Getting Clear about Mission and missions
What is Mission These Days?
Is "Mission"
- sending emergency aid to Nepal?
- marching in a demonstration against police brutality?
- driving for Meals on Wheels?
- lobbying your member of Congress for a cause you are passionate about?
Or something else or all of these and a lot more?
I think it's really important for a congregation to be clear about God's calling. (regular readers of this newsletter and clients know that I emphasize this!) Who does God yearn for this church to be at this time and place? Why should you even be in business???
Clarity about your calling leads to a clear sense of your purpose. This is Mission - with a capital "M".
In my January newsletter I suggested that sometimes it's better to clarify short term priorities before undertaking a Major Mission study. I have found that leaders sometimes back into more clarity about God's call by identifying immediate priorities.
An inner city church in Baltimore might have had a de-facto Mission of simply surviving but since the death of Freddie Gray and the subsequent violence and rioting, realized that God had bigger plans for it. Perhaps God was yearning for that church to be an oasis in which people might talk with one another and figure out ways of rebuilding a fractured community. Or perhaps it might discern that God wanted business and governmental leaders to be much more creative and assertive in generating good jobs for those who can learn to be skilled workers.
So a specific mission (lower-case "m") might be empowering a school teacher to be God's person in and out of the classroom. Projects such as those I cited initially are mission efforts.
What is crucial is that your mission projects be consistent with your Mission, i.e. sense of God's greater calling to the congregation. If you are clear about your Mission, then you can decide which mission projects you attempt and which you don't.
Are members of your congregation attempting to continue doing mission projects that they've been doing for 30 years or more just because your church has always done them? If so, are you having trouble finding volunteers to do all those tasks?
Tony Robinson, in Transforming Congregational Culture, notes that in our post-Christendom era "the church is once again seeing that "mission" is not a department, a budget, the activity of a designated "mission" committee or the transfer of resources overseas. ... (It) is inside our sanctuaries as we engage there in the work of changing, healing, and transforming, and of sorting out gospel values from Western culture and its values." (p. 74)
What he and others assert is that we need to be about the task of equipping church members to be in ministry as God's people wherever they are. This equipping will involve both strengthening worship and spiritual growth within the congregation but it is most certainly not limited to the congregation.
So a specific mission emphasis might involve your church members getting involved with the juvenile justice system in your community. It might mean helping people grow in their cultural understanding so they might build community with immigrants to the U.S. It might mean helping older and younger members deal more creatively with the challenges of age and infirmity. Mature executives might help younger leaders deal with the ethical and moral dimensions of being a leader.
And then there's that thing called love. I think it's both ironic and pathetic that McDonald's promises a sense of love ("I'm lovin' it) as a result of patronizing its establishments. What a vision: love under the golden arches!
One of the church's most important missions is to reach out to the many who are looking for authentic and loving relationships. And tragically, so many congregations don't know how to demonstrate that love to a newcomer.
Rachel Held Evans, writing in the Washington Post, addresses what churches can do to attract Millennials in this column . Noting that some 60% of young adults have opted out of church, she describes some of the whiz-bang shows that are attempting to win them back and then asserts that young adults aren't looking for rock concerts. They are looking for authentic relationships and a deep quest for divine mystery. "If young people are looking for congregations that authentically practice the teachings of Jesus in an open and inclusive way, then the good news is the church already knows how to do that. The trick isn't to make church cool; it's to keep worship weird... What finally brought me back, after years of running away, wasn't lattes or skinny jeans; it was the sacraments. Baptism, confession, Communion, preaching the Word, anointing the sick - you know, those strange rituals and traditions Christians have been practicing for the past 2,000 years. The sacraments are what make the church relevant, no matter the culture or era. They don't need to be repackaged or rebranded; they just need to be practiced, offered and explained in the context of a loving, authentic and inclusive community."
Such churches are clear about their Mission. And their missions.
Be clear about what God's yearning for your church is. That's your Mission. Then empower members to reach out in lots of mission efforts in the Spirit of Christ.
I would welcome the opportunity to help you clarify both your Mission and what mission efforts would carry out that Mission. If you would like some help to grow as a leader, I encourage you to consider coaching, either one on one or in a group. Most of my coaching is done by phone in order to minimize commuting but I make exceptions. Further, phone coaching makes it possible for me to have clients who live many miles away. If you find this article helpful and think it might be helpful to a friend, please forward my newsletter to that friend using the "Forward to a Friend" button. |