A bold mission demands bold living

March 4, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

Avis car hire has a bold mission statement (or tagline). I’m sure you’ve seen it:

Churches have mission statements too.

  • College Park Church has the mission: “Igniting a passion to follow Jesus”.
  • Church by the Bridge has the mission: “Living for Jesus. Loving like Jesus”.
  • Redeemer Presbyterian has the mission: “Seeking to renew the City Socially, Spiritually and Culturally”.
  • Covenant Life Church has the mission: “to build a community of gospel-centered people.”
  • Emmanuel Church has the three-fold mission: “to glorify God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit by listening and responding to God’s word obediently;
    loving one another practically; and proclaiming Christ boldly”.
  • St Andrew’s Cathedral has a slightly longer mission: “To glorify God by proclaiming our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, so that everyone will hear his call to repent, trust and serve Christ in love, and be established in the fellowship of his disciples while we await his return”.

These are mission statements set big expectations.

What’s the mission statement for your church?

The challenge for us (and for Avis) when we set and then promote these mission statements is to actually live up to them.

Too often, corporate mission statements are dreamt up in board-room meeting of the marketing executive, who forgot to tell the staff that they should actually try harder. (Avis – this hasn’t been my experience with you – you just have a mission that’s easy to use as an example!)

My point is, too often the behaviour doesn’t come close to matching the mission – there is a disconnect between the bold mission of the company, and the people who have face-to-face contact with the customers (i.e. the people who actually need to implement the mission).

And as a result we cause harm to our brand, or more importantly in our case, tarnish the reputation of our God.

We need God’s help to live out these missions. We really need God’s help. But, by God’s grace and with his power at work within us, we can live up to these bold missions.

And when we miraculously do, all the glory goes to God.