What Do You Stand For?

Much ink has been spilled on the subject of vision. Whether it’s our churches, our businesses, our our individual lives, we’ve all been challenged to articulate our vision, pursue our vision, protect our vision, and communicate our vision. It’s enough to give you…well, to give you tunnel vision.

But when it comes to your volunteers, could they clearly articulate the vision of your church? Could they clearly state the vision of their team? Do they know why the serve week after week? Do they understand how their role supports the ministry of the church? Can they connect the dots between how they serve the church and how they’re building the kingdom?

In their book Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business, authors Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine recount the following story:

The head of customer service at a major U.S. retailer called us for help with crafting a customer experience strategy for the store’s nationwide contact center. We immediately asked him – and about ten of his direct reports, who were also on the line – what the company’s key brand attributes and values were. Their response: dead silence. Not a single manager from the retailer’s customer service organization could articulate what this well-known and beloved brand stood for, and they eventually admitted that none of them had ever spoken with the marketing or branding groups, which were located across the country.

Not a single manager could articulate what they stood for. If you ask your volunteers, they would likely say that your church exists to spread the gospel or to tell others about God. But could they go deeper than that? Could they get from Point A to Point B, to see and say how they serve others in order to move them towards a relationship with Jesus?

Cast the vision. Say it over and over. And when you’re tired of saying it, say it one more time. As my Pastor J.D. Greear says, “When you’re sick of repeating your vision, your people are just beginning to hear it.”

(click for photo credit)