How does a person lose weight? Really, answer that question to yourself. Now you tell me why I can find 38,000 books on Amazon when I type in the words, "weight loss."
Isn't the way to lose weight to, burn more calories each day than what you take in? Which means, eat less and exercise more, right? Well, I have to ask the same question of our church's. Why do we over complicate our purpose and our mission?
I've seen hundreds and hundreds of different mission statements of church's and dozens and dozens of books written on how to write a church mission statement. I think that's stupid!
The first question is who or what is the church? If my church building burned to the ground today, my church is still there, unless the people were in it when it burned. The church is people! We are the church. As we look in Acts chapter 2, I don't see any talk about building a grand building or doing a capital campaign for 1.4 million dollars for a new education wing. It just wasn't the focus. So what was their focus? Acts 2:44 says, "And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had."
What was their focus? EACH OTHER! Go figure, that the church would actually fulfill the greatest commandment by "loving God" and in this case "loving their neighbor."
So, if the church is the people, then what should our mission statement be. Well, let's look at Mark 16:15. Jesus is speaking to the disciples, i.e. the church, and tells them this. "Go into all the world and preach the Good news to everyone." Why? TO MAKE DISCIPLES! So, has our mission statement changed, or have I missed something? Some church's wonder why they aren't growing and why they have become stagnant. My suggestion is to look at your mission statement and see if it is Mark 16:15. If its not, you've missed the whole point of the church.
One last thought. Do you have your own personal mission statement? If we are the church, and we aren't fulfilling God's missions statement in Mark 16, the church will never be successful. Let's get to work!
Thoughts?
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