|
Ministry Purpose, Mission and Vision |
|
By Joey Kennedy Senior Pastor New Life Church Bastrop, Louisianna |
|
Mission for Your Church?
If I were to ask you what the vision, purpose and mission of your church was, would you be able to tell me? It’s easy to say the “generic answer,” you know, the one where we say, “We want to share the gospel with every living creature!” I understand how that the foundation of what we do, through the business of the church, is sharing the Gospel, but what else are you doing? What is the vision behind what you are doing? We all know that the Bible teaches us that if there is no vision, the people will perish.
As church leaders and church growers, we must have a vision for the church; so much that you see beyond your years as a church leader and you prepare the church for the times when you will no longer be their leader. I know we don’t want to think about those days, but let’s just face the facts; we are all going to die! You will die, and the church will still need a leader. Who are you preparing to take your place? What are you doing to prepare them for the future? This requires a vision!
I like to keep the purpose and mission of our church before the congregation at all times. Our church sign has three words written on it, (well, there are more than three words…) EXALT, EQUIP, EVANGELIZE. At New Life Church, our mission is to EXALT Jesus, EQUIP the believer and EVANGELIZE our world. Now, I can’t take the credit for that slogan. I actually “high-jacked” it from Ben Scroggs, who is a very talented pastor friend of mine from Oklahoma. I saw it on the sign of his church and thought, “Hmmm, that will work pretty well down in Louisiana!” Take it and make it your own if it suits what you are trying to do at your church. Either way, put your mission and your purpose before your congregation AND KEEP IT THERE! Put it on Facebook or say it in a message. Relay the message of what your church is about whenever and wherever you can! But here’s the catch… don’t just say it, do it! Act on it! Let it become the very fabric your church is made of!
When it comes to the actions of the past, these actions have not led to much growth within the majority of our churches. For whatever reason, the mindset among the churches I have been affiliated with have always been relatively small. I’ve never understood this mindset because I’ve never been a person who was willing to settle for mediocrity. For example, the common outreach of the church I was raised in was to print flyers and hand them out in order to invite people to a revival meeting the church was hosting. This usually happened twice a year. Of course, we didn’t have all the social media sites back then, so what did we do? Well, my grandma, bless her heart, would take a flyer and tape it to the back window of her car with hopes that people around town would read it and come to church. I’m sorry to say this, but this concept did not work. And every year, twice a year, it was the same thing over and over again. “Ok everyone, the flyers will be lying on the alter. Pick some up and pass them out…”
To explain this concept a little further, let’s consider Blockbuster. I’m sure most of us will remember this video rental giant! But when you look around today, you don’t see them. Why? Well, in the year 2000, a deal was presented to Blockbuster to partner with Netflix. Blockbuster wanted no part of it. Maybe you can imagine what happened next, the video rental giant went bankrupt in 2010 and Netflix, at that time, became a $28 billion dollar company! Which, by the way, was 10 times what Blockbuster was worth!
What happened? Blockbuster was unwilling to change, and with the refusal to change came the company’s demise. Blockbuster failed because people changed and were unwilling to stay in the past. They wanted something new and different. Netflix was willing to give them the new and the different. Technology made it too easy to rent a movie without leaving home. Movie rental stores were on every corner back in the day, but where are they now? They are in the palm of your hand! It’s called technology!
What does this example say about the church and what can we learn from it? Well, one thing that is very evident is that times are changing. None of us do things the way we did 20 years ago. Let me prove it to you: USA Today reported in February 2017 that J.C. Penny will close 140 stores because the department store industry sags in competition with online sellers. We don’t go to the mall like we once did. Instead, we order our clothes and many other products online. It blew my mind the first time I heard one of my friends tell me that they ordered their groceries online and had them delivered to their front door! Things are changing!
Listen, if the church doesn’t change with the times, it will get left behind (no pun intended). I’m not advocating that the church change its message, but why can’t we tweak the method? You see, the mission and purpose of your church is going to directly impact your willingness to change. If there is no future vision, you will not see the need for change.
As a teen, I remember being in a business meeting discussion at my home church. The discussion of what we were going to do throughout the year was the topic. Over and over again, a topic would be brought to the table, and over and over again the idea would get shot down with the words, “We can’t do that!” Maybe we couldn’t do it because of our lack of money or personnel, but either way, it was made very clear, by a panel of negative people, that we could not do it!
An older gentleman by the name of David DeVile stood up to address the congregation. He spoke words that I have never forgotten. He said, “It’s time to stop focusing on what we can’t do and focus on what we can do.” The room grew so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. I never forgot that moment. To this day I believe that God allowed me to be there and hear those words so that it would become a pivotal moment in my life. I don’t focus on what I can’t do in my personal life and through my personal ability. In fact, I will not allow my children to tell me they can’t do something! One of the greatest hindrances we have in church growth is the time we spend focusing on what we can’t do. It's time to focus on what we CAN DO!
You see, often times a church of 100 members will look at a church with 1,000 members and say, “We can’t do the things they are doing!” And guess what? You are right! That 1,000 member church has a $1-$2 million dollar budget! Of course you can’t do what they are doing; at least not in the magnitude they are doing it. But let’s look at it from another angle. Did that 1,000 member church start off with 1,000 members? No! They had 100 members at some point along the way and they had to grow in order to get where they are. Instead of focusing on the magnitude of what the larger church is doing, why not take notes and pay attention to what the larger church is doing and find those things that can be implemented into your smaller church setting? Ask yourself; “What are some things that the BIG church is doing that I can high-jack?” “What are some ideas that we can take and make fit the culture of our church?” There are basic things all our churches can do to attract new people and help them become active members of the church.
Honestly, how often do you think about how to get new people into your church? Now, how often do you act on what you thought about? So often we only think of what needs to happen rather than doing what needs to be done. If there is no action plan, nothing will ever get done! Here is an idea that every church can do to rally the troops and attract new people:
BIG DAYS—plan several big days into your church calendar every year! Get excited about it and get your people excited about it! You may be wondering what's a Big Day? Well, they are exactly what the name suggests they are. They are the big event days that your church will gather for worship. They are days like Easter, Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. These are the big days that are already scheduled for you! They are givens! And there is little work that has to be done in order to get people out to church. But just because these days are scheduled for you, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set a goal and work to meet that goal.
For example, two months before your Big Day, start raising the excitement about it. Announce it! Promote it! Have someone other than the pastor talk about it! When the leadership of the church becomes excited about it, the rest of the church will catch on and rise to the occasion. This is a little formula that I believe in; GOALS + EXCITEMENT = SUCCESS. I like to tell our church that we are going to double the size of our congregation in one Sunday. That just blows their mind because they are thinking, “Now how in the world are we going to do that?” Think about it, if every person is challenged to bring one person to church with them on the Big Day, and they actually do it, then the size of the congregation will double on that day. Think about the excitement that will be brewing in the church when the church members walk in and see all the new people! Goals + Excitement = Success!
The success of the Big Day is not necessarily the larger number of people in the pews. Although that is a win for the team, it’s not what we are going for initially. Let me give you an example. When I began to pastor the New Life Church in Bastrop Louisiana, the congregation was a total of 25 people. It was very small, but over the first two years we grew to about 50 people. I began scheduling a Big Day (one I high-jacked from another pastor friend) called Invite-A-Friend day. We printed post cards that said, “Will you be my friend?” Everyone took one card. That’s right 1 card. The intention behind this was to double our church in one day and I wanted our people to focus on their one friend and get them to church.
To raise the bar a little higher, I made a deal with the church. I said, “If you guys can get 100 people to church on Invite-A-Friend day, I’ll preach from the roof of the church!” Now you need to know that our little church would only hold about 85 people, so I thought I had them set with a challenge that they couldn’t meet. Well, I was wrong! When I got to church that day, one of our men was standing on the yellow line, in the middle of the street, waving cars into the parking lot. I heard him say, “Come to church with us today! Our pastor is going to preach off the roof and when he’s done we’re going to feed you fried chicken!”
It was quite a sight! When I walked into the church that day, it was just as I described earlier, the excitement was brewing through the church. The people were smiling and the church was packed wall to wall! When I stood up to welcome the people to worship that day, I asked how many people were present. The same guy who was standing in the middle of the street waiving cars into the parking lot stood up and said, “Bro. Joey, we have 101 people in church today!” The church ignited with shouts, laughter and excitement!
Needless to say, I kept my word. Something inside of me told me that the church was going to rise to the occasion, so I brought my ladder and my tennis shoes. I climbed to the rooftop of that church and spoke to 101 people on the parking lot that day! It was one of the greatest moments of my ministry! But it wasn’t only a defining moment for me, it made a world of difference for the church.
You see, the numbers that we achieved that day was not what I was going for. Sure, it was exciting, but anyone can fill the church with people; you just have to put the equation to work (Goal + Excitement = Success). When I stood up on the roof that day, I saw a look in the eyes of those people that I have never forgotten. They were excited, they were determined and they were eagerly awaiting their next challenge. I spoke to them that day and said, “Church, you think I challenged you to fill this church with people; that is partly true. The reason I challenged you is to help you see that you have the ability to fill this church with people every Sunday. You now understand that you have the ability to invite people to come to church with you!”
This is part of the change that we must plant into the minds of our people. I, the pastor, was not the reason the people came to church that Sunday. No! The personal invitation, from one person to another person, is the reason why all those guests came to church that day. Taping a flyer to the back window of your car or pinning a flyer on the grocery store bulletin board will not get it done. I’ll even go one step further and say this, making a post on Facebook is no different than taping a flyer on the back window of your car. Your people need to understand that we are still human beings, and we have always been attracted to other people speaking to us and inviting us to share personal and intimate things together. The personal invitation is what I was cultivating in my congregation. NEVER underestimate its potential!
As I said earlier, filling the church with people is only a part of the goal. If the numbers of people you have on any given Sunday is what drives you as a leader, you will ultimately fail in your leadership. Our goal and purpose as church leaders should be to grow people to fulfill their duties as God calls them to share the gospel with others. When they are motivated to invite their friends to church, they are doing the very same thing the Apostle Andrew did. Andrew was nicknamed “The Bringer” because he always brought people to Christ. He brought Peter, and look what Peter did for the glory of God. Who will your people invite to come to Christ? You, as a pastor, are the Shepherd and your people are the sheep. Train your people to produce more sheep and you be prepared to feed them!
Joey Kennedy has been the pastor of the New Life Church in Bastrop, Louisiana, for 14 years. He shares his life with his lovely wife Katrena, and two children, Kolson and Kylie.
Bring Them In Hark! ’tis the Shepherd’s voice I hear,
Who’ll go and help this Shepherd kind,
Out in the desert hear their cry,
Bring them in, bring them in,
Alexcenah Thomas
|
