Vision vs. Mission

I recently read a very good article by Dallas Willard titled “Living in the Vision of God”. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artid=96

It’s a long article, and I had to read it several times to digest it. Willard talks about how a godly person might have a vision and found a movement. Others are attracted to this person’s fire or charisma and become followers. But somewhere along the line the mission takes over the original vision, and what starts off as passion, fire, and love for Christ ends up becoming a building project.

Building projects can be typical brick and mortar structures. They can also be just concepts of expansion. For example, an individual may be on fire to love and serve God. Her passion attracts others. The group is on a mission to spread Christ’s love. The logistics of where, when, how, finances, scheduling, and flyers overshadow the original vision. Expansion, growth, goals, success, numbers, etc. become the focus. The vision becomes blurry, while the mission becomes the driving force.

Willard has some suggestions for postponing this inevitable drift from the original vision. If God is our first love, we will have a natural inclination to muse upon God all the time. Continual meditation on God leads us to the realization of our own inadequacy in contrast to God’s all-sufficiency. Humility in our abilities leads to dependence on God. What follows is a boldness in our hearts that is based on confidence in God’s capacity. This juxtaposition of humility and boldness keeps us from taking over God’s vision.