On a MIssion from God

We have begun a 13 week ad campaign for the church I serve. I must admit that I just love the ad we are running this week. I love it for two simple reasons: It was my idea and one of my all-time favorite movies is “The Blues Brothers”. Here is a copy of the ad. I look at it and I can just hear one of us saying: “It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!”

It just so happens that at the same time we are doing this ad/marketing campaign, we are in the process of rewriting/updating our Mission Statement and writing our Vision Statement. It is one thing to take some pictures and run an ad proclaiming we are on a mission from God and a whole other thing to figure out what that mission is.

The Board of Directors tasked me with putting together a Visioning Team to get this important work done. Since I am new to the church and don’t really know the people, putting the team together was challenging. I was forced to depend (OMG) on prayer. I asked others opinions, but I relied on God’s leading in finding the team. As usual, God came through and I am working with an awesome team. After just a few meetings we have redeveloped our mission statement and have a strong rough draft of our vision.

One of the things that have made the team so productive is that we don’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel. I have worked with and heard of churches that took months to figure out their mission. And I wonder why. It seems very obvious to me that the mission of the church, the mission of every church, was clearly stated by our founder just before he left us to do our work. We call it The Great Commission. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Sounds like a pretty straightforward and clear mission.

But we church people struggle with that. You see, there are so many great and just causes we see that need championing that we lose our way. Making disciples is a rather difficult, long term project that calls for a huge and time consuming commitment. Frankly it is easier, and sometimes more interesting, to raise some money or go out and march for a good cause. In fact we find making disciples so perplexing that we tend to opt instead for making church members. Often these two things do not look or act anything alike. Nowhere did Jesus call us to make church members. Its disciples we are called to make. Disciples are learners and doers. Disciples follow in the pattern of the master and seek, in all ways, to emulate him. Early in church history the early disciples were ridiculed and called Christians; which means “little Christs”. The label stuck. And that is what we are called to do, to be and to produce: People who are conformed to the image of Christ. We call these people disciples.

So, if we can manage, in the swirl of all that goes on around us, to find and stay centered on the mission that Jesus has called us to, we have to ask: How are we doing? Is the church; is our church, producing members or disciples? Can you tell any difference in the behaviors and lifestyles of people of the church and people who make no claim to know God? Do we call ourselves disciples of Jesus and yet live like God doesn’t really exist? Are we any less selfish and any more generous than others? Are we pleasant and kind in our social interactions? Do we spend more time and energy concerned about slights, real and imagined, done to us and nursing our hurt feelings than we spend reaching out to touch others with the compassion and healing of Christ? Has anyone accused us of being Christ-like? If your experience is anything like mine; that has not happened nearly often enough.

So, yes, we are on a mission from God. It is a wonderful, challenging, fulfilling mission. We are on a mission to make disciples. I’m thinking we need to start with me.

Copyright © 2013, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved