Are You Aligned?

How’s your vision? Are you seeing clearly? Do you have a solid picture of your immediate future?

This weekend, my church celebrated its annual Vision Weekend. This is the weekend each year where we cast (or should I say re-cast) our church’s vision statement—and the specific implications it has on the upcoming ministry year.

Our worship team, senior pastor, staff, and the children of our congregation made it incredibly memorable for all who worshipped with us this weekend! It was truly a celebration of what God has done (offer us His amazing grace), is doing (graciously giving us soul rest in a fallen world through His Son, Jesus) and will do (redeem us and amaze us with his grace for eternity.)

At Woodmen Valley Chapel, all that we do is built upon the foundation of our vision statement:

“To launch and strengthen a fleet of Christ-following communities who are compassionately sailing through a turbulent culture toward a deeper amazement of God’s grace.”

Working through our church’s unique vision statement once again this weekend caused me to ask myself; are our small groups in alignment with the greater vision of our church? If someone was new to our church and visited a small group would our vision be represented? If someone handed them a copy of our vision statement, would they be surprised?

I believe many would be aligned, because we are very intentional about casting vision, explaining vision, and encouraging our leaders and groups to take ownership of our church’s vision. Most are passionate about strengthening their faith. Many are driven to compassionately engage with our turbulent and tough culture. And nearly all are striving to gain a deeper understanding of God’s amazing grace.

We believe that our small groups should be mini versions of the “big” church. They should represent what our church stands for, what we believe, and what we do in our community and in the world.

Does your group align with your church’s vision?