
By Jay Gurnett, Associate Director, VMC
Vision Ministries Canada came together with the simple focus of planting new churches. But, we ended up doing other work that reflects the nature of God—the work of coming alongside. We learned quickly that to be part of establishing more churches, we also had to be involved with flourishing, effective, better churches. Because, of course, healthy churches provide the raw materials for church planting: active disciples, richly mentored planters/leaders, funding, etc.
That meant we had to be truly “with” churches we knew, providing perspective, advice, training, and resources from just outside the walls of the local church. There were people “moving amongst” the earliest churches (and ever since), who came alongside. Perhaps the primary benefit is what the apostle Paul (in 1 Cor 6) says: “even the least wise amongst you” can bring the wisdom of distance or objectivity to an issue.
So, this edition of Thinking Ahead focuses on all sorts of things we lump under consulting. To help churches in our network, VMC responds to Asks, connects churches to Transitional Leaders, and helps churches that are Stuck or in Crisis.
Asks
Perhaps the most time-consuming of our “alongsiding” is a stream of emails, texts, and …calls seeking the answer to one small question, a desired connection, or a needed resource. Though these itsy-bitsy Asks are relatively minor consulting, they can lead to 4-5 hours of advising, or connecting with a “specialist” consultant. These little helps are also glue that create a healthy network that gets more done than we can do individually.
Transitional Leadership
Keith Shields is one of our key partners in coming alongside a church after a major leadership change (a long-term pastor departs, or there’s a bit of a mess to clean up). Keith describes Transitional Leadership in an article on page 2 (read it here). It’s easy to think that you have what it takes when there’s a major shift. Often a church does. But we know dozens of churches that testify that a good transitional leader made a huge difference. (See testimonies page 5).
Getting Unstuck
Sometimes leader teams/elders and their communities get Stuck. This happens in our individual Spirit-filled lives, so of course it happens in sub-groups of the One Body led by the One Spirit. Vision’s front-line staff and a wide group of volunteers and paid consultants might spend a weekend (plus advance work and follow-up) helping a leadership team seek God’s direction on a primary focus, vision/mission/values, some particular complexity they’re confronted with, or just how to get moving. Or a VMC person might walk alongside a church for a year or more e-mailing, Zooming, talking, visiting, writing, suggesting, etc. Gord Martin’s article on page 7 talks more about VMC helping with Stuck and Crisis.
Crisis
There are times in the life of many local churches when people realize they are in Crisis. Some New Testament epistles deal with quite severe problems (almost all the letters show some kind of consulting happening). We’re human beings,with various perspectives on scripture, relationships and issues – who are called to be one as our Lord and his Father are One! It would be much easier to opt for “Us and Them” like the culture around us. When one of those matters boils over, it can sure help to have someone who will “judge angels” come into the mix. That is often folks from Vision (who may also be “of little account in the church”).
We’re talking about coming alongside because we want to continue to do so. Part of the deal of being in the Vision Ministries partnering network is having us available to help. We do most of this work without charge – though we appreciate having our costs covered. If a consult starts to take many hours, we’re glad to have that recognized with a financial gift or fee.
Though it’s certainly not about the money. Remember that even for partner churches, half of the general income we receive is held in trust for new church planting. Consulting is just one of the ways we expect to be serving the God of all coming alongside – the God of all comfort (for churches!).
Need help? Contact us at info@vision-ministries.org to inquire about consulting.
From the Fall 2024 edition of VMC Thinking Ahead newsletter