Strategic churches have a handle on who they are, why they exist and where they are going. Their direction is usually summarized in their church mission statement. The best mission statements are simple, concise and easy to remember. It should also encompass the global purposes of every church, which include loving God, loving others, outreach and discipleship. 

Check out my previous posts explaining what a mission statement is and how to build it!
 

Church Mission Statement Examples

• to experience the love of Jesus and give it away Elim Gospel Church
  

• Helping people take their next step toward Christ…together. Granger Community Church
  

• People leading People into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Mobberly Baptist Church

• To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. LifeChurch.tv

• We exist to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus. Pathways Church

• Know Jesus and Make Jesus Known, City on a Hill Church

• God’s Family Pursuing God’s Kingdom, Celebration Church

• Reach Up, Reach Out and Reach In, Fellowship Church

• To make the name of Jesus famous in our generation. National Community Church

• to Revive believers, Reach friends and Renew culture. Prism Church

What is YOUR church’s mission statement?

Wordsmithing can be a very intimidating and challenging task, even for the most experienced writers. This is even more true when leaders want to draft their church’s mission statement. The hope is to define a statement that will be memorable and simple, but that will also express the heart and purpose of the local church. Gone are the days of mission statements that are 5, 7 or 12 paragraphs. A good mission statement today should be one sentence! Below are a few recommendations to help leaders accomplish this important activity. Enjoy!

1. Do it together. 

Defining your mission statement should be a team sport. Pull together select leaders, elders or deacons to engage the conversation with you. Strategic thinking is much easier with a team!

2. Pray. 

The best guide and leader is the Holy Spirit. Invite the Presence of God into the room and let Him bring unity and clarity to the conversation.

3. Start from Scratch.

You may have a mission statement already. I suggest you consider setting it aside and begin afresh. The process of revisiting why you do what you do will bring clarity to your church and either confirm or clarify if your current statement is relevant or not.

4. Ask, “Why are we here?”.

This is the question your mission statement will eventually answer. Why does your church exist?

5. Make it Biblical

The Scriptures are our guide. Consequently, all church mission statements should reflect a few of the same clearly defined purposes of the local church: Loving God, Loving Others, Discipleship and Outreach. There may be more, but I recommend you ensure you aren’t missing those elements!

6. Brainstorm and Refine. 

You will want to do a lot of brainstorming and a lot of refining. Develop lists of ideas, words and sentences. Categorize them, refine them, and update them. You may go through this process several times. There will also be key words that resonate with you and your team. Note them and set them aside for future consideration. You may not use them all, but you will want to consider them when you get to the final stages of your statement construction.

7. Don’t confuse Values with Mission.

Don’t confuse your core values with your mission statement. For instance, you hopefully have a core value of being bible-based. That shouldn’t be part of your mission statement. You probably have a value of being caring or generational, etc. Those should be summarized in a list of vision statements rather than in the mission statement. Similarly, don’t confuse mission with beliefs – those should remain in your Statement of Faith.

8. Keep it Simple and Brief.

This is the perhaps the hardest part (well, the second hardest). Allen Cox defined a mission as ‘an organization’s brief, compelling statement of purpose.’ I recommend your mission statement be one sentence or no more than two sentences – and if possible short ones. Don’t use a lot of adjectives, Christianeze, or run-on sentences. Also, if it requires an extra paragraph explaining the reasoning behind something, it’s too complicated. 

9. Evaluate EVERY Word. 

That’s right. When you near the end of the process you should ask yourselves if every word accurately reflects what you want to say and why. You will also evaluate whether every word is necessary or not.

10. Make it Memorable.

I said above that making the statement brief is the second hardest part. This is probably the hardest for most of us. It needs to be memorable. Something that almost rolls off your tongue. Easy to remember. There’s no point in having a mission statement if your congregation can’t remember it. 

What other tips can you think of to streamline this process?

When I was in high school I was hired to pick rock. It was an inglorious job. Hard labor. Long hours. Sore back. The only consolation I had (besides $5/hour) was in knowing the field would eventually be prepped for planting and farming. One day after finishing up a field, the farmer asked me and a buddy to start picking rock in a neighboring field that looked like it never had, nor ever would be, used to grow anything. It was not only full of stones and rocks, it was very uneven. I don’t know if he truly had plans to eventually do something meaningful with that land, or if he just knew I had an hour left on the clock and was trying to keep me busy. I remember asking the question, “Why are we doing this?” It was so demotivating. It felt like a waste of my time. At least when I was picking rock in the other fields I had a halfway good idea of “why” I was doing it. 

I wonder how many people feel the same way about serving at church? 

Unless people know WHY they are doing something and that “why” touches their innate desire to make a difference, they won’t be motivated to do it. Your church mission statement should connect the dots between people’s service and the church’s mission. I’m not talking about some wordy paragraph sitting in the church constitution or hiding on a website. I’m talking about an active, alive mission that everyone knows and wants to rally behind.

Defining, refining, and incorporating your mission into the daily life of your church can be one of the most healthy and strategic things you can do this year. Following are a few reasons (thanks to Aubrey Malphurs for some of these) why you should consider drafting (or re-drafting) your church mission:

1. Mission dictates ministry direction.

When you have a mission statement, you have somewhere to go. Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.” 

2. Mission formulates ministry function.

You will never do ministry that matters until you define what matters. Your mission will help you clarify, “What are we supposed to be doing?” 

3. Mission focuses the ministry’s future.

A mission gives you and your congregation something tangible to focus on. It defines you and gives you a hope for what is to come. The opposite is true as well. Without a mission statement the future will look fuzzy and out of focus. You won’t really know for sure where you are going or what you are aiming for.

4. Mission provides guidelines for decision making.

Mission is to ministry what a compass is to a navigator. It provides a framework for critical thinking and decision making.

5. Mission inspires ministry unity.

A mission statement can draw your members together as a team or community. It broadcasts, ‘Here is where we are going. Let’s all pull together and with God’s help make it happen.’

6. Mission shapes strategy.

It’s really hard to create and implement strategic plans and steps when you don’t have a target to aim at. Your mission provides the basic framework for strategy.

7. Mission shapes ministry effectiveness.

There would be no point, in the scheme of things, to draft a mission if it didn’t have the high potential to improve your overall effectiveness. It does. Studies show that organizations that have and operate from a well drafted mission statement are much more likely to succeed than those that don’t.

8. Mission ensures an enduring organization.

When you have a mission that the whole church knows and believes in, you have something that will last through multiple pastors and leaders and for years and years to come. It brings consistency and continuity to your church’s future.

9. Mission facilitates evaluation.

We’ve all heard it said, ‘You can’t expect what you don’t inspect.’ Well, you can’t inspect what you don’t expect, either. If you don’t have a clear goal to aim for then you can’t evaluate how well you are doing in getting there.

Bottom line, if you don’t have a clear and simple mission for your church, make it your goal to get one this year!

Last week I wrote a post entitled, ‘Blind Spots for the Christian Leader‘. This simple matrix does a great job of defining the various areas of self awareness each of us possess. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you jump over & check it out.

Today, I’d like to explore how the Johari Window applies to the local church (rather than just the pastor or a leader within the church). Here’s a review of how the Johari Window works. 

In the above image you’ll note four quadrants. Each section represents knowledge or lack of knowledge regarding various character traits, weaknesses, etc. for the individual, or for today’s discussion, the local church. Because we are dealing with a group of people instead of just one person, each quadrant gets a little more complicated. With the exception of the ‘Unknown’ section, there end up being different groups of people for each area. So far as I can tell, here are the different groups of people we should keep in mind within the local church:

• Leaders: This includes the pastor, key staff, elders and any other leaders who are on the front lines in ministry at the church.

• Members/Attendees: This includes everyone else who attends regularly and are the recipients of most of the ministry at the church.

• Guests: This includes anyone who attends a service, activity, or event for the first time as well as those who come back to visit two or more times. A ‘guest’ is anyone who considers themselves a visitor at the church, regardless of how long they have been attending.

• Community: This includes anyone in your community who has never attended your church. 

Let’s take a look at each quadrant in relation to the local church:

Open Self – Known To Everyone

Leaders, Members, Guests, Community. For the local church, this is the smallest quadrant of all. There is very little about a local church that everyone knows about, especially when you add in the community – some of whom may not even know the church exists. Depending on the community, the ‘Open Self’ quadrant may include things like the church name, website, location and/or pastor. Technically, anything the church posts on their website could potentially be considered knowledge available to everyone as well.

Hidden Self – Known Only To Us (leaders & members)

Leaders are aware of things that members, guests, and the community are unaware of. Examples might include sensitive information like giving records, a parishioners unique circumstances, people problems, etc. It may also include a clearer understanding of the bigger picture for the church. For instance, church leaders are most likely to know where the church has been and where it’s going.

On the down-side, leaders are often guilty of unintentionally holding their cards too closely to the chest. As a result, sometimes other leaders, volunteers, and/or members can be stuck serving without fully comprehending what they are doing, how they should do it, or why it’s important.

Members are usually ‘in the know’ in some areas, at least in comparison to guests and the community. Where church life can get messy is when members are aware of sensitive information that doesn’t include the whole story or bigger picture. This is a feeding frenzy for Satan to reek havoc in the church. Lack of communication or miscommunication will often lead to false conclusions, wrong expectations, and misguided assumptions.

To make matters more complex, many times members are privy to situations and needs in the church that leaders are unaware of, but don’t take responsibility to communicate what’s going on with them. Again, this disables whatever care those leaders may be able to exert in the situation.

Finally, leaders often fail to realize that members feedback/participation is exactly what they need to solve certain problems, lead certain ministries, or fund new initiatives. God has placed the right people in ‘the house’ for the ministry He wants to initiate. This means many members have the skills, experience or funds to fulfill those purposes, if leaders would just invite them to participate. 

Blind Self – Known to Others, Unknown to Us

Members often have blind spots in their overall effectiveness or involvement in ministry in the church. Additionally, they may not reflect the values and culture the leadership is expecting or hoping for. This is usually due to a lack of communication, mentoring and regular leadership development. It’s vital for church leaders to create systems focusing on evaluation and feedback for members so they can remove their blind spots and be more effective in ministry.

Additionally, members know things that leaders don’t. They know what they really think of the building project, the Sunday service or the kid’s ministry. Many of a leader’s blind spot is simply the result of members who either have never been asked their opinion or are unwilling to give it.

Guests know what church is like to outsiders. Their perspective is one which most pastors and leaders will never have. They know what it’s like to find parking at five minutes before the service. They know what the bathroom and halls smell like (because you don’t notice that smell anymore). They know if the seats are hard, if the message is boring and if their kids really like the kids program. Conversely, they may perceive the church as a warm, friendly place at the start but discover later on that it’s very difficult to connect with people. Research says that 96% of people who have a bad experience never complain. This means your guests may know things about your church that you are completely clueless about; in particular, their first impressions and experiences.

The Community. Assuming they even know your church exists, your community knows what reputation your church has maintained. Unfortunately, this may contribute to their unwillingness to visit. For example, perhaps they ‘heard’ about a guest’s bad experience or that a member was rude or insensitive to someone they know. Perhaps that community event the church hosted ten years ago that didn’t go very well is still remembered by long-standing community residents. Individuals in the community will almost never share these thoughts with church leaders, unless they somehow find their way into the life of the church first and reflect back on their original perceptions.

UNKNOWN – Known to No One but God

There are things about your church that nobody knows, but God. Some of those things don’t really matter, like where the cool Christmas lights went that were bought two years ago. However, sometimes there are important aspects of ministry that, if revealed, would stimulate personal and numerical growth over time. This is why it is so critical that church leaders remain humble, are voracious learners and readers, and are willing to allow others outside their church (and often inside their church) provide coaching or feedback to them, both personally and organizationally.

As a ministry coach, I might be able to play a role in helping you unveil some of the ‘Unknown’ in your ministry. If you’re interested, please contact me and we’ll start a conversation about it.

I recently spoke with a church member who was frustrated with his local church. He confided he was considering attending elsewhere. He expressed doubt in the leadership’s ability to make wise choices. He always felt out of the loop. Announcements made about changes in the way things were going to be done with kids, small groups or upcoming event schedules always came unexpectedly and last minute. There was never any room for discussion. They were announced and it was assumed that everyone would line up and follow the new marching orders.

His solution to the problem was to quietly slip out the back door. When I suggested he talk to the pastor he made a very interesting comment. He said, “I wouldn’t know what to say to him. He’s in charge, I’m not. Plus, it’s not like he’s done anything grossly wrong.” When I pressed him further, I discovered he actually had tried to talk with the pastor about the issue earlier in the year, as best he could. The problem was that he didn’t really know exactly what the issue was – just that he felt discontent, disconnected and powerless to make a difference. Nothing changed.

There are two very important elements that every church leadership team should include whenever introducing change. Most don’t. Both elements slow things down. They gum up the works and make things more complicated. However, without them there will almost always be dissension and dissatisfaction. 

COMMUNICATION + TIME = UNITED CHANGE

In my years of ministry I have come to the conclusion that the below formula is super important when introducing change to your congregation. It doesn’t matter if the change is something huge like a building campaign or something relatively minor like switching youth group night. Following this formula will ensure the highest involvement, participation and commitment to your cause from your attendees. Let’s unpack the formula a little bit.

COMMUNICATION

The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw

People need to get the skinny if you want them to buy-in. Even better, give them a chance to pipe in with their thoughts and input. All you have to commit to is explain and listen. Most complainers wouldn’t be so difficult if they were just heard. Of course, who wants to do all that work? Better to just make the decisions and roll them out, right? That could work, but it won’t lead to committed people. The people that usually follow that kind of leader are those who are either loyal to them no matter what or those who really don’t care either way. No. Share the vision with them and give them time to process and be part of the discussion, first.

“When people see their own ideas and fingerprints on the work, they have a sense of ownership that feels true and genuine.” Barry Demp

TIME

If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over? John Wooden

Communication must be combined with time. That is, people need time to think through your vision. To process. To ask questions. To check their schedule and life and see if it will fit. When you don’t give people time, you are showing a lack of respect for them – the very thing you’re trying hard not to do. So give people time to process change, especially change that will impact them. If your changing worship team rehearsal night from Tuesday to Wednesday, there are only a few people who need to know, but give them time. Communicate + Time will more likely lead to wholehearted commitment to the changes, even when it requires a sacrifice on their part.

UNITED CHANGE

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10

The Word of God has a lot to say about the topic of unity. We are called to work hard at obtaining unity and maintaining it. How ironic that many times we are the reason we lack it, simply because we don’t go the extra mile to communicate clearly and give people time to get on board!

 
How do you introduce change to your congregation?