Vision Development
His Majesty’s Armed Forces are not renowned for woolly thinking. When dealing with a serious defence issue, or handling humanitarian aid, their logistics and planning are second to none. So when I had an opportunity to hear a British Military Chaplain talk about vision and strategy in the army, I was prepared for something logical and practical. I learned that military strategy is considered the bridge between political will or vision, and practical / tactical / operational action.
I am not renowned for precision. I am someone who seeks a theological approach to whatever I’m doing. However it is useful for the purposes of communication to have a vision you can articulate easily, and this makes it clearer to see how the strategy may achieve that. Reflecting on the role description for the job I have, I realised that the Diocese of Durham have woven vision and strategy through it. I’m re-reading my role description to try and simplify the wording into something I could express in a passing conversation.
How about this?
“Within three years, to have gathered and shared experiences of mission in rural contexts with churches across the Diocese of Durham.”
I wonder if that needs something more deliverable. Why gather and share? The purpose would be to help rural churches to have a contextually appropriate and thriving mission…
“Within three years, to have gathered and shared experiences of mission in rural contexts with churches across the Diocese of Durham, so that their local mission may flourish.”
I feel a bit better about that, but dreaming up goals and visions in isolation isn’t the best way to work. I’m looking forward to my next meeting in the Diocese offices with the Transformation Vision Team to see how they might improve it.
The bridge between vision and action: Strategy
There are some strategic decisions that the Diocese of Durham have already taken:
- For a start, there is a Growing Mission Team, with Strategic Lead Alexander Jones. I met with Alexander a couple of weeks ago and had an introduction to their work. I’ve got a follow up meeting next week: now that I’m getting my head around my role.
- There is also my role: Rural Mission Lead. This was a strategic decision by the Diocese of Durham too.
- Another strategic decision was to have a Rural Mission Task Group which is accountable to either Alexander, or to the Archdeacon of Auckland… but seeing as the Archdeacon of Auckland has recently been appointed as the next Bishop of Durham, I suspect he’ll have amore on his plate than holding me accountable. It is helpful to be meeting the Growing Mission Team again, because I have no contacts or network in Durham to invite people to participate in the Task Group.
When I was younger and more commercially minded, I remember being trained in the Belbin model of team building and roles. This is google-able and I don’t want to reproduce anything copyright here. However, I never worked in a place with the freedom to actually select team members that would fit the model. I wonder if that’s something we can do with the Task Group – it would be interesting to have a team with a cross-section of gifts.
Just doing it
As I write up this reflection on vision and strategy, I haven’t been idle and sat in an office isolated from reality. Apart from having a complex role as Interim priest for Upper Weardale, I have also been taking time to network with other rural missioners. I’ve joined the Rural Missioner’s Guild, spent time with my Area Dean, and also with the Diocese of Leeds “Rural Change Enabler”. I have meetings lined up with experienced rural mission priests from the Diocese of Northumbria, and joined the online ecumenical network of rural ministers – which is coordinated by the Methodist Church. I’m beginning to gather experience and conversations and I’ll share some of my reflections on this blog – this auto-ethnographic theological reflection.