I ran across an interesting blog today by Chris Erdman. The blog itself was posted last year, and in it Chris posits the idea that a church mission statement is a bad idea. Click here to read his post.
In response, it sounds as if Chris’ aversion is to marketing and to any attempt to incorporate American culture into the Church. I agree in theory, but have resigned myself to an “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” mentality. The church as we know seems to be thoroughly and irreparably esconced in American culture. I still dream of a simpler, more “Biblical” expression of church, but am forced to admit that even the NT expression must have been culturally influenced.
Having said that, by definition, a mission statement is nothing more than a written expression of the purpose for an organization’s existence. If you were asked to define “Why Does Your Organization Exist,” you, too, would be hard-pressed to avoid crafting anything other than what most American business associates would define as a “mission statement.” Odyssey itseslf (Chris’ Blog) has a mission statement built into the banner across the top of every page. Besides, it seems to me that there are many in our culture from all stages of spiritual development who would love to know, in simple and direct language, WHY does this or that organization exist? It’s an attempt to identify purpose and meaning, something that most congregations have never even considered…thus their woeful impotence among the communities in which they live.