Missional: Preservation or Persevering?

Recently I read several quotes from Church leaders about the lukewarm Church in America. I received these quotes on a page from a local ministry to the poor - Empty Tomb, a ministry that has put beliefs into action. One of the quotes on that page caught my eye because I have been thinking a lot recently about what it means for our church to be missional. Here is the quote that stopped my reading down the page.

"Presbyterian (USA) pastor and organizer Robert Linthicum observed, 'The church has always talked about mission, but we organize ourselves for preservation, not mission.' Jerry Van Marter, 'Giving It All Away'; Presbyterian News Service; posted 1/17/07; ; pp1-3 of 8/4/07 5:06 PM printout."

That is a Cliff's Notes version of what it is to avoid being missional: organizing ourselves for preservation, not mission. Mission is risky. We may not survive. But if we risk being missional, we may live like we have never lived before. We may reproduce that new life in others. It seems like I have read that before. Jesus said: "I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

So to be missional must be the reverse of that - to organize ourselves around mission rather than merely preserving ourselves. To be willing to die to live is to be missional. To be missional is to persevere with the mission Jesus gave us: to go into all the world and make disciples.

Jesus also said "those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it" (Luke 9:24). Save their life sounds a lot like preserving their life to me. What it means to be missional is getting clearer. It is to lose your life for Jesus' sake. To be missional is to persevere in losing, for Jesus' sake.

An Interest Based or Missional Church?

Leaders of our church have been discussing the difference between an interest-based church or a missional, or mission-focused, church. The catalyst for these conversations was our recent Focus Groups and a book that many of our leaders have read, called Transforming Church, by Kevin Ford. (It is available in our Church Library). I am leaning on Kevin Ford’s descriptions and definitions presented to us in his assessment of our church, as I ruminate on this question: What is the difference between an interest-based church and a missional church?

A mission-focused church is trying to accomplish something. An interest-based church is trying to provide something. Both exist on behalf of a constituency. But the constituency of a mission-focused church is always outside the church. The constituency of an interest-based church is almost always inside the church. Interest-based churches create a culture where people feel entitled to ministry or programs based on their individual interests or agendas. The goal becomes satisfying people. An expectation can develop that every program will meet every need; every program will have a board or committee, a budget line item, a staff person who will champion their cause.

Being an interest-based church can be life-threatening. In the attempt to accommodate every need, provide committee, staff and budget support for the growing needs, the church could implode from its own growth! An interest-based church may also become irrelevant because so much is invested in trying to be all things to all people, that the church is unable to do a few things well. A danger also lurks for people to have ministry fatigue from doing so many things.

A mission-focused church, on the other hand, in trying to accomplish something, is looking for a clear result or outcome, and therefore has a laser sharp focus. It eliminates ministries that pull it off focus so the church can be effective in their agreed-upon mission. Mission-focused churches measure success by their achievements. They do a few things really well. Every ministry is aligned to do those few things well. The governing structure supports this focus. Staffing is more specialized than general. Specific strategies drive the ministries of a mission-focused church. The budget supports those strategies. Staff is re-aligned to support those strategies. Everything focuses on those strategies.

An interested-based church, rather than trying to produce a result is trying to produce a benefit, such as resources, fellowship groups, Bible studies, Sunday School classes, youth ministries, senior-citizen ministries, small groups and children’s ministries. Will a mission-focused church not have these ministries? It is likely that a mission-focused church may have the same ministries, but they will be aligned to accomplish the goal.

The difference between mission-focused and interest-based is subtle, but distinct. The issue that Kevin Ford raised with us after he listened to our Focus Groups, is that most churches assume they should be mission-focused, but function as an interest-based church. The danger is saying we are one thing, but actually functioning in another way.

Kevin ford suggests that both models can work from an organizational perspective. But there is one sobering motivator: Jesus gave us a very clear mission - to make disciples who become his witnesses in the world! If we drift from those clear mission objectives, we drift from our Leader’s mission orders. That seems to me to leave us with no alternative than to become more focused, more intentional, on our Lord Jesus’ orders than we currently are.