In an recent article, Erwin McManus argued that Peter’s initial sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-21) describes the initial launch of the Christian movement not as a movement of liturgy and policy or as a movement of administrators and managers or of counselors and teachers. But, quoting from Joel, Peter uses the most amazing, unexpected, and unorthodox imagery. The Christian movements would be a movement of dreamers and visionaries.
How many of our movements look like a movements of dreamers and visionaries? Even in some of our most effective ministries, discipleship is more easily equated with discipline, structure, routine, standardization and conformity. Rarely does discipleship focus on uniqueness, creativity, innovation, imagination and risk.
We often say that a visionary leader casts a great vision and then calls people to give their lives to it. Sounds good, doesn’t it? As McManus says, maybe visionary leadership is supposed to do more than cast vision that captures people, but instead create visional environments where men and women and even children begin to dream and imagine and envision a life only possible in God.