Futuring Your Church

A vision is not a mission statement, declares George Thompson. In the throes of establishing their congregational identity, many church leaders resort to developing a mission statement which gets put in a file drawer and forgotten until the next budget review. The problem is that mission statements focus on concrete achievements; a vision, in contrast, establishes the larger picture of aim, broad purpose, and hopes.In Futuring Your Church, church leaders explore the congregation's heritage, its current context, and its theological bearings. From the insights gleaned, members can discern what God is currently calling their own church to do in this time and place. Once this vision is found, Thompson provides a simple organization model for applying the vision--for making it work. A practical, helpful tool for futuring authentic ministry.With one foot in Scripture and the other reaching toward the future, George Thompson provides marching orders for congregations that are committed to discover their options for contemporary yet faithful witness. This hands-on, step-by-step approach should give every church leader new confidence in the practical possibilities of renewal in their ministry.--Carl S. Dudley, Codirector of the Center for Social and Religious Research and Professor of Church and Community, Hartford SeminaryGeorge Thompson has given us a 'mature' work that moves beyond the oft-frustrating exercise in perfunctory and unimplemented visioning on the one hand and the vacuous mechanics of planning on the other. He is sensitive to the arts of pastoral ministry as well as to the skills of congregational and societal analysis. Futuring Your Church encourages, challenges, guides, admonishes, and reassures those committed to helping a congregation live its way into a faithful witness.--Geddes W. Hanson, Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Congregational Ministry, Princeton Theological SeminaryGeorge B. Thompson Jr. is Professor of Leadership and Ministry Practice at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Thompson is the editor and coauthor of Alligators in the Swamp: Power, Ministry, and Leadership (2005), and author of Church on the Edge of Somewhere: Ministry, Marginality, and the Future (2007).