12 “How To’s” Pastors Wish Someone Had Taught Them

This is an excellent list, and I’m so encouraged to see that someone involved directly in pastoral training is getting this info. At least 8 of these were things I thought “I wish I had learned more about…” in my first couple years of ministry as a pastor.

Some of these require that profs/schools exert a good bit of energy to recruit guest teachers who are active in ministry. The nuts and bolts are so much more real from guys are are in the arena (pardon the mixed metaphor… “in the garage”? lol) A class or two should include a guest series with small groups and Q & A. Panel discussions could help also, again keeping it small and conversational. Along with the experienced pastors doing the speaking, maybe bring in a couple of newish pastors to be in the audience—to seed the discussion and, again, make it more real.

6. How to develop and cast a vision – Knowing the importance of a vision is not the same as knowing how to develop and cast one. Too many visions go nowhere simply because the leader is a poor, untrained vision-caster.

I’d love to know when “vision casting” became a thing for churches and why churches feel it is the responsibility of one guy in the church to figure out what God wants the church to do. Sorry, I just don’t see “vision casting” anywhere in the NT as a criteria for church leadership or church health.

What is that exactly? Why is it needed?

the rest of the list is good, though, I’m still waiting to be big enough to have a staff person to fire!

I’m not sure when the buzzword became a thing, but all it really means is long-term goals and long-term plans, kind of with the connotation of pulling them all together into one big picture.

There are some good reasons to do it… avoiding stagnation being one of them. There can be sort of a fine line between stagnation and faithfulness. They can look the same, because we’re not really in control of outcomes. But there are important differences too. I wish I had been better at it… In other contexts I still wish I was better at it.

Aaron,

If vision casting is just long-term planning, why then is it the responsibility / prerogative of the senior pastor instead of the elder board to come up with the long-term plan for the church?

Why do guys call themselves “vision casters”? They have the spiritual gift of long-term planning?

Hmmm.

This TGC article leaves me scratching my head for multiple reasons, but it’s all about vision-casting, written by a “pastor of preaching and vision.”

Honestly, the discussion about church “vision-casting” reminds me about all the jargon and buzzwords in my industry like AI, machine learning, deep learning, etc. At the end of the day, you’re doing statistical modeling.

Having a 5-year or 10-year plan for your church doesn’t make you a “vision-caster,” even though that is the sexy title pastors apparently want.

Sounds like the latest fad. I think we need to discard every fad and stick to Bible terminology and practice.

[G. N. Barkman]

Sounds like the latest fad. I think we need to discard every fad and stick to Bible terminology and practice.

• “Vision Casting” is a business buzz-phrase of recent origin. See Vision Casting in Business: A Skill of Great Leaders And this example: “Personal computers are going to change the world. They will transform how we work, educate, and entertain ourselves. Therefore, we get to take the lead in changing the world. And to do that, we get to Be Different.” Steve Jobs
• For the church - the vision has been cast! (Matthew 28:18-19)
• What is needed is strategic planning AND tactical planning: Helpful article: Strategy Vs. Tactics: The Main Difference & How to Track Progress Of Both
• Planning is done with people … in groups!

This TGC article(link is external) leaves me scratching my head for multiple reasons, but it’s all about vision-casting, written by a “pastor of preaching and vision.”

What are some of the reasons you dislike the article?

Vision casting is a buzzword for sure, but it is hard as of yet for me to understand the angst here. Doesn’t someone need to set the pace, pick the programs or events or Bible studies or what initiatives a church is going to do? Even if it is as simple as picking the passages the preach, the topics for small groups, the idea of attending prayer meetings, or some such, there is a vision that has to be communicated so people know what is going on and why.

I can be as much a curmudgeon as any but this seems to me a tempest in a teapot, at least as far the word “vision casting” goes.

The discussion about vision made me think of the website of a former interim paster of mine. Here is an article he wrote contrasting the ideas of “mission” and “vision.” https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/mission-and-vision-contrasted-why-pas…

The article has 1 point about “vision casting.”

Guys, this is not a new term. People have been using it for more than two decades (it took less than a minute to find this: https://www.worldcat.org/title/developing-a-vision-casting-statement-by… ) probably more than three decades.

It is a business term, but it’s just a way of saying long term planning tied to an ambitious idea of what we can achieve.

In business there are lots of fads. What happens, though, is that the best ideas cycle under different names. They keep coming back with fresh terminology. It’s OK. A good idea is a good idea even when it has a shiny new shirt on. (maybe “shiny new shoes” works better! :-D )

The article had a lot of good points, but the reason I took issue with this one point is that I *hate* buzzwords and fads. They really have no place in church life. They often come out of the corporate world and are almost as useless there as they become in churches.

besides, the thesis is “things I wish I’d learned in seminary”. How do you actually teach “vision-casting,” whatever that is?

it is the one point that doesn’t belong on his list. Hence the reaction here

How do you actually teach “vision-casting,”

By talking about the mission Christ gave us and explaining to people what that should look like your church and community and what part they should play in it.

I am not a fan of the buzzword but the idea is really solid. If people don’t know what it is supposed to be and how to get there and what part they should play in getting there, they likely won’t do it.

[Larry]

How do you actually teach “vision-casting,”

By talking about the mission Christ gave us and explaining to people what that should look like your church and community and what part they should play in it.

Ok, but in the article Kevin Miller sent us to above, Mission isn’t vision, it’s duty. Vision is something different (and more noble, of course).

Colour me sceptical

1. It’s often a buzzword that a wanna-be hip pastor likes to use to “spiritualize his strategies and blackmail followers into supporting his entrepreneurialism.” I’ve seen this take place numerous times, and it inevitably leads to spiritual abuse.

2. The vision for God’s church is not the prerogative of one man. Unless you believe in modern-day apostles and prophets who receive divine insight and mediate God’s Word to His people, the vision for the local church should be the responsibility of the elder plurality and not just the “pastor of preaching and vision.”

And, this statement–

There is a sense in which it is true that if all you’re giving your people is mission, than all you’re giving them is law. If you give them vision, you’re giving them gospel, the good news about what we or our church will become.

–is pure nonsense.