Why is the ministry’s mission so important? It affects the church in numerous essential ways. Here are nine of them.
The Mission Dictates the Ministry’s Direction
Before embarking on a flight, most people want to know where their plane is going. Otherwise, as Yogi Berra, the former New York Yankee catcher, once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.” Leaders and their churches must have a direction, and it is the mission that provides that important direction. It answers the directional question, Where are we going? Thus the ministry’s mission is directional. It provides a compelling sense of direction, a target for everyone to aim at, and it serves to focus the congregation’s energy
Leaders in the Bible demonstrated a strong sense of direction. Moses pursued with a passion his mission to lead Israel out of bondage to the Promised Land (Ex.3:10). The same is true of Joshua (Josh.1:1-5), David (2 Sam. 5:2), Nehemiah (Neh. 2:17), and others. The Savior’s mission directed his ministry (Mark 10:45), and Paul was passionate about his direction throughout his ministry (Acts 21:12-14; Rom. 15:20).
The Mission Formulates the Ministry’s Function
Besides direction, the mission helps a ministry to formulate or determine its biblical function. It answers the strategic, functional question, What are we supposed to be doing? What function does the organization exist to perform? What is the primary or main thing that God has called us to accomplish? What are we attempting to do for God and our people? Therefore, the mission is an expression of strategic intent. It summarizes and provides the church with its biblical task, and it defines the results that it seeks to obtain.
The Mission Focuses the Ministry’s Future
Both the directional and functional questions above address the church’s future. That is because the mission, like the church’s vision, has everything to do with its future. Though we cannot predict the future (except for biblical prophecy), we can create it, and that is the job of the mission. A clear, biblical mission serves to bring into focus the church’s ministry future. The converse is also true: no mission, no future.
In addition, by focusing on the future, the mission helps the ministry not to live in and focus on the past. Paul put his past behind him and pushed forward to experience Christ. In Philippians 3:13-14, he writes, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” We must learn from the past but not live in the past.
The Mission Provides a Guideline for Decision Making
Every day church leaders have to make decisions. It comes with the ministry territory. A dynamic mission or intent not only focuses the church’s future, it sets important boundaries. It guides what the church will and will not attempt. It provides direction for when to say yes and when to say no. Mission is to the ministry what a rudder is to a ship, a compass to a navigator, a template to a machinist. It provides a framework for critical thinking, a standard or criterion for all decision making.
Sincere (and sometimes not so sincere) people often approach a church board or pastor with suggestions for new areas of ministry that could potentially lead the church away from its divine direction. However, a clear, shared mission will protect the pastor and the board from involvement in numerous tangential activities. Their response can be, “Thanks so much for your interest, but that would lead us away from our mission.”
The Mission Inspires Ministry Unity
Scripture is clear about the importance of unity among Christians. In John 17:20-23, the Savior prays for you and me and all who believe in Christ to be one. The result of this unity is that the world we seek to reach will believe that the Father has truly sent the Son. Paul stresses the importance of Christian unity in the local church. In Ephesians 4:3, he urges the church to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Unity is another function of a well-constructed, shared statement of intent or mission. A clear direction communicates a unifying theme to all the members and draws them 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.” At the same time, it encourages those with a different intent or another ministry agenda to look elsewhere.
The Mission Shapes the Strategy
A dynamic mission tells the church where it is going. It is the strategy, however, that gets it there. Though both are mutually dependent, the mission leads and shapes the church’s strategy. The mission tells what, and the strategy tells how. The mission always comes first—it is found at the front end of the strategy The strategy is only as good as the mission that directs it. If you do not know where you are going, then any expressway will take you there.
What amazes me is that so many churches today have a strategy, as expressed in their programs, but have no mission. This does not make sense. Peter Drucker writes, “Strategy determines what the key activities are in a given business. And strategy requires knowing ‘what our business is and should be.'”
The Mission Enhances Ministry Effectiveness
Drucker has observed the effectiveness of a corporate mission in the marketplace:
That business purpose and business mission are so rarely given adequate thought is perhaps the most important single cause of business frustration and business failure. Conversely, in outstanding businesses … success always rests to a large extent on raising the question “What is our business?” clearly and deliberately, and on answering it thoughtfully and thoroughly.
If you should take time to investigate the more effective, God-honoring churches across North America, large or small, you will discover that each has a significant, well-focused mission. They know what business they are in. This is because all good performance starts with a clear direction. People who know where they are going are more willing to go the extra mile.
The Mission Ensures an Enduring Organization
It is rare that any one pastor lasts the entire time that a spiritually healthy church exists. Pastors come and they go. This is not necessarily bad. Once a pastor reaches retirement age, he serves his ministry best by leaving. This may be sad, but it makes room for a younger person who will be more in touch with the current culture and the ministry paradigms that God is blessing.
The goal of every ministry leader should be to leave behind a mission that will continue after he is gone. The mission, like the values, must not change appreciably over time. A biblical, dynamic mission can help ensure the continuity of an enduring and great church.
The Mission Facilitates Evaluation
In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul instructs the church at Corinth, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” Throughout his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul subjected both himself and his ministry to close scrutiny.
I have pastored three churches and served as an interim pastor in countless others. I suspect that during those ministries some unhappy congregants examined me and questioned whether I was in the faith. However, few have ever formally evaluated my leadership or the church’s ministry. The church that fails to examine its people and its effectiveness as a ministry in light of its mission does itself an injustice. Otherwise, how will the church know if it’s fulfilling its mission? How will it improve without formal evaluation? What you evaluate, not only gets done, but it gets done well. While no organization enjoys living under the lens of careful scrutiny, evaluation will improve any ministry and the work of its people.
From Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs. Used by permission of Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, copyright © 1999. All rights to this material are reserved. Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations for retrieval, published in other media, or mirrored at other sites without written permission from Baker Publishing Group. http://www.bakerbooks.com
