1. Cornerstone Church Network Master’s Group Session 5
June 8, 2018
Cornerstone Church Network Master’s Group Session 5
As usual, you should have this slide showing on the screen as group members arrive. Use the arrival time as greeting and catch-up time with group members.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

2. Agenda 9:00 Koinonia Connection 9:30 Hand of the Lord
8:45 Arrival, breakfast and fellowship
9:00 Koinonia Connection
9:30 Hand of the Lord
10:00 Vision: What is it and How is it Developed?
12:00 Lunch
12:30 GPS
2:15 Wrap up / Debrief the day / Admin stuff
2:30 Adjournment
You can quickly talk through the day’s agenda with the group. The focus of the content for the day will be a discussion of Vision including its definition, discovery process and implementation. This should be a very healthy discussion so plan on getting the group engaged in the conversation.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

3. Kiononia Connection Where did you grow up? How many siblings?
What unique challenges did you face growing up?
What are your favorite hobbies?
What was your first job?
What was your worst job?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

4. Hand of the Lord Nehemiah 1:1 – 2:9
June 8, 2018
Hand of the Lord Nehemiah 1:1 – 2:9
For today’s Hand of the Lord, let’s look at the story of Nehemiah. Read Nehemiah 1:1 through 2:9. (This is a long passage so you might want to split it up and have each group member read a portion.) Ask the group members to make observations about Nehemiah’s passion, process and wisdom as well as God’s part in setting the stage for the completion of this amazing, visionary project (completed in 52 days from start to finish!).
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

5. Leading with Clear Vision from God
June 8, 2018
Leading with Clear Vision from God
(Content from George Barna’s book titled, The Power of Vision: How you can capture and apply God’s Vision for your ministry)
Let the group know that the following content comes from George Barna’s book by that title. We’re using it as a conversation starter on the topic so they should feel free to express different view points along the way. Our objective is to spend some time wrestling with the whole issue of vision and get as much clarity on the topic as possible. We do want them to come out of the day with a strong sense of the importance of leading with clear vision.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

6. June 8, 2018
Vision Definition
“Vision for Ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances.”
This is Barna’s definition as written in the book. Read it to the group or have a group member read it. The following slides will give further definition to each component of the definition so save discussion for those more detailed descriptions.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

7. Vision Components: 1. A Clear mental Image
June 8, 2018
Vision Components:
1. A Clear mental Image
“Vision is an in-focus picture held in your mind’s eye of the way things could or should be in the days ahead.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

8. June 8, 2018
2. Preferable Change
“Vision is never about maintaining the status quo. It is about stretching reality to extend beyond the existing state.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

9. 3. Future Focus
“Vision focuses on thinking ahead rather than dwelling upon or seeking to replicate the past.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

10. 4. Imparted by God “Vision for ministry is a reflection of what God wants to accomplish through you to build His kingdom. Visionary leaders receive their vision for ministry from God.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

11. 5. A Chosen Leader “God chooses leaders carefully and provides each of them with a vision tailored to their circumstances.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

12. Don’t confuse Mission and Vision
“A mission statement is a broad, general statement about who you wish to reach and what the church hopes to accomplish. Many churches share the same mission and could even use the same wording of that mission. Mission is essentially a philosophic statement that undergirds the heart of your ministry.”
This slide differentiates between a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement. There are a variety of ways to define these terms so be careful not to get into a battle of definitions in this part of the discussion. Barna’s point in the book is that too many churches think they have defined their vision when they have come up with a short statement that is actually a statement of the church’s overall mission which is quite general and transferable to just about every other church. A mission statement is not specific enough to that unique church to qualify as vision.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

13. “In contrast, Vision is specific, detailed, customized, distinctive and unique to a given church. It allows a leader to say no to opportunities, it provides direction, it empowers people to service and it facilitates productivity.”
This slide identifies how Barna specifically differentiates Vision from Mission. Vision is specific, detailed, customized, distinctive and unique to the specific church. Ask group members about their vision statements (if they have them) and ask if they provide the kind of action oriented outcomes described by Barna in the second sentence on the slide. Include the next slide content as you discuss this point.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

14. “The vision statement ‘puts feet’ on the mission, detailing how the church will influence the world in which it will minister. It provides direction that motivates people to become enthusiastic about the ministry.”
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

15. So how do you capture God’s vision for your church?
Barna suggests spending intentional time in pursuit of the following:
This slide initiates the content that follows in the next 4 slides. Once again based on Barna’s definition, there has to be an intentional pursuit on the part of a leader to discover the unique, specific vision God wants for each church. Barna suggests four specific aspects to this pursuit: Know yourself, Know your ministry environment, Know God and Verify the Vision. I’ll suggest some discussion questions for each slide.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

16. 1. Know Yourself
Having a clear understanding of who you are personally (how God has gifted you, what strengths you have, how you’ve been used to impact people, what energizes you, etc) is an essential place to start. If God has called you to be the leader, He has built into you the right components to lead the people toward His vision.
Why is a good understanding of self a key component in identifying Vision for the church? Give some examples of times you have observed how a particular pastor’s personality has influenced a church’s vision. How did Nehemiah’s personality and experience influence his vision?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

17. 2. Know Your Ministry Environment
Take the time to get to know your community, the other churches surrounding your location, your congregation and its ‘DNA’, and your competition (this is not the other churches!)
What’s the value in understanding your environment as it relates to vision development? What kind of DNA issues might impact vision? What examples from Nehemiah provide insight into the importance of understanding the environment?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

18. 3. Know God
Specifically in the context of discovering God’s vision for your church, dive into the Word and listen carefully for the ways God is speaking to you and planting passion in your heart. Spend significant blocks of time in prayer expressing your desire for God’s leading. Consider engaging in the discipline of fasting and prayer.
Give some examples of times in your life when you have sought specific guidance from God. What did you do? How did God speak or lead? What did Nehemiah do?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

19. 4. Verify the Vision
Invite some trusted advisors to review and respond to your sense of God’s vision for the church. The purpose of gaining the perspective of outside, godly, trusted counselors is not to allow them to determine or frame the vision. Rather, they can help you be as certain as possible that you have truly grasped the vision God has prepared for you and have not succumbed to the desire to follow the ways that seem right to you alone.
What kind of people would you want to engage in this process of verification? How does this differ from a vote? If you had to do this today, who are the two or three people you would ask to give input?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

20. Discuss Your Experience:
Share with one another your understanding of the vision God has called your church into. How does that statement of vision compare to Barna’s definition of vision? What was your process of arriving at that vision? How does that compare to Barna’s recommendation?
Use the questions on this and the next slide to dive into the current state of vision for the group members’ churches.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

21. Discuss Your Experience:
How have you communicated vision in your church context? What seems to be most effective? How important is it, from your perspective, that people in the church understand and buy into the vision? What was your process of arriving at that vision?
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

22. Next Steps:
Use the ‘Free Writing Exercise’ Sheet to complete the following statement: “If God’s vision for our church is realized, three years from now the following will be a realistic description of us…” You will have 5 minutes to write. Please write without pause for those 5 minutes.
Hand out the ‘Free Writing Exercise’ sheets and tell the group members you will give them 5 minutes to write their response to the unfinished statement on the slide. The idea is that they should write without stopping until you call time. When they are all set, say ‘Go’ and set your timer for 5 minutes. Have them stop writing at the end of the 5 minutes. Ask them to go back and circle any words or phrases on their paper that indicate things that will require change from the way things are now. These circled items are the beginning of their planning process to see their vision for the church realized.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

23. Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network
June 8, 2018
Additional instructions: The idea of the ‘Free Writing Exercise’ is to help the group members write as much as they can in a defined period of time on a particular topic. Make sure each person has a copy of the form in front of them. Explain that you are going to ask them to write for five minutes solid in answer to the question that you will pose. They are to keep writing for the full five minutes ‘without taking their pen off the paper’. In other words, don’t sit there and think about your answer, just write down everything that comes to mind.
Whenthe five minutes is up, have them go back and circle any words or phases that identify things that will require change between now and three years from now if they are to become reality.
When they have finished this, tell them that they have just established the essence of their church vision goals for the coming three years. They will have to spend time with their church leadership team on this to determine strategies, tactics and goals…but they now have a pretty clear description of the things they’ll need to work on over the coming three years.
If you have time, you may want to allow group members to share some of the change areas they identified in this process. This should be a voluntary sharing but if you have time, it will help them get to know each other even better.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

24. Growing Past Stress Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network
June 8, 2018
Growing Past Stress
See the “Growing Past Stress Instructions” document for a step by step description of how this process works.
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

25. Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network
June 8, 2018
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network

26. Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network
June 8, 2018
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27. Masters Groups | Cornerstone Church Network
June 8, 2018
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28. Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network
June 8, 2018
Master’s Group | Cornerstone Pastors Network