Without a Vision the people perish?

The Naked Pastor has written about vision, and how he sees no need for one.  And I have argued with him!  A couple of days ago he resigned from his post and among the posts he made he included this:

One of the most deadly influences on a community is agenda. In my opinion, it should be enough to gather together to study the bible, pray, worship and fellowship.

and suddenly I got it.  Now, I might argue that what he describes is a vision, but I can see his point about agenda - as soon as someone decides what it is that the church is going to "do" there is risk of division.  Perhaps I am misreading his intention, but if someone is deciding these things, rather than releasing individuals to follow their passions, then at that point we are in trouble.

My Bishop has recently written about dismounting a dead horse - and so often in Churches we see activities continuing because no one is prepared to stop them.  I remember some essay writing advice:

you have to be prepared to murder your babies

and I think that the same applies to everything that a church is doing.

That said I still think that there is a place for vision in church - just not that autocratic kind.