So I got to thinking about what I wrote yesterday and from my lofty penthouse office suite, decided that I should start figuring stuff out in my own head and maybe it will spread to the organization somehow if it’s good or be silently ignored (which has been my experience for many of my ideas thus far).
There must be a defined and understood, UNITY OF PURPOSE. The unity of purpose would come in two forms. One would be an understanding of what a Christian church is supposed to do and the other would be a more defining statement on how it intends to do it.
I would suggest a Christian church should use Jesus’ direction to his disciples as a basis for their existence. He said something like, go into all the world and make disciples of all peoples . . . teaching them to obey/observe what I have commanded. -Matthew 28:19.
So the church is to make disciples who do as Jesus commanded. The church, therefore, would be successful insofar as it has members who do as Jesus taught/commanded. The purpose is then to get people to behave better and the better they behave, the better the church is at meeting its reason for existence.
The second part of the unity of purpose is the mission statement which obviously varies from church to church as each of the institutions respond to their purpose in ways unique to them. At Holy Name, we have defined our mission as, “Sharing in the Body of Christ, we seek to: Know the heart of Christ, See the face of Christ, Be the hands of Christ.”
While this is memorable and directive on an individual basis, I don’t know that we have delved into sufficiently for it to guide us. If you are going to discuss what the parish does and why it does it, does this statement on its face distinguish our parish from others? For my money, I think we would have a greater unity of purpose if we were to unwrap the mission statement more.
I could see equating the “Body of Christ” as the need to have community, build community, emphasize that we are not individuals and should do things that build relationships between parishioners.
I could see understanding “Know the heart of Christ,” with the need to encourage parishioners to develop knowledge of their faith and the issues of justice affecting the world. This is why we have a school and faith formation and Bible study and why we should seek to educate parishioners in all activities.
“Being the hands of Christ,” could be defined within the parish as doing. If you believe you must ACT. We provide some opportunities for parishioners to act and we also include activities within our ministries so parishioners get this experience.
There are other many other interpretations of the mission statement and I am not suggestion mine is the one but what I am suggesting is that if we are to have a unity of purpose we must come to a commonly understood and clearly articulated understanding of it.
Tags: Church mission, church purpose, oneness, Unity of purpose
