October 2009
Men’s Ministry Best Practices: Making Your Vision for Men’s Ministry “Stick”
Avoiding Common Failures by Steve Johnson
Here are some ideas for how we in men’s ministry can make our vision stick. It comes from pastor and author Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia in his great little book on “Making Vision Stick” (Zondervan, 2007).
Vision is about what your men’s ministry could be and should be, but life is about right this minute.
As important as we believe it is for people in our ministries to embrace our pictures of the future, their lives are consumed with the present. Life is about deadlines and decisions and problem solving, not to mention the kids and the house and the bills and the yard. To get men to sit still long enough to understand your vision is hard enough. But to get them to actually organize their lives around it is very difficult. The urgent and important needs of today quickly erase our commitment to the “what could be” of tomorrow.
Taking Responsibility: Square One
When it comes to making your vision stick for the long haul, here is the most important thing for men’s ministry leaders to remember: We are responsible. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that men understand and embrace the vision of the ministry and it is our responsibility to make sure there is alignment between the activity and the vision of our ministry. We get frustrated when those around us don’t understand and act on the vision our men’s council has cast. Once we have settled the issue of our responsibility, here are five things we can do to significantly increase the sticky-ness of our vision for men’s ministry.
1. State the Vision simply
If your vision is going to stick in the minds of men, it must be memorable. People don’t remember paragraphs. They remember and embrace sentences. If your vision is not clear to your men’s council, it will never be clear to your men. Men characteristically don’t follow that which they don’t understand and believe in so we need a statement that will stick and is easy to both communicate and set a course toward. Example: “Our vision is to help men become authentic followers of Jesus Christ and releasing them into ministry so they can fulfill God’s purpose in their lives.” Short, sweet, and memorable.
2. Cast the Vison convincingly
Once you have your vision in a form that makes it easy to communicate, you must communicate it in a way that moves men to action. Around 444 BC, a Jewish man named Nehemiah was charged with the task of rebuilding the wall around the city of Jerusalem after it had lain in ruins for over a hundred years. Daunting task when one considers that the Jews living in Jerusalem at the time were content to live with the broken-down wall. Nehemiah’s compelling vision was given in a short, but effective speech to the Jews still living in the city (Nehemiah 2:17-18). Read this passage and you will see three things:
- He defined the problem (Jerusalem was in ruins)
- He offered a solution (Rebuild the wall. Remember…a vision is a solution to a problem that affects your men).
- He presented a reason: (“and we will no longer be in disgrace.” Vision answers the questions “Why must we do this?” and “Why must we do this now?”).
3. Repeat the Vision regularly
Casting your vision once is not enough to make it stick. It needs to be branded into the fabric of your ministry. All of your activities need to be vehicles that move your men toward your vision. Every event, every meeting, every piece of paper they see should have your vision stated clearly. Vision is the destination that gives meaning to all of your activities.
4. Celebrate the Vision systematically
To make vision memorable, a leader needs to pause long enough to celebrate the wins along the way. These ‘wins’ do more to clarify the vision than anything else. Your celebrations need to align with your vision, otherwise what’s celebrated will overpower the vision and determine the course of your ministry. Think about it.
5. Embrace the Vision personally
The willingness of you and your men’s council to embody the vision of your men’s ministry will have a direct impact on your credibility as leaders. As a matter of fact, embracing your vision needs to be one of the primary qualifiers for leader selection for your council. Personal passion for your vision also makes you a leader worth following.
As theologian Howard Hendricks said, “If it’s a mist in the pulpit, it’s a fog in the pew.” I think the same can be said for men’s ministry leaders. If we are not clear about where we are taking men, they won’t be able to see through the fog and follow.
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