I've Been Thinking About This…

No, really … what is a ‘Mission Statement’ when applied to a church? Isn’t it redundant to speak of a “church’s mission statement”?

Now companies, they have mission statements. These talk about the intent behind the over-arching strategy for the organization … here’s where we’re going and why we’re doing it; our raison d’être. Corporations would like to inspire utter dedication in their employees, and the first step is to give them a clear vision to go after. The highest priority. And they come up with the ‘mission statement’.

So churches have started jumping onto the bandwagon and writing ‘mission statements’ too. If big organizations do it, it must be the right thing to do, right? Maybe I’m missing something, but where did the corporate world’s concept of a ‘mission statement’ come from in the first place? It’s really a page out of Christianity’s notebook. When we use the phrase, “He’s a man on a mission,” we hark back to those people who are totally, single-focusedly and with absolutely no heed to themselves committed to spreading the Christian message – in fact, we’re thinking of missionaries.

The church was given its mission statement some 2000 years ago:

“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, …” (Matt. 28:19, ESV)

and

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

Two different occasions; two different ‘dispensation eras’; same Mission Statement.

Seems to me you might get yourself into a peck of trouble if you go around redefining the Mission Statement given to you 2,000 years ago by God. Redundant? Definitely. Maybe even arrogant and blasphemous too!

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