“Begin with the end in mind.” ~ Steven Covey
“The best place to begin your efforts is at the end, with the vision God has given you. Evaluate all you do in light of that vision.” ~ Garrison
“The goal is not how big can I grow my organization but rather in what kind of city do I want my grandchildren to grow up?” ~ Mal Fletcher
Often we start by writing a vision statement without truly knowing our context. We franchise church planting without listening to the sound and rhythms of the community or city.
Whilst I accept that vision can and does evolve over time maybe it’s better if a team or microchurch together listen, talk, pray and discover in community what God might be saying.
A microchurch I belonged to discussed and planned the launch of a local healthy and affordable Food store in a disadvantaged neighborhood only to find that locals were already building one. However, when locals got to know and trust us and saw our good intentions the door to the community was opened to us.
As we slowly stepped through the door, local schools befriended us and ministries for families and men began. We began with perceived needs in mind but soon began to see the end; a community recovering its vision of being “the cradle of African American culture” with a strong Christlike Church.
More recently, we launched the Canvas Network and are now approaching things more differently. We have coaches, a team with voices forming and a picture of what we might look like that has been framed in part by our experiences in church planting in its various forms.
Steven Covey wrote, “Begin with the end in mind” remembering what Fletcher said when he asked, “in what kind of city do I want my grandchildren to live?” Some call this the mystery and we must endeavor to keep this at the forefront of our thinking.
To see kingdom minded cities we need kingdom minded people.
Kingdom minded people are not the flavor of the month. They never have been and especially in the arena of spiritual warfare! They have needs; they have been telling me for years but especially more recently that they want:
A Safe Space where they can be real, authentic without the fear of being judged or betrayed.
An Equipping Space to help with their sense of being ill-prepared for this new world.
A Pioneering Space where they can collaborate with other like-minded people who are prayerfully innovating so as to serve I reached people in their cities.
A Sacred Space that moves them back to Spirit inspired ministry and Jesus empowered love and healing. They desire to recover their bold, prophetic voice.
This is the journey we have begun and we simply hope we can plant the gospel and help others do the same.
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