THURSDAY 15th MARCH 1984

WORLD VISION'S KEY OBJECTIVE - PART I

READING:  Romans 12:4-5               English - Valerie   Chinese -  Raymond

4  For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function,
5  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

COMMENTARY                                  - Stephen

When Support Offices of World Vision have tried to summarize their purpose in a single statement they have often referred to the "fundraising" aspect of their work.  So, World Vision of Australia says that its purpose is to "raise the maximum funds with the minimum overhead".

This is a good objective, but it limits the way we should think about our work.  Furthermore it confuses the way we work (our method) with why we work (our purpose).  World Vision's key objective in Support Offices is much more than simply raising funds, just as World Vision's key objective in Field Countries is much more than simply spending funds.

Our President-elect, Tom Houston, has been suggesting a new way for us to define our purpose.  He has come up with a statement which we might apply to World Vision wherever it exists - in support or field.  Here is how Mr Houston suggests we should describe our purpose:

The key objective of World Vision is;

• to glorify God;
• by enabling people to work, pray and give;
• to increase the number and spread, in every country in the world;
• of those who know Jesus Christ;
• and follow him;
• in his care of children;
• in his concern for the neighbour;
• in his preaching of the good news of the Kingdom;
• and in his selection and training of leaders.

NEWS

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help each one of us, as parts of World Vision, to glorify you by enabling people to work, pray and give, to increase the number and spread, in every country of the world, of those who know Jesus Christ and follow him in his care of children, in his concern for the neighbour, in his preaching of the good news of the Kingdom, and in his selection and training of leaders.
In Jesus' Name we pray. A-men

POST-SCRIPT

I think this was the first attempt to rewrite WV's Key Objective since the internationalisation process a decade earlier. Later I served on a Task Force to do it again, and when I became CEO of World Vision Australia, the rewriting of our Key Objective (by then fashionably called the "Mission Statement") proved to be a major activity in corporate culture management. Using  Tom Houston's new KO as devotional material was a way of managing culture in the Hong Kong office at this time - as was all our devotional time.

I think this was the first attempt to rewrite WV's Key Objective since the internationalisation process a decade earlier. Later I served on a Task Force to do it again, and when I became CEO of World Vision Australia, the rewriting of our Key Objective (by then fashionably called the "Mission Statement") proved to be a major activity in corporate culture management. Using  Tom Houston's new KO as devotional material was a way of managing culture in the Hong Kong office at this time - as was all our devotional time.