How do you get people to believe in your vision when you’re starting a new ministry?

Okay, you need to have a sweet mouth. 😂 As funny as that sounds, there is some truth in it.

When you are starting a new ministry, people don’t automatically care about your vision the way you care about it. You are the one who saw the vision. They didn’t see it. So why would you expect them to immediately become as passionate about it as you are?

You have to sell the vision to them.

And when I say sell the vision, I don’t mean manipulate people. I mean you have to be able to communicate the vision in such a way that people can see where you are going and understand how they can be part of it.

People want to know, “What are we trying to achieve here? What is God helping us to build? Where do I fit into this? What difference will this make?”

At the beginning, the vision may not be speaking for itself yet. There may not be a big crowd. There may not be impressive results. There may not even be much to show people. So the leader has to keep communicating what they see until the vision begins to speak through the results.

And you have to show passion consistently.

It’s not enough to tell people on the first day, “This is what God has given me,” and then three months later they don’t see that same fire in you. People are watching you. They are watching your commitment, your discipline, your preparation and the way you respond when things are not working the way you expected.

Because at the beginning, you are the major evidence of the vision.

Not that you are the ministry itself, but you are the person through whom everyone is seeing the ministry. You are the one who saw what others didn’t see. So if you are careless about it, why should they take it seriously?

And you also need to keep improving yourself as a leader. You cannot be asking people to grow while you remain the same person. As the ministry grows, you have to grow with it—spiritually, in leadership, in communication, in knowledge and in your ability to handle people.

And then, pray.

You can communicate the vision beautifully and still need God to touch people’s hearts. Pray that God will bring the right people, give them understanding and keep their hearts from becoming weary.

Nehemiah is a good example of this. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he didn’t just start shouting, “This is my vision; everybody follow me.” He explained what was happening and told the people about God’s hand upon him. Then the people responded, “Let us rise up and build” (Nehemiah 2:17–18).

He helped them see what he had already seen.

So if you’re starting a ministry, don’t be frustrated because people aren’t immediately as passionate about the vision as you are.

Keep communicating it. Keep living it. Keep improving yourself. Keep showing them where they fit into it. Keep praying. And keep building.

Eventually, the vision that was once only in your heart will begin to become something they can see, touch and believe in too.