Mission Statements for churches

Let me start by asking for some space because I don't think I'm capable of understanding the difference between a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement. It seems I'm always using the wrong term when I'm in the presence of someone who understands the difference. It's like the difference between the word "pen" and "pin". With my background being a child of a 1st generation Scottish immigrants, pen and pin sound exactly the same to me and I sure say them the same way. So Mission and Vision statements sure seem like carbon copies to me.

Anyway, here's the point.

I understand clear mission statements because a mission statement has a built in tool of measurement. For example, if you ask an NFL team during training camp, "What's your mission", they'll tell you "Winning the Super Bowl".

How do you know if you accomplished your mission?
Well, that's two parts. One, check and see if you got to the Super Bowl. If you got knocked out during the playoffs, then you did not accomplish your mission. If you did make the SB, then check the scoreboard at the end of the game. If you scored more points than the other team, then you won and therefore you accomplished your mission and it's time to find a new mission.

I seem to want churches to have clear mission statements that lend themselves to a reasonable determination of whether or not you've accomplished your mission.

However, most of the mission statement that I read are so esoteric, and vague, I can't figure out a way to see if the church is actually making progress.

How about another example, (since I am sure I'm reallly messing this up badly). Let's say that a church has a Mission Statement that says "Our goal is to grow Sunday morning atendance by 25% each year for the next 5 years. Grow participation in Sunday School by 10% each year for the next 5 years. Grow participation in Home Groups by 20% each year for the next 5 years.

Now I know that healthy church growth is not merely about numbers. And I'm not saying that numbers should be the #1 goal of a church. But a) this is an example and b) it is a goal that is measureable because it has numbers that can be targeted and dates that are stated. PLUS, in my opinion, it has a built in reason to celebrate it's accomplishment.

Continuing with the example, if a church started with 200 people in weekly attendance, if 60 months later, the average attendance is and you've got 610 people in attendance, then you've met your goal and it is time to celebrate, and celebrate big.

Am I asking too much for a church to have a clear mission statement that is plain enough for me to know that we've accomplished it and therefore it's time to celebrate and choose our next mission?

It's my fear that churches that don't have a CLEAR mission statement are churches that are somewhat direction-less and have trouble making progress of any sort.

I'd also be interested in reading your church's MS or VS (which ever is appropriate) and read your thoughts on it's relevance and its ability to provide direction to your church.

Thanks!

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Michael Blakley on 10-23-2008 at 01:45.

Christ the King Community Church - Bellingham, WA.

Vision Statement
To be a real church that equips real people to serve the real God in a real world.

Mission Statement:
To create an authentic Christian community that effectively reaches out to un-churched people in love, acceptance, and forgiveness so that they may know the joy of salvation and a purposeful life of discipleship.

We've had the same Mission Statement in all 21 years of our existence. God has blessed this mission, as we've gone from a church of 58 people to having 5,000 in Bellingham We've planted 80-something churches around the world as well.

You've got a great point, Michael - without a stated mission that is both made known and kept primary, it is easy for any group of people (churches especially) to get stuck.

__________________
My Church
My Other Ministry

Why are church mission statements so inspiring? I've come to believe that most church mission statements are not from God. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they are from Satan (per se). They just don't sound like something God would ask people to do.

Here are some biblical missions from God:

"Leave your home, and go somewhere I'm not going to tell you."

"Marry a whore."

"Go speak My love to people you hate."

"Die on a cross."

Not nearly as inspiring as your standard church "Seek, Save, Serve, etc." statement. Yet from God. Just a curious observation.

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music maker, dream dreamer

Ike, do you think there might be something to the fact that the mission statements from God that you listed were all given to individuals, not groups? Taking up the cross and following looks different for different people. It's hard to whittle that down into a short statement that is equally challenging to all.

In fact, maybe a good one would simply be, "Taking up our crosses and following Him".

I agree, though...something like that is still not as "feel-good" as you normally hear.

__________________
Shane Coffman
Worship Minister
Memorial Drive Church of Christ
Tulsa, Oklahoma

That's a good point. Here's the deal: I would think whether we are talking about one person or 1,000 people, the principle of the idea would be, "Be like Jesus."

I'm thinking like 2 Corinthians 4:10-12: We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

"Our mission is to carry Jesus' death around."

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music maker, dream dreamer

Maybe a better mission statement would be 1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Ike knows I love him as a brother and we've shared many great times together face-to-face - so to those that don't know our friendship, I wanted you to know that we love each other so that you don't read too much into this post.

Ike...
I disagree with what I think is the premise of your post, which is that if our mission is a direct quote from Jesus in Scripture, it's not a worthy mission.

To operate as so is to assume that the Spirit of God is no longer active and working.

To operate as so is to assume that the only way God speaks to us is through the printed texts passed down through the generations and translated to you and me.

***Let me make it clear that I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that is the final say, the thing that trumps any other "word from the Lord" that we might think we are hearing***

I would also point out what was said already - Jesus was speaking directly to people in specific situations, and while His words are no less true, He might have a different mission in mind for me to specifically live out than for you - and the same is true of our churches.

Yes, churches use business language, and that stinks... but the language does "speak the language" of the average person who attends that church - at least it does to mine. Having our stated mission gives us permission to say "no" to certain ideas, events, or projects that would distract us from our ultimate goal of using small groups as a vehicle to reach our county.

While it's true that the closer Jesus got to the Cross, the smaller the crowd was around Him.... but now that we are on the other side of the Cross and know how the story is going to end, I think it's expectied of us to make the crowd following Jesus as large as possible. If our missions statements are helping (and I believe my church's is) to accomplish that, then what is altogether bad about it?

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My Church
My Other Ministry

Sam said:

quote:

I love him as a brother...

Here is the truest statement you will read in this thread. Even if Sam didn't know me personally, I think his response is an excellent example of respectful disagreement which is what makes discussion boards interesting and helpful.

Sam said:

quote:

I disagree with what I think is the premise of your post, which is that if our mission is a direct quote from Jesus in Scripture, it's not a worthy mission.

I did not express my premise well; If that were my premise, I would disagree with me too. Consistency with the heart of Scripture: important. Echo the language of Scripture: wonderful, but not necessary.

Here is my premise (with tongue partially inserted in cheek): God's commissions to his servants in the Bible were often considered by those servants to be not just uninspiring, but frankly an awful mission or simply a wrong thing to do. I don't read church mission statements that echo the severe and unlikely call of God to die. They seem too easy to accept to be from God.

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music maker, dream dreamer

Vision and Mission

I'm not a big fan on V & M statements either, although I recognize the need for a group of people to know what they want or what they have in common in order to allow them to function together. So here's Quail's V & M:

Our Vision is to become a community of believers fully devoted to God and his purposes in the world by sharing in the ministry of Jesus Christ through the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit.

Our Mission is proclaiming and living the love of Jesus Christ through an authentic community offering salvation to the lost, encouragement and growth to the saved and healing to the wounded and brokenhearted.

So the Vision is the long range (hopefully unchanging) goal of the group and the Mission is what we do to show that we're moving toward the Vision. I didn't write our statements. There are lots of ways (some simpler/some more complicated) to say the same thing. We narrow ours down to a memorable few words that captures the essence of both statements:

Loving God, Growing Believers, Serving Others and Sharing Jesus

Love, Grow, Serve and Share

Ike, you may not like that. However, it is absolutely from God much like Jesus summation of the Law and Prophets into two simple commands. Once you flesh out what Loving God means according to Jesus you find out that it means dying to self and loving your enemies, etc.

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Gary Bruce
Worship Minister
Family of God at Quail Springs
Bruce Family Website

"Bloom where you're planted."

If I understand what Ike is saying, mission statements are the warm and squishy way of explaining a mission that generally should make us uncomfortable, and if I've come to understand God's missions for us on earth, if we're perfectly comfortable doing it, we probably don't quite understand what God is telling us to do.

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There are some who call me...Tim
WWW.VOCALPERC.COM

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Tim Lewis on 06-11-2009 at 06:58.

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Thanks,
Sam Middlebrook

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Chrish_Tiyan on 09-05-2009 at 07:04.