The Church’s Mission Statement?
January 14th, 2008
(By Jesse Johnson)
A mission statement is a brief statement of the purpose of a company or religious or other organization. Companies sometimes use their mission statement as an advertising slogan, but the intention of a genuine mission statement is to keep members and users aware of the organization’s purpose.
The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise’s purpose for existence. The intent of the Mission Statement should be the first consideration for any employee who is evaluating a strategic decision.
Here is a quiz for you to see if you can recognize which company’s mission statements these are:
1. ”A computer on every desktop and in every home, running our software”
2. Establishing ourselves as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.
3. ”We seek to be the world’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online at a great price.”
4. “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
5. ”Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
6. ”To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people.”
7. “To make people happy.”
The answers, of course are: Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Nike, Google, Wal-Mart, and Disneyland. When an employee at one of those companies makes a decision, they do so in light of their mission statement. This ensures that the whole company is working toward the same end.
If you had a mission statement for your life, what would it be? I propose to you that our mission statement is clearly laid out in Scripture. Many churches, in fact, have a mission statement. But the true mission statement of the church, and the true mission statement for every Christian was not invented at an elder’s meeting or designed by committee. The church’s mission statement was given to us by Jesus himself.
Matthew 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Mark 16:15-16: And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Luke 24:45-48: Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
John 20:21: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Acts 1:8-9: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
So at the end of all four Gospels, as well as at the beginning of Acts, the church is given it’s mission. To reach the lost with the saving power of the Gospel. And with this commission, Jesus makes evangelism an issue of obedience to our mission statement.
Christians are then called to live, think and act in light of our mission statement. We make decisions and choices based on how they will affect our purpose, the reaching and saving of the lost.
Amen. Shouldn’t then the gospel be the center of all we do & preach? Its been greiving me lately that we can go weeks our months without a clear presentation of the gospel, that we are sinners & Jesus died & rose again for those sins.Sometimes I think we assume the gospel and dont make it central. May we all make it our central message we proclaim to fulfill our mission!
This is an important point. God’s purpose for the church is the proclaimation of the Gospel and the edification of the saints.
Any attempt by men (no matter how rightly motivated) to reduced the purpose of the church to a mere slogan seems to cheapen the overall glorious Body that Christ is establishing in His beautiful Bride.
I know where you are going, but it makes me uncomfortable whenever marketing terminology is used in a church context. Perhaps I am overly sensitive to it; but I have been in the marketing business long enough to know people can become slave to a mission statement. Let’s be slave instead to Christ, holding our outreach strategy with in a loose grip. Remember, church marketing is getting a lot of Christians in trouble right now. I am reluctantly in agreement, with a gentle warning.
Chris,
I understand your hesitancy when it comes to marketing and the church. I’ve been in the marketing business as well and your point is well taken.
One thing however, I would like to point out is that our mandate as we can see above is taken from the inspired Word of God not from a business standpoint but from an eternal perspective.
This is the Lord’s mission for us not only “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” as we see in Ephesians 4:12, but the quote from Mark 16:15-16 is critical to our mission as the church as I’m sure you’ll agree.
This is our mandate to preach Christ & His salvation to the world. If no one hears because there is no preacher… then we never get to Ephesians 4:12.
We live in time and a society that makes us suspicious (rightly so) of marketing when it’s associated with church outreach. But regardless of the method of communication, the outreach to the lost must still continue.
Regardless of the term “mission” statement, we all do, I hope live, act and set goals based on the Scriptures. That is a mission, God willing that I pray that I(we) have the courage and strength to persevere in.
Blessings,
Steve Z
Bethel Baptist Church is a community of Christians who joyfully worship God and who actively seek out unchurched people to help them become authentic followers of Jesus Christ.
The above statement is from a church in my home town. The interesting part of it is this…
The pastor has created a goal of reaching “ONE” lost unchurched person per MONTH! He wants to reach a total of 12 people for a whole year. Not sure if this is truly being “active” in seeking out unchurched people.
Brian Culver…
How bout a small favor, for those of us who pastor at Bethel Baptist Churches around the country, let others who come to this blog know your state, or city…
At our Bethel, we call the Great Commission our “mission statement” we preach expositionally, and we take a high view of theology and Scripture because we take a high view of God and we don’t set unfortunate “goals” like that… Maybe I’m over responding… but…
Hi Jesse,
While I tend to agree with what you are saying I have wondered at the lack of exhortations or commendations or rebukes in the rest of the N.T. to churches regarding making disciples. Correct me please if I am missing them but I do not see letters to churches, including the 7 in Revelation, addressing their faithfulness or failure in making disciples.
I believe preaching the gospel and making disciples is part of our purpose but to hold that out as the purpose does not take into account the different places Christians are at in their growth. I do not think a new convert needs to hear exhortations to preach the gospel or make disciples. Those who heard Christ at the end of the four gospels and in the beginning of Acts had been with Christ for years.
I do believe that a new convert and an old convert need to hear that we exist and are to live our lives to the glory of God. Such a purpose should motivate the new convert in dealing with those blatant sins that would hinder their preaching the gospel and motivate the old convert to continue to put sin to death while sharing the good news of eternal life with others.
In Him,
Carl
EFC Santa Rosa
Jesse,
I’m not certain but it seems that you are equating the mission statement of each individual Christian with the mission statement of the church. Would you say this is a fair statement? I would add the following Scripture (I take these as mission statements for me) and would say that the mission statement of individuals is far more broad than the mission statement of the church because the church is only a small part of the kingdom.
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen. 1:28
-and-
“But seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness” Matt 6:33
sorry about that Keith, Galesburg, IL
Carl,
Read John’s post from 1/16 and see if that helps. There are exhortations for Christians, in the epistles–as well as Revelation–to do the work of an evangelist. See 2 Tim 4.5 for a very clear example.
I also don’t think you can keep new believers away from evangelism. Consider many of those who met Jesus, and after they were saved he immediately sent them out to tell their families, their own towns, or those that they were with. I am fond of the expression that if you don’t know enough to evangelize, you probably don’t know enough to be saved.
Thanks Carl,
Jesse
Steve,
Thanks. Read John’s post from today (1/16) to see if that answers your question. Christians are commanded to do more than evangelize, but the point John makes today, which I was hinting at here, is that the main thing we are to do is evangelism. It is not one of many things, but the thing. This is because we are seeking first his kingdom and his glory, and nothing advances his kingdom or reveals his glory as well as evangelism.
Thanks Steve,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Thank you for the reply/conversation. I agree with that saying and I would never want to keep anyone from evangelism.
As Christians we wake each day with the privilege of living life to the Glory of God which includes coming to know Him more and being more conformed to Christ. Evangelism flows from that rather naturally. However,if we hold out evangelism as our purpose we possibly encourage telling to the neglect of living. This, I confess, I believe I have seen often. I have struggled seeing the drive to tell being greater then the drive to conform to Christ since my conversion through the evangelism of a college ministry.
Preaching through the N.T. I have yet to see a concern for the whole church, and not just individuals like Timothy, to evangelize with words. I do believe I see the priority of sound doctrine or knowing and living the gospel.
Enough virtual ink on my part. This is an issue I continue to wrestle with especially as a pastor with a passion for the church. Lord have mercy to Your glory.
Thank you again for your time.
In Him,
Carl
Thanks Carl. One of the other guys here is going to write a longer response that will manifest itself as its own post in the next few weeks. It will chase down the NT commands to the church to be faithful in evangelism. Thanks for prodding us on, and thanks for your faithfulness.
Jesse
Jesse,
Thanks for the direction to John’s 1/16 post. Yes it is his point that our main task is evangelism. But his point is only his opinion, and I don’t see him arguing it from Scripture. That nothing advances His kingdom or reveals His glory as well as evangelism is only an opinion. I do see from Scripture that ONE of our tasks is evangelism, but it is not the only task, and I don’t see from Scripture anywhere that it is the most important.
Following MacArthur’s own logic, if evangelism were the most important thing, God wouldn’t have given us families, property, vocations, education, etc. He stated that Christ’s “ONLY” reason for coming to earth was to seek and save the lost. But 1 John 3:8 says that His purpose was to destroy the works of the devil. I don’t despise evangelism, but want to put it in its proper place in my life.
We need to understand the difference in the word “church”. The purpose of the universal church is that of preaching the gospel to all nations, whereas the purpose of the local church is that of upholding truth and equiping the saints (1 Tim. 3:14-15). The purpose of the local church is not to bring in the lost for evangelism (as today’s seeker-sensitive churches believe), it is to equip the missionaries. The purpose of the universal church (all believers in Christ) is the great commision.
it seems to me that this discourse is divided between the work of the “church” as a whole and the work of the “church” as an individual entity. While both have their marching orders to evangelise the whole world, the local body also has as it role to educate/liftup the body of believers to go out and reproduce the same. Those “shepherds” who choose not to push their”flock” into being “disciples” are guilty of preaching 1/2 of the gospel.