Dump man-driven Mission Statements ASAP!
Dump your Mission Statement ASAP!
Mission Statements are a carry over from the Church Growth days of yesteryear. How could we be so deceived as to think we are the ones who determine the Missional Statement for our own church? Where in the Bible do we have any directive or authority to write a Mission Statement for our church? Let me explain!
Mission Statements answer the "what" question! What are we here for and what should we do?
Vision Statements answer the "how" question. How we will fulfill His Mission which is our Mission?
Have you ever considered the fact that we already have our Mission and missional statement? In fact, our mission is the Great Commission (a Co-Mission) between Jesus and His people. If the Great Commission is our Mission than one must assume that it is the most important thing and the very thing we exist for.
Here's the deception: Satan has deceived us into re-writing God's mission for us through writing and re-writing the mission over and over, from pastor to pastor, as if our mission changes over time. Our Mission is clear and it has never nor will it ever change.
Consider: Our Mission is clearly stated in the Great Commission (Matthew 28) and any diversion from that mission is like a watered down cup of coffee with very little impact/boost not to mention sin!
What's your Mission Statement? I would answer: Oh, our mission is clear, we have this Great Commission given to us by Jesus which is a Co-Mission (God and us). We are just doing what Jesus told us to do when Jesus made it a priority when He rose from the dead as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all power and authority as God. It's like Jesus was saying to us, "before I leave, I remind you not to forget the mission".
Now that we have our clear Mission (a great Co-Mission statement) which answers the what question. Let us now turn to the how question. The how question is the Vision Statement. If the Great Commission answers the what question then then the Vision statement answers the how we will accomplish the God-given what.
Jesus tells us what to do in the Great Commission as lived in His life and spoken with His authority. Our only job is to decide how we will do the mission already given to us by Jesus!
It's time that we ditch our man made and cleverly written Mission statements and return to the one and only Great Co-missional statement given to us by Jesus. None of us are capable of topping the mission statement given to us by Jesus! Let's stop the nonsense. Our mission statement says it all because Jesus said it all.
Are you going to dump it? Will you own your God given Mission?
posted by Bob Carder @ 11:22 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Bob and Michelle's house has burned. Bob is in the hospital but is doing good and will recover. For full details got to my Blog. he will not have internet access for a little while and his phone was lost in the fire - I think.
http://sunministries.blogspot.com
I remember saying that all the time in college -- "why do I need a mission statement? I've already got one defined for me."
People looked at me like I was nuts.
Bob,
I heard about the fire from Carl. I'm praying for you and your family.
-Alan
I agree with the basis of this article. However, VISION is the "what" and MISSION is the "HOW!" One cannot know what to do unless there is a vision driving the doing. Vision is born out of "core values." What am I passionate about? What angers me? What will I go to the wall about? When I have a small handfull of these core values, then I can know a vision. The mission describes how to put the vision/values into action. Refer to George Barna's book The Power of Vision.
Anything with our vision/mission statements must be subject to what Christ gave us! The reason we formulate them is to "zero in" on God's specific area of the Great Commission he wants us to accomplish! "Go and make disicples" is really ambiguous. But if every body of believers accomplishes a God-given, specific target of that commission, it will be fulfilled.
ttim wrote: I agree with the basis of this article. However, VISION is the "what" and MISSION is the "HOW!" One cannot know what to do unless there is a vision driving the doing. Vision is born out of "core values." What am I passionate about? What angers me? What will I go to the wall about? When I have a small handfull of these core values, then I can know a vision. The mission describes how to put the vision/values into action. Refer to George Barna's book The Power of Vision.
the planter: I have been rethinking this what and how and do agree that there is a more natural flow out of the fact that Vision is the What and the Mission is the How! This clears things up. Wise and helpful comments.
Hey
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