“Many churches do not have a clear sense of God’s vision for ministry. Until that vision is clarified, articulated and owned by the congregation as their very heart-beat—as the thing they want to be most obedient to, as something they want to exude tremendous passion for—the church is really going to struggle. If there’s no such vision or mission, you become just a caretaker church. You merely put in your time. And we really don’t need that type of church.”
I think Barna's comments are applicable to many congregations today. Every church needs to regularly ask itself some identifying questions, "What is our mission?" "What is the reason for our existence?" "What do we have a passion for?" "What is the heartbeat of our congergation?"
Many congregations have never articulated this. It's true that a lot of us have our own ideas of what the church should be about but somehow we've never come together to arrive at that common heart-beat that must define us.
I don’t think we have to launch some extravagant or complex strategic planning session to arrive at the answer to these questions. Nor do I think its necessary to devise or develop some catchy phrase or slogan. The answer is found right before us in scripture. Listen as Jesus describes the works of his disciples in Matthew 25:31-45.
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"
When you boil it all down our mission, given by God Himself, comes down to one simple concept - "Honoring God through Blessing Others.” The old saying in indeed true. “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
That's The Way I See It
