Yesterday, a good friend and I had the opportunity to drive to Albuquerque and hear Brian Jones, pastor of Christ Church of the Valley in Philly. Brian had many good things to say. Perhaps I'll blog about a few in the coming weeks. If you ever get a chance to hear him, don't hesitate. Sadly, he's called it quits on the blog (although he was encouraged to begin again yesterday :).
One of the things I was struck with yesterday was how important we make mission statements in the local church. It seems the church always has to have the latest and "greatest" mission statment. The leadership provides some catchy saying in an attempt to get others to understand what the church is all about. What hit me yesterday is: Why do we (as the Church) use such things to market who we are? If we're being the church, hasn't our mission statement already been established?
Don't get me wrong. I've bought into the necessity of mission statement before. In the churches I've pastored, we've used A Real Church In a Real World serving a Real God, Reaching Up Reaching Out Reaching In, and now At the Heart of the Community with the Community at Heart.
Here's the problem: If we're trying to be the church and not allow the corporate world to inundate what we're doing, why do we need to establish a catchy saying so that it will sound cool and look good with our logo? Why not return to what we're supposed to be about? Why not have a mission simple enough so that everyone remembers and understands, while at the same time, it's not something we've created? Wasn't it Jesus who established His mission statement (and ours) as Love God and Love Others?
Sounds like a pretty good mission statement to me. What are your thoughts?
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7 comments:
I can totally understand your points yet I think mission statements can united staff, leadership and an entire congregation to be united in purpose. Yet we shouldn't leave room for God's Holy Spirit to move and work in our lives. Not limit the power of God. I hope you understand my point. Great topic and post. Keep up the great work brother! :-)
I hear ya Kinney. The leadership here is currently discussing core values, vision, strategy etc. I've only been here 4 months so it's been a good exercise.
That said, sometimes I think the church is so caught up in marketing that we forget our mission statement was established by Jesus. It's important to to work under the same umbrella of strategy etc. But I wonder if the laypersons might get confused by some catchy phrase. Why not have them focus on loving God and loving others?
I trust you understand my point as well.
Blessings,
Mike
ignore the mission statement
listen to God
I can see that mission statements can help a congregation to get on the same page, but, if we can't be unified under Jesus' own mission statement, how can we unite under some catch phrase? We already have a mission statment, To seek and save that which is lost."
You came to Abq and did not even tell me that Brian Jones was coming!
Thanks for stopping by Nancy.
"Listen to God" - that's good advice.
Blessings,
Mike
Totally agree Cheryl!
Oops...didn't know when you were headed West. It would have been good to meet you and the other half.
Brian was great. If you get a chance, go hear what he has to say!
Mike
A tough one. I do like your pointer to "the Jesus Creed" of loving God and loving others. And of course Scripture fills in how we're to do that.
We're here on mission in Jesus, that an important reason why we're left behind.
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