Mission Driven
Phil. 3:13, Revelation 17:17
Let me ask you a question this morning? What drives you? What gets your heart pumping, your mind churning and your hands and feet working? Everybody has something which drives them in their lives. For some it’s their kids, for others it’s their work, for others it may be a hobby like sewing, quilting, painting, golf, hunting or fishing. It might be a cause, a mission or even a ministry. Just as all of us have something in our lives which drive us, the same is true of churches. Every church is driven by something. There is a guiding force, a controlling assumption, a directing conviction or a consuming passion behind everything that happens. It may be unspoken. It may be unknown to many people in the church. Most likely, it’s never been voted on. But it’s there, influencing every aspect of a church’s life.
Some churches are driven by tradition. In those churches the favorite phrase is, “We’ve always done it this way.” Change is seen as negative and sameness is seen as stability. Other churches are driven by personality. In smaller churches, it might be an influential layperson who is the matriarch or patriarch of the church. In larger churches, it might be the charismatic personality of the pastor. Still other churches are driven by finances. The bottom line of every decision is how much does it cost. You often hear in these churches, I remember when we had to choose between paying the pastor or the light bill. Some churches are driven by their buildings and keeping them functioning on one end of the spectrum to pristine on the other. Other churches are driven by programs like Sunday School, the UMW, the choir or the youth program, to name a few. All of the resources are used to maintain and sustain the program of the church.
Yet Jesus didn’t create the church to be driven by any of these. He created the church to be driven by its sole purpose and mission. What’s needed today more than anything else is churches that are driven by purpose instead of by other forces. Strong and effective churches are built on purpose. Plans, personalities and programs don’t last but God’s purposes will last. Nothing precedes purpose. In fact, the foundational question for every church is, “Why do we exist?” Until you know what your church exists for, you have no foundation, no motivation and no direction in your ministry. Growing and effective churches who are making a kingdom difference have a clear cut identity and purpose. They understand their reason for being.
Rick warren states there are five benefits of having a clearly defined purpose or mission. First is that it builds morale. A clearly defined mission enables people to work together for the church’s purpose and avoid arguing over trivial issues. People get excited about working together for a great purpose. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18 And where there is no vision, the people leave for another parish! Second, a clear purpose reduces frustration. God gives “perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in him.” Is. 26:3 A clear purpose not only defines what we are to do but also what we are not to do. The secret of effectiveness is to know what really accounts, do it and then avoid everything else. It also allows decision making to be much easier and far less frustrating. Third, a clear purpose allows concentration. Paul knew the power of a clear purpose when he said, “I am bringing all my energies on this one thing, forgetting what is behind and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Phil. 3:13 A clear purpose allows you to concentrate all a church’s resources and thus have a greater impact. Too many churches are majoring in the minors and not focusing on the main thing. That diverts time, people and money from the most important thing in the life of a church: its purpose. Fourth, a clear purpose encourages cooperation. It gets people behind the purpose and enlists them to work together as a team. For we will get far more done working together than working alone. Lastly, a clear purpose assists evaluation. It allows you to answer the question, “Are we doing what God intended us to do?” and “How well are we doing it?”
Keith Getty, who wrote the hymn “In Christ Alone” says there are three signs of the church on decline. The church becomes decreasingly knowledgeable of God. The church becomes increasing obsessed with itself and the church views every part of the spiritual walk for what they can get out of it. Our first value, to be mission driven, says profoundly that we will know God and His will for us and our life together will be about others and what we will give back to God. That’s what “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus”, is all about. Living Mission is valued by us because we live to fulfill God’s vision and purpose for our life together. A mission driven church does not exist for herself. It exists for others. But what does that really mean and how is that lived out.
First, mission driven churches stay connected to God on purpose. When you read the book of Acts, you find that early church prayed. Repeatedly two phrases described their life: “and they prayed” and “and when they prayed.” They prayed for themselves, others, enemies, guidance, healing, wisdom, and leaders. They prayed in the streets, in houses, on rooftops, on the shore, in a boat and in the Temple. They prayed specifically at 9 AM and at midnight and every time in between. They prayed individually, and in small and large groups. Prayer helps us to know the Father and His will for our life together. If the Biblical record shows us one thing about ourselves it is that we are a willful and rebellious people, who frequently choose our desires over God’s. Prayer enables us to keep our thoughts and our desires in line with that of God. “The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ." (Philippians 4:5-7, RSV) Not only does prayer open the communication between us and God for guidance, it also enables God more fully to use us because we place ourselves in step with His purpose.
Second, mission driven churches make decisions on purpose. Most churches work like this. A person comes up with an idea. They present it to the Board and it gets approved. Then another person comes up with another different but good idea. And before long you have a web programs which compete for the resources of time, talents and treasures and sooner or later will conflict with one another. The reason? There was no overarching basis upon which to make any decisions in ministry. Mission driven churches make every decision based on one question: How will this help us accomplish our mission? Gretna UMC is mission driven to become a multi-ethnic congregation. That’s why we went through a 7 month revisioning process to clarify that vision, why we have changed our worship experience, why we have hired the staff we have, why we have made changes to our campus, and on and on. Every change in the last 2 years has been about helping us accomplish our mission.
Third, mission driven churches seek alignment on purpose. Being mission driven means every ministry, every small group, every part of the music ministry and every staff member are aligned and working for the mission of the church. In many respects, it’s like a car. For it to run at peak performance, all of the engine’s cylinders must be firing together. If one begins to misfire, it creates resistance and actually begins to work against the car making progress in travel and thus diminishing its performance. That’s why you have to get a tune up every year to align everything in the car to work at peak performance. The same is true for a mission driven church. Unless we are constantly pursuing the vision in every aspect of our life together, things can get off track in a hurry. Every ministry must know how and what they are contributing to the pursuit of God’s vision for Gretna UMC. When everyone in the church is working together, we become an unstoppable force.
Fourth, mission driven churches budget on purpose. The quickest way to discover a church’s priorities is to look at its budget. The way we spend our money shows what is really important to us, regardless of what we claim to believe. Every dollar spent will need to be justified in how it contributes to fulfilling the mission of the church. Every line item in the budget must be categorized according to the purpose and strategy of the church it supports or relates to. If Gretna UMC claims our mission is our purpose, then we need to back that up by funding the mission with every dollar we have.
Fifth, mission driven churches calendar on purpose. Just as balancing your check book shows your priorities, how you spend your time reveals your priorities as well. Mission driven churches are intentional about what ministries and programs they schedule and when they schedule it. If a church is going to accomplish its mission, then it needs to commit the people and the man hours to it. Otherwise, the mission will never be accomplished.
Sixth, mission driven churches structure on purpose. The structure we currently have in place in our church was handed down from the national governing body of the UM church, General Conference. It was created and passed in 1968 and was based on the structure we saw developing in corporate America. There were two problems with this. First, it came from the world which is about making money and serving its own needs and second, the General Conference cannot know or understand the unique mission of each church and its ministry context. This is one reason why since 1968 we have seen the UM church decline from 12 million members to less than 8 millions. You get the results you structure for. So in 2000 realizing our world and culture had changed dramatically, the General Conference gave permission to the local church to structure itself to best allow the church to accomplish its mission. Mission driven churches structure themselves to best accomplish their purpose. In the next few months, we will be looking at how we can and should structure ourselves to help us accomplish our mission.
Seventh, mission driven churches evaluate on purpose. To remain effective as a church in an ever-changing world, a mission driven church must continually evaluate what you do. You have to build review and revision into your life as a church and make sure you evaluate for excellence. The purpose is the standard by which you evaluate effectiveness. Having a purpose without any practical way to review results would be like NASA planning a moonshot without a tracking system. You’ll be unable to make mid-course corrections and will probably miss your target. In fact, NASA made mid-course corrections every 30 seconds when they went to the moon. So evaluation needs to occur not just at the end of the year, because you may be too far off course to get back on without a lot of disruption and wasteful expenditures of resources. Instead, evaluation needs to be constant, at least quarterly if not monthly. Mission driven churches continually ask, “What is our business?” and “How’s business?”
Rick Warren tells the story of his dad who was a pastor for over 50 years serving mostly small rural churches. His dad was not simply a preacher but was a man with a mission. He loved taking teams of volunteers overseas to build churches. In his lifetime he built over 150 churches around the world. In the final week of his dad’s life the disease kept him awake in a semi-conscious state nearly 24 hours a day. As he dreamed, he’d talk out loud about what he was dreaming. Sitting by his bedside, Rick Warren learned a lot about his dad just listening to his dreams. He relived one building project after another. One night near the end while Rick and his wife and niece were by his side, his dad suddenly became very active and tried to get out of the bed. Of course he was too weak and Rick’s wife insisted he lay back down. But he persisted in trying to get out of the bed so Rick’s wife asked, “Jimmy what are you trying to do?” He replied “Got to save one more for Jesus”, Got to save one more for Jesus, Got to save one more for Jesus. He repeated that phrase over and over again. During the next hour he said that phrase over a 100 times. Got to save one more for Jesus. As Rick sat beside his dad’s bed tears roll down his cheeks, he bowed his head and thanked God for His dad’s faith. At that moment his dad reached out and placed his frail hand on his head and said, as if commissioning him. “Save one more for Jesus.” Save one more for Jesus.” Mission driven churches align everything they have, everything they do and everything they are with God’s purpose to save one more for Jesus. This is what it means to be mission driven.
