“ok” describes my experience with this book. It is a good read – but not great. There are a lot of other great books (here, here, or here) on the topic of “vision” that say what Aubrey Malphurs says in a less antiquated way.
Antiquated?
Yes…outdated. Old. On the verge of irrelevant. In fact, there is a section of the book that I literally marked in pen:
“Warning: From here to the end of the chapter some/most of the advice is outdated”
It’s also widely known that – in the world of casting vision for ministry – Aubrey’s protege, Will Mancini, has now become the master. So if you’re looking for a defining book on vision in the same style and vein as Aubrey, pick up Will Mancini’s “Church Unique”
With all that said, there were some bright spots in Developing a Vision for Ministry by Aubrey Malphurs. As a “next-generation” pastor, I do find a connection to leadership models that are described as being more “flat”, but the longer I am in leadership in ministry, the longer I have realized that “flat” leadership is not only unproductive but unbiblical. I appreciate Aubrey’s passion to communicate the need for Point Leadership with a God-inspired vision.
Having now served in vocational ministry for over a decade, I do wish I had read this book early in my days of ministry to have been warned of the “dark side” of leading in the ministry setting. Describing these situations is something Aubrey does a very good job with – remaining biblical and simply stating the facts without coming off as a “negative Nancy.” In fact, as I was reading this book, there were many times I would flashback to previous times in ministry.
There are also other things that I found to be points with which I found either interesting or points that I resonated with. Here they are in no particular order:
- an organization can sustain only a single ministry vision. Most often a ministry with multiple visions ends with a split.
- Today’s emphasis on coleadership, especially in the church where it is known as lay elder rule, attempts to be biblical but most likely is an overreaction to leadership by a single tyrant or despot, or in some cases to weak or unskilled professional leadership. Not only is there a problem with finding a biblical foundation for coleadership, the greater problem is that people cannot follow a group.
- A church or parachurch ministry’s vision begins with and is the primary responsibility of the point person.
- Cutting edge organizations are characterized by a whirlwind of activity and catalysmic change
- There are “squeaky wheels” with solutions, but their solutions are characteristically out of touch with the ministry and its times…Visionary leaders are completely different from squeaky wheels
- If people do not understand the vision, then in effect there is no vision.
- [Other leaders] role is to follow the visionary’s leadership, aid in developing the dream, rally support behind it, and pass it on to as many people as possible.
- Character is the foundation of Christian leadership….If the character is flawed in some way, then the ministry will be flawed proportionately.
- …leadership is about comping with change, while management is about coping with complexity.
- If an environment has not been established where people have freedom to fail then people will not take risks, and the ministry will either plateau or decline.
- Human sources of discouragement
- Vision vampires…well intentioned Christians who sincerely believe they are correct in opposing the vision…see themselves as courageous defenders of the faith rather than defenders of the status quo, for many of them confuse the status quo with the faith.
- Vision vultures…people who like things the way they are, because they feel so intimidated and threatened by change
- Vision firemen…when they hear of a good vision, run and grab the nearest fire hose to put it out…they are pure managers in leaderhip positions who do not properly understand leadership and its relationship to management…they feel threatened by innovative dreams and beleve it is in their vested interest to protect the institution from change rather than to work with leaders to procure change.
- If the person who differs with the ministry leader is also a leader, then a decision will have to be made as to whether or not that person should stay with the ministry or pursue that which is closer to his philosophy in another ministry.
- Some people in ministry organizations are well-intentioned troublemakers. They work their way up through the ranks of a ministry organization until they reach a leadership position. They appear to be loyal to the ministry and are very faithful to it. In the church they are people who carry a Bible and are present at all the meetings of the church. They give regularly and show up on church workdays…however, these people have a different vision with a different agenda. They manifest themselves through their constant opposition to the visionary leader and the vision. It becomes obvious that he will not be able to lead them. This is because ultimately they, like Diotrephes in 3 John 9, want to control the organization.
So…with all that said, if you are new to ministry or trying to sort out whether or not God is calling you to ministry, this book has some really great practical skills for not only finding God’s vision for your ministry, but it clearly gives you pragmatic – super practical advice – for how to handle opposition to vision and what that will look like in ministry.
For those who have been in ministry for over 5 years, you will most likely read this book and cringe in remembrance of the times you faced opposition to vision, or even how poor execution of leading with vision effectively came back to impact you and your ministry negatively.
