will your congregation’s neighborhood look like in five years?

Keep in mind there are two ways you can know your vision is from the Lord. Number one: It is consistent with Scripture. Number two: Allow God to confirm it. That confirmation can come in a number of different ways. One of the ways that it comes is in your sharing with other people, and their responses to it.

When a vision is from the Lord, there is a compelling nature about it. It just stirs you, and it stirs the people you are with. And it gets them excited about it as well.

One might say that the flip side of Proverbs 29:18 is “With vision, the people gather!” The question is, “Do you see what God sees?”

The Rev. Jay Baylor is pastor of Church of the Apostles in the City (Baltimore, MD).