"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself."And thus, what begins as a desire to discern God's vision quickly spirals out of control as discernment becomes prideful vision casting, reshaped into preferred outcomes, strategic goals and pastoral expectations which inevitably deteriorate into pastoral arrogance, anger, intolerance, and despair.
Alan J. Roxburgh, in his book Missional Map-Making (2010) describes this futile process as akin to trying to "herd cats." Describing a similar spiralling descent into discouragement Roxburgh writes:"I see many church leaders who begin with high levels of energy as they are called to a church or judicatory that wants to go through a process of 'transformation'. The new leader comes in with or develops a plan that is expected to give a new direction over the next five years. How often have I sat with these leaders as they honestly confess that the plan isn't working and they face their own discouragement."(p. 70f.)
Been there. Done that. By the grace of God, I think I'll leave the vision casting to God and instead play my part in assisting the community of faith in discerning where God is at work among us.
