Moving The Immovable

Mission & vision have been big time buzz words among church leaders for years, & in recent years these concepts have trickled down into the language of church members & attenders as well. Mission & vision are the things that help us move people, & we've all heard some pretty good stories about the church being just about immovable. However, it's not just the church. All people tend to want to settle into a comfortable rut. Mission & vision are the things that we hope will create & sustain momentum. Mission & vision are the things that help an organization or ministry know who they are, where they're going, & what they're doing. However, if we're not careful they also can become idols.

When mission & vision statements & strategies & processes become the true trademark of the church, we're in danger of elevating them to a place that's unhealthy, unhelpful, & most importantly unbiblical. Too often we think that we can move our ministries & move our people with mission & vision, but in the church it can be a little more nuanced than that. We can craft incredible vision statements. We can build strategies & processes that if implemented, will undoubtedly lead us where we want to go. But when dealing with the church, there is something else that absolutely cannot be left behind or overlooked. In fact, it has to move our people, our ministries, & us as leaders more than our clever cliches about mission & vision. 

That one thing is the Gospel. When leading a church or ministry, this has to be the foundation, & you can't assume that foundation is there. To start with mission & vision without the solid & consistent backdrop of the Gospel is to put the cart before the horse. Sure, you want to reach the lost & make disciples. Yes, you have an incredible strategy to lead people into greater faith in Jesus. However, if you & those you lead are not first moved by the power of the Gospel, you will experience a powerful truth about ministry leadership.

"No Amount Of Mission & Vision Will Move A People 

Who Are Unmoved By The Gospel."

Lately I've been spending a lot of time looking at Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3. So many of them had gone off the tracks in one way or another. For some it was bad doctrine, for others it was the temptation to drift back toward religious pursuit of God rather than resting in the Gospel. In each case, Jesus calls the church to repentance. He doesn't call them to greater organizational alignment. He calls them to remember the Gospel & hold fast to it, & if they do that, they'll be confronted with their need to repent of whatever has gotten them off track. Some of these churches looked pretty good on the outside. They appeared to have it all together. However, they had drifted away from the Gospel, & the key to getting things right wasn't to remind the church of its mission & vision. First, they had to be reminded of & moved again by the life changing message of the Gospel. 

So whether you're leading a thriving, growing ministry, or planting a new church in a difficult area, or taking on a church in need of revival & revitalization, work on casting mission & vision to your congregation, build the process necessary to lead people into greater faithfulness, but first & foremost, preach the Gospel. If we lose sight of the Gospel, the mission begins to fall on deaf ears. If we've forgotten the power of the Gospel in our own life, we will not sense the urgency to experience it fresh & anew as we grow or to invite others to experience it for themselves. Before we will be moved by our mission, we must first be moved by the Gospel.