Should a church have a vision statement?

Do good leaders lay out a powerful vision for the local church? Or is a vision statement a manmade creation that detracts from a biblical approach to the local church?

Recently in a 9Marks interview (click on audio, then Michael McKinley interview) Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker and Michael McKinley downplayed the importance of a vision statement for a local church. The trio believes the leadership of a local church should prize faithfulness to Scripture instead of getting hung up on the particulars of a human-authored plan.

In “Shepherding God’s Flock” Jay Adams devotes a chapter to this discussion. Adams is best known for his role in the development of the biblical, or neuthetic, counseling movement in the 1960s-80s. In this particular work, Adams covers the inns and outs of pastoral ministry, counseling and leadership in the local church. The book is worth reading, particularly for those serving in pastoral ministry, and I found myself agreeing with significant portions.

The chapter on church vision is titled “Setting Up a Program” (beginning on 411), but Adams doesn’t really have a program in mind. Instead, he lays out three points of emphasis for local church leaders: leading the flock (1) in the proper worship of God, (2) into edifying ways (building up one another in love, Eph 4:16) and (3) into evangelistic outreaches. Adams says the goal of this threefold focus is to lead people in paths of righteousness for the sake of God’s name.

He notes:

“Anything that does not enable the flock to worship God better, to be edified and to edify one another, and to evangelize the lost, must be eliminated … On the other side of the page, however, is this: anything that facilitate and foster these three biblical ends that is not already a part of the program must be added as soon as possible” (411, emphasis mine).

Adams’ program is not really a program at all. He is saying the aims of the local church must mirror those in Scripture. And he is saying that the methodologies of the local church must support these aims.

Adams’ vision statement is simple: only do things in the local church that promote the worship of God, the edification of believers and the evangelization of the lost. Everything that is done should be crafted toward one or more of these goals. Anything that fails the test in these areas should be jettisoned.

I don’t think this necessarily rules out local churches developing a vision statement. But it does rule out a detailed, manmade vision statement as an essential component of a faithful local church ministry (with faithful local church ministry equaling successful local church ministry).

So if you want to write up a vision statement, then go for it. But don’t swallow up or distort the clear directives of Scripture in your vision. Instead, any such vision should aim to spotlight, clarify and magnify the words of Scripture, particularly at they relate to the local church.

After all, every church leader casts a vision in their church. We should want that vision to match God’s vision in Scripture. For there, God presents a vision that is eternal and powerful, living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb 4:12).