Why Vision Sunday matters

Once a year Elan pauses to talk about what God wants to do in the days ahead. Jesus has a vision for His church as a whole, for specific churches, and for every individual in them, and Proverbs says that without vision the people perish. From snowboarding lessons as a boy in Idaho Pastor Max learned that your body turns toward whatever you are looking at: your vision determines where you end up. In Elan's earliest days he and Pastor Juliet shared a thirty-year vision with the first seven people, most of whom left because it sounded insane. They put it away until God recently said now is the time.

Vision is received through surrender

In 1 Kings 19 Elijah throws his mantle, a symbol of divine authority and anointing, over Elisha, a farmer in the middle of nowhere. Elisha slaughters his oxen, feeds the people, and follows with no plan B. Vision from God is never received casually; it is received through surrender. Pastor Max warns against bringing a consumer mindset into church. You would never leave your crazy Aunt Tina a one-star Google review, because she is family, not a business. "Consumers will add Jesus to their existing plans, but disciples will surrender their plans entirely to Jesus." The Great Commission calls for disciples, not converts. God did not pick Elisha for his talent but for his willingness, and Pastor Max admits he would never have picked himself to plant a church either; he is here because God asked and he said yes.

Vision is sustained by faithfulness

In 2 Kings 2 Elijah tells Elisha three times to stay behind, and three times Elisha answers that as surely as the Lord lives he will not leave. His first commitment was to follow, and he keeps it through unglamorous miles between Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and the Jordan. Elisha served faithfully before he ever had his own ministry, and God will not give you your own mantle until you can steward someone else's. Pastor Max recalls Bible college students who arrived expecting to become famous worship leaders and quit when asked to set out chairs. A vision from God will test whether you stay when it gets hard.

Vision empowers the next generation

When Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, he is not being arrogant. In Old Testament inheritance the firstborn received a double portion because he was responsible for stewarding the father's whole estate. Elisha is asking to faithfully care for what belongs to Elijah after he is gone. Pastor Max contrasts this with a former boss with a hazing mentality. Kingdom leadership does not say stand under my foot; it says stand on my shoulders. Following Jesus is a relay race, and how well we pass the baton determines whether the next generation knows Him.

Vision advances when the mantle is picked up

After Elijah is taken in a whirlwind, Elisha picks up the fallen mantle, strikes the Jordan, and the water parts, the same miracle Moses and Elijah saw now in a new generation. Before he picked up the mantle Elisha performed zero miracles; afterward he saw fourteen, twice as many as Elijah.

The thirty-year vision

Elan's values remain Holy Spirit led, Bible immersed, wise stewards, and authentic. A vision video tells how God spoke separately to Max and Juliet about Chicago and how people like Kim, Christina, and Chad found healing and purpose at Elan. Before the church began, God spoke three things: go to Chicagoland, specifically to Naperville, and plant a church in every state in the United States that then plants more churches within that state. The vision is to raise up passionate disciples of Jesus who lead a global move of God that shapes generations to come. Chicagoland is Elan's Jerusalem, Illinois its Judea and Samaria, and the nation and world the ends of the earth. Pastor Max imagines monthly commissioning couples to plant across the country and a day when no one in Chicagoland drives more than twenty minutes to an Elan church. Not everyone is called to plant; most will be senders, and the churches planted will only be as healthy as this one.

Strategy to get there

Vision without strategy is faith without wisdom, as Jethro showed Moses. Elan's five focuses are Sunday Gatherings, Groups that become spiritual family, Teams, the next generation, and worship, including original music. Three accelerators are engagement, financial stewardship, and leadership development.