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Vision Hiding Personal Ambition

by BryanApril 30, 20072 min read

From Upside Down: The Paradox of Servant Leadership by Stacy Rinehart:

What is called ‘vision’ can be merely a ‘spiritually correct’ synonym for personal ambition…Visionaries operating in the flesh promote messages like these:

  • ‘If you’re not getting my vision, you’re not listening to God, or you are spiritually immature and inferior.’
  • ‘This is the only true spiritual vision around here. If you have another vision, we will be unequally yoked.’
  • ‘You must remember that you are extensions of the senior pastor [or other position] and are therefore responsible for achieving his vision.’
  • ‘You must follow my vision and strategy–it’s been proven to work.’

Ouch. Maybe a bit extreme? On the other hand, how true is this of our leadership, especially in the church?

I sat with one leader of a very successful, large church who told me that his philosophy was to tell people who seemed to be resistant that the church’s (his) vision was what it was and if they weren’t “on-board,” he was sure they would be happier at the other church down the road. In another church, the pastor insisted the people “get moving” because it was his job to get the vision from God and to theirs to make it happen.

I keep coming back to this notion of visioning and leadership in which God moves in and through the relationships of the community to release a vision. Leaders help the body realize what God is saying and doing. Leaders help identify and draw out the God-given gifts of the members. Leaders encourage, model, and guide the way in the body being who God has made it.

This is different than the leader “giving the vision to the people.”

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