For those of you that have read my posts lately, you know that I recently wrote about "the main thing" that we should be focused on in our churches. I many ways, this builds upon that. This is actually something I've thought about before, but it came up again yesterday after listening to another conversation and perspective on the now infamous General Conference 2012.
If you know me then you you know how much I push simple. I believe we make things in life, and especially church, way too complicated. And maybe, maybe I'm being too simplistic here. Stay with me.
As a denomination, our mission statement is "To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." Pretty straight forward. That would be the "main thing" as found in the great commission. So I ask the question: why do all of our churches spend hours and debates to come up with their own mission statement, and often bad ones at that. Shouldn't this be the mission statement for all of our churches; for The Church?
Here are 2 definitions of a mission statement: 1) A summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, or individual. 2) a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. Hmmm, shouldn't the purpose of every church be to make disciples?
Maybe I am being to simplistic here. I understand context varies greatly. Maybe you might include your community in the statement. For example at my church: "As a United Methodist Church in eastern Independence, the mission of Christ UMC is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." I'm not sure that location is important. It might be a detriment. But you get my point.
How do we live that message out? Well, I often say that Jesus gave us His mission statement in Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. he sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." If it was good for Jesus...
I hear again and again about the importance of alignment. I happen to agree with this. Is a common mission statement that bad of an idea? Or does it refocus us on the main thing?
What do you think?
Chris
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2 comments:
Well done Chris! I just read this to Terry and he agrees. I wonder sometimes if mission statements are really written to flaunt our exclusivity with ex-clusive the "root word" rather than in-clusive. We all have this need to somehow be different or "hey WE"RE really the special ones" completely forgetting the what the great "CO- mission" means.Gotta go out into the world-
Stay simple, Ellen Morris
Chris,
Jim is always giving me weird looks when I tell him to keep things SIMPLE. I am a traditionalist because of my age and upbringing; however, our "pea-sized brains" can only handle so much at a time. Quality far exceeds quantity in any issue of our life here on earth and the ever after. I feel badly about not being able to enjoy the contemporary service as I cannot hear nor feel any music nor understand the words of songs. This is my problem, not anyone elses. Many of us want to help others know Christ, but we do not necessarily know how to do that. As a pastor, that is where your job begins with us as your sheep. Ellen is right, the Great Commission should be our main focus within our congregation and our lives.
Lord, show me how to serve you, my Lord.
Buttons Jimerson
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