By Mark W. Christy, PhD
In the Church Growth era, which started gathering steam in the 80s and early 90s, much ado was made about the importance of a vision statement and vision casting. To add weight to supposed biblical importance of visioneering, the church growth material from that period until now has frequently looked to the first part of Proverbs 29:18 KJV which reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This article will demonstrate the use of this verse in a few more prominent sources related to the church growth movement, how this interpretation has led to the prominence of vision in megachurch thinking, and whether this translation and interpretation of Proverbs 29:18 are biblically accurate and faithful.
In 1984, Ebbie C. Smith stated unequivocally that “[v]ision is a requisite for church growth.”[i] For him, the component parts of this vision are judged based upon whether or not they collectively lead to church growth. He adds, “methodology that either hinders or fails to provide for the constant increase of Christians and churches is invalid.”[ii] Upon close examination, his overtly pragmatic and humancentric understanding of vision fails to align with the teachings of Scripture despite his expressed concern that they do so.[iii] Although Christians must align themselves with God and become willing participants in His work, God takes full and exclusive credit for growing the Church (Matt 16:18; 1 Cor 3:6; Col 2:19). While granting that any so-called methodology must be fully in line with Scripture, the Bible never associates numerical success in evangelism with the faithfulness of believers. By supporting Smith’s ideas mentioned here on vision, one could easily find themselves condemning Early Church Christians who were martyred during the heavy persecutions in the Pre-Constantine era before it become popular and safer to become a Christian. Conversely and with a high degree of overt absurdity, these Post-Constantine Christians would receive accolades following Smith’s contentions.
Echoing Smith, Thom S. Rainer also believes that vision is the most vital element for the successful pastor (where of course success is wrongly defined in terms of numerical growth).[iv] The “first step” in discerning this vision, which he also calls “God’s plan,” is knowledge of oneself.[v] If Rainer is correct, then he is arguing the successful church growth pastors develop a God-ordained plan that has themselves as its origin. Striving to avoid this obvious conundrum, he does state that “theological truths must remain constant,” but even so the authority of Scripture which undergirds the Church (reclaimed by Luther and Calvin) has been replaced with the authority of the pastor.[vi] Despite this problem, he continues to urge pastors who are looking to themselves to discover a vision to also consider the views of their parishioners, their spiritual giftedness, and even information about their community and ministry context.[vii] By including these, he only further complicates the problem by eroding biblical authority even more.
Following Smith’s and Rainer’s pragmatism and unbiblical elevation of the pastor, Rick Warren wrote perhaps the best-known work among all Church Growth practitioners from a megachurch pastor, Purpose Driven Church (1995). Unashamedly, Warren pens a chapter in this work on the foundation of a church and begins his discussion on the vital necessity of having the right purpose.[viii] Using the KJV version of Proverbs 29:18 as mentioned above, he clearly associated the possession of a purpose as the fulfillment of this verse. For him, the development of a solid purpose statement is the “secret to effectiveness” because it is “the quickest way to reinvigorate a…church” and “help members understand the great tasks the church has been given by Christ.”[ix]
In a similar vein to Warren, Mark Mittelberg also employs the KJV interpretation of Proverbs 29:18.[x] While he does resolutely affirm that this vision must be “biblical” and “Christ-honoring,” his willingness to employ a substandard rendering of this verse is noteworthy.[xi] As one further examines his discussion, it becomes apparent that his controlling concern is the Great Commission, with particular interest in the making of disciples.[xii] While he in passing notes the importance of “helping [Christians] become fully devoted” disciples, the brevity of his comments fails to demonstrate the vital necessity of discipleship in church growth as exhibited and explain by Paul: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Cor 3:6 NASB1995).
Unlike Mittelberg, Bob Roberts, who follows Warren in his book entitled The Multiplying Church, argues that vision is the practical side of purpose.[xiii] According to him, Warren’s discussion on purpose (along with that of Myles Munroe) was “the single most important thing [he] had to learn about starting a church.”[xiv] After conferring upon his readership some ways to confirm that their purpose is from God, he follows Warren again and appeals to Proverbs 29:18, but chooses to quote it at length from NIV84: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” While he should be commended for offering this more faithful translation of the original text, he nevertheless understands “revelation” to be referring to ‘vision’ and continues to follow in Warren’s footsteps.[xv] Although he acknowledges “a sense of intuition” in the procurement of a vision/revelation, he equates it with “God revealing [H]imself to you.”[xvi] After essentially equating vision to Holy Writ, he boldly declares that vision “encapsulates everything God has called us to do.”[xvii]
Approximately two years after Roberts published The Multiplying Church, N.A.M.B. (North American Mission Board) which is associated with the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) sent their local church planters a book by Andy Stanley entitled Deep & Wide. In this work, Stanley, following many of those listed so far, glorifies vision as the “catalyst for introducing and facilitating change in the local church” so long as it is “God-honoring, mouthwatering, [and] unambiguously clear.”[xviii] Amazingly, he credits his vision (and not God) with being “the key to bringing about change,” and “the key to maintaining organizational focus and momentum.”[xix] For him, “[s]hared vision is critical to getting your church on the right track and keeping it there.”[xx] His complete lack of due deference for the primacy of Scripture is jaw-dropping especially when one considers that the Southern Baptists essentially validated his comments despite their frequent and ardent claims to being ‘people of the book.’ One wonders whether or not Stanley’s numerical success is blinding them to this reality.
In the latter part of 2020, N.A.M.B. distributed yet another book to its many church planters. This work was written by Will Mancini and entitled Church Unique. Mancini follows a familiar pattern of showing poor regard for sound hermeneutics by quoting Proverbs 29:18 from The Message: “When people can’t see what God is up to, they stumble all over themselves.”[xxi] Thankfully, Mancini does note the importance of making sure that one’s vision aligns with Scripture and arises from “a mind saturated with [H]is Word.”[xxii] While these remarks are comforting, Mancini’s understanding of a vision that is biblical still remains human-centered and in this way potentially faulty as its source of authority is extra-biblical. As he puts it, “The vision cannot be separated from the vision caster, and the vision caster cannot separate his message from his life as a model.”[xxiii]
At this point in the discussion, it should be relatively clear that the primacy afforded to vision in the KJV translation of Proverbs 29:18 has had a major impact on multiple megachurch pastors and church growth proponents. The end result has been a weakening in the authority of Scripture as the rightful and foundational source of authority within the Church. Some, like Roberts (an SBC pastor), have even conflated their own vision with the “revelation” as is mentioned in some renderings of Proverbs 29:18. Even supposedly conservative and biblical denominations like the SBC have allowed themselves to be misled and even employed their organization to aid in the spread of the wrongly understood version of Proverbs 29:18 in the KJV. Given this troublesome situation, a careful hermeneutical study of this verse will now be offered. This verse begins with “When there is no vision” (KJV). The word translated as vision (hazon in Hebrew) refers to authoritative utterances given by true prophets of God. Alternative English translations for this term include revelation, word from God, prophetic vision, and prophecy. In regard to the aforementioned phrase in which hazon appears, the writer of Proverbs is referring to any period during that era of biblical history when God’s prophets remained silent. That such times did indeed occur can be seen in 1 Samuel 3:1 NASB1995: “And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions [hazon] were infrequent.” Similar statements about the lack of prophetic utterances can be found in Psalm 74:9 and Lamentations 2:9. At various times in the Old Testament era, threats were even made to withhold these utterances as a punishment for ongoing sinfulness (Amos 8:12; Ezek 7:26).
The next phrase employed in Proverbs 29:18 KJV is “the people perish.” The verb translated here as “perish” (yippara in Hebrew) is the same verb used to describe the Israelites when they became completely out of control (yippara) after having worshipped the golden calf (Ex 32:25). Outside of the KJV, most if not all translators prefer to translate yippara in some similar manner including “run wild” (HCSB), “cast off restraint” (ESV, NIV, NRSV), and “unrestrained” (NASB1995). By interpreting yippara to connote the general idea of disorderliness in line with the versions mentioned in the previous sentence, one discovers that the writer of Proverbs is declaring that people become unrestrained in their behavior when the Word of God is not readily available to serve as a guide. As Paul teaches in Colossians 2:23, worldly regulations alone cannot restrain indulgence.[xxiv]
So far, the study of Proverbs 29:18 has revealed that the KJV rendering of the first part of this verse is poor indeed. From the discussion above, it would be better to translate this part as follows, ‘Where there is no revelation, people become unrestrained.’ The second part of the KJV rendering reads, “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The word translated as “law” (Torah in Hebrew) can indeed mean Holy Writ especially given that it is paired with hazon (revelation). Nevertheless, it is possible that Torah refers to the teaching of the Law and not the Law itself (cf. Jer 18:18). Irrespective of which is preferred, both make it even more clear that Proverbs 29:18 does not have in mind abiblical visions spawning from the minds of modern-day pastors. In conclusion, the original writers of the KJV should be commended for their efforts given the lack of materials available to them during that era. On the other hand, church growth leaders can hardly cling to any such excuse as modern-day translations have so many more manuscripts from which to draw. Unfortunately, many have chosen to use the translation that pushes their own agenda and have ended up exalting their own opinions above the rightful place that should be reserved for the Word of God.
[i]Ebbie C. Smith, Balanced Church Growth (Nashville: Broadman, 1984), 17.
[ii]Ibid., 18.
[iii]Ibid.
[iv]Thom S. Rainer, The Book of Church Growth: History, Theology, and Principles (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1993), 266.
[v]Ibid., 187.
[vi]Ibid.
[vii]Ibid.
[viii]Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Growth without Compromising Your Message & Mission (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 87. Warren’s views regarding the primacy of vision/purpose are supported by many church growth proponents such as James Emory White (Rethinking the Church, p. 31). Authors such as Thom S. Rainer (The Book of Church Growth) only add support when they herald his views as a model for church growth. Throughout many of the resources which discuss church growth in practical terms, Warren’s name proliferates with little if any concern expressed about any potential downsides to any of his ideas. Some, like Ed Stetzer in Viral Churches, willingly promote him by having him author and by default all of his ideas given the dearth of criticism the forward to his book.
[ix]Ibid.
[x]Mark Mittleberg, Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 118.
[xi]Ibid.
[xii]Ibid., 119.
[xiii]Bob Roberts, The Multiplying Church: The New Matrix for Starting New Churches (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 146.
[xiv]Ibid., 145.
[xv]Ibid., 146.
[xvi]Ibid.
[xvii]Ibid.
[xviii]Andy Stanley, Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 274.
[xix]Ibid.
[xx]Ibid.
[xxi]Will Mancini, Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008), 40.
[xxii]Ibid., 74.
[xxiii]Ibid., 170.
[xxiv]As an aside, Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:6 NASB1995 tells his readers, “And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time [man of lawlessness] will be revealed.” While most translators argue that the knowledge Paul is referring to in this verse was only known by his immediate readers, it is possible that Paul is speaking about their knowledge of the Word of God since, as this article demonstrates, Proverbs 29:18 and other verses indicate the restraining power of the Word over and against lawlessness.