Perry Noble on Three Ways Your Vision Might Fail

Perry posted today on Seven Reasons Your Church Plant Might Fail. It's a fantastic post and I wanted to add two observations. First, three of these are directly related to vision. (And the rest are strongly tied, but indirectly related to vision.) Second, these apply to more than church planting situations.  For example, I see a church plants that might start off strong with photocopied vision, but during later growth stages, say years 5-10, things begin to putter out.

What are the three ways your vision might fail?

1) Reaction

2) Imitation

3) Accommodation

Here are 3 of Perry's 7 statements to church planters. You might mail if...

#1 The church is planted out of bitterness rather than a divine calling. This is the common problem of reaction. Many churches react in subtle ways, like when they communicate their core values.  Want proof.  Look at your own church's set of values.  I bet you might find "excellence" and "relevance." These are usually statements more about what you aren't than what you are.

#2 The leadership has a desire for imitation rather than seeking revelation. Obviously this is a constant rally cry for me - no imitation vision!  You were born an original don't die a carbon copy. Here are Perry's thoughts:

We’ve seen it before…a group of guys go to a conference and see a church…and then come back to their community and try to be just like the church they saw at the conference.  There is NOTHING wrong with receiving inspiration and ideas at a conference…but when one church tries to be just like another one in every area…then I believe the leaders are spending way too much time studying methods rather than the Scriptures.  God calls every church to be unique in some sort of way…and that will never be found if the leadership isn’t desperately seeking God for His direction.

#3 The leadership allows the vision to get highjacked in order to keep everyone happy. Again, accommodation can happen for any leader at any time.

Read all Seven from Perry