John Sweetman

It may only appear to be semantics, but it's actually important to distinguish between vision and core values. Otherwise you might find yourself working well and healthily, but not actually getting anywhere.  

Your vision describes what you are trying to achieve. It's a picture of the future that calls you to make sacrifices so that it can be accomplished. It's not present yet. It's a dream of the future.

Your core values are the essential principles through which your vision will be achieved. We all have core values. For example, I believe that team is vital to leadership. So I make a big effort to develop a healthy team in my leadership. Wherever I am leading, whatever the vision, I will work at developing a leadership team. It's one of my core values. But it's not my vision. It's an essential means by which the vision will be achieved.

Maybe I'm getting too complicated here, but a vision, when it is achieved, can actually become a core value. When I was pastoring at Bracken Ridge we had a God-given vision to become a large, healing, community church. Once we achieved this, momentum died because our vision had actually become one of our core values. We no longer had a dream of the future that called us forward.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that you will have core values. It may actually be helpful to write these down. What is vital to you as you lead? They will already be true for you (even if others may not agree). They will be non-negotiable for you.  

But a vision is something that at the moment is only a dream. Something that will need your effort and God's intervention to achieve. Your vision calls you forward. It's something God places in your heart. We'll look more at this next week.