Vision or Culture

One of the misguided emphases in many of our churches has been the obsession over vision. As a lead pastor, I have often been asked the question, “What is your vision for the church?” I understand why this question is asked as vision has been the buzzword in corporate America and corporate church leadership for several decades. Vision is important, and if you have heard any pastor discuss vision, invariably Proverbs 29:18 is quoted that when vision is absent, the people perish. Building a robust theology about vision off one verse and a singular Hebrew word (chazon) that can be translated several different ways is suspect. A clear and compelling vision is central to driving any form of corporate change; but the emphasis on church vision, apart from church culture, is misguided.

Churches need a vision, and yet the overarching vision for any biblically-informed church has already been given. When Jesus charged the disciples, past and present, to go into the entire world and make disciples, the vision for the Church was established for all time. As a church, we are to go into the world and make disciples. Disciples are followers; and specifically in the Christian context, followers of Jesus. That is the vision of every church, a vision given to us by Christ himself. How that vision is articulated is as diverse as the number of individual congregations on Planet Earth. And, the “how” is a much more interesting and important discussion as it engages the culture of a given church. Regardless of how the church vision is stated, when broken down, it must be about going into the world and making disciples, as Jesus commanded us to do.

The vision of the church that I was raised in (G.E.L.C) was the same vision as that of CrossWay Church. G.E.L.C. would not have talked vision language, but if you had asked the pastor what the church was about, he would have answered, “The Great Commission.” CrossWay has a vision statement that reads: Intersecting Lives with Christ. This is our vision, but it is just a modern way of stating the Great Commission given to us by Jesus, to go into the entire world and make disciples. We cannot choose a vision for the church as it has been chosen for us. Despite having the same vision, G.E.L.C. and CrossWay Church could not be more different. The difference does not emerge from diametrically opposed visions, but from a radically different culture. It is culture that eventually becomes the driver of any church community, and not the vision. It is the culture that will ultimately determine if a particular church is fulfilling the Christ-commanded vision of making disciples.

The culture I experienced in church drove many in the congregation to talk the same, look the same, and do the same things. Though this culture was unhealthy and viral when it came to reaching people outside the church, it did illustrate the power of culture to influence a larger group. That you could be an authentic Christian and not theologically hold to their specific beliefs, was rarely questioned. Walking into church without your Sunday best on would inevitably ostracize you from the masses, and if you didn’t comply with the culture of formal Sunday dress, your time at church would be short-lived.

The power of culture can be measured in companies like IBM, which nearly perished because of a culture of inflexibility. Under CEO Jack Welch, General Electric became a culture of differentiation and training; if you landed in the lower percentage of efficiency in the company, you were let go. Facebook and Google have cultures of innovation, casualness, and intensity. My first formal introduction to the power of culture was when I read a study done by business author, Jim Collins, who researched what he calls “cult-like” cultures in companies that have been successful for at least a hundred years. As I read about corporate culture, I reflected on the power of culture in my own family. My identity as a first-generation Italian American established a specific family culture that valued everything Italian, at times to the detriment of other cultures. My father’s early vision for our family would have been for us to get good grades, graduate, go to college, get married and make a lot of money. That is also the vision of many American families, but it was the Italian culture woven into those elements that was very defining in our early formation.

The vision for every Christ-centered, biblically-based church has already been given, so the question should not be, “What is our vision?” but, “What is the culture we are called to create to fulfill the vision?” It is the culture that will drive the church, draw a particular kind of person to the church, and determine the kingdom impact of the church. When it comes to being a church culture that progressively reaches today’s North American society, we need church cultures for the curious. We need many people, all part of the body of Christ, yet with many distinctions, unified in their mutual love for Christ, each other, and the world; people who have dedicated their lives to imitate the Rabbi, Jesus Christ, holistically in their lives. It is such people who will create a cultural reality in which un-churched, curious people will find the freedom to explore Christ, and Christ-followers will find opportunity to grow as curious Christians, exploring the vastness of the Christian story. Jesus has given us the vision and now we have the opportunity to create a culture for the curious, fulfilling His vision.

On the Journey Together,

Jason Esposito