A few years ago, I was talking with a good friend who has been deeply involved in church ministries for years. She’s a psychotherapist, and part of her professional responsibility is to manage a crisis response team at work (24-hour hotline, that sort of thing.) Her church recently set out to start a Christian crisis response team, and naturally they asked her to serve on the team that was setting it up.
So they get the team together — a rep from the pastoral staff, people from the congregation with expertise, and a consultant who helps churches do this kind of thing. One of the first orders of business (after sorting out the snack schedule, of course) was a mission statement.
The conversation was productive. The team didn’t just want to pass out band-aids to people with problems. Any crisis hotline does that — what difference would it make that this was a Christian hotline? They concluded that in addition to connecting people to the resources they need, they wanted to help people meet God in the midst of the crisis. Not hand out holy-sounding platitudes, not “evangelize” them, just introduce them to God, for real. So far so good, right?
So someone came out with a mission statement that started off “To redemptively shepherd people in crisis…” and then continued into a string of prepositional phrases and gerunds worthy of the book of Romans.
“Hang on,” my friend said. “If what we want to do is connect people in crisis with the resources they need and help them meet God in their crisis, then why don’t we just say that? ‘Our mission is to connect people in crisis with the resources they need and help them meet God in their crisis.’”
Well, if you’ve been around churches much, you already know what happened after the hemming and hawing died down. Further chattering ensued, and in the end they adopted a mission statement: “To redemptively shepherd people in crisis…” plus a Pauline thicket of prepositions.
As my friend was telling me the story, somewhat baffled by it all, it suddenly hit me: I know why we do this!
It’s about accountability. Say the ministry adopted my friend’s suggested mission statement: “Our mission is to connect people in crisis with the resources they need and help them meet God in their crisis.” Say I take the Tuesday night shift. How would they check to see if I was fulfilling the mission?
My friend: Jack, I understand you recently called our crisis line and talked to Tim.
Jack: Yeah.
My friend: So, did Tim connect you to the resources you needed?
Jack: Uh, I dunno. I guess not.
My friend: Tim didn’t connect you to any resources?
Jack: No.
My friend: Did Tim help you to hear from God?
Jack: No.
My friend (turning to me): Tim, what did you do for an hour?
But if I’m working under that “redemptively shepherding” monstrosity of a mission statement, I can let Jack cry into the phone for an hour, do nothing that actually helps him, and still make it sound awesome. “Mindful of the biblical command to ‘weep with those who weep,’ I provided Jack with a sympathetic ear and built rapport that would allow me to speak into Jack’s life. I feel Jack is very close to recognizing his true need for a savior.” Notice I didn’t say that I did speak into Jack’s life, just that I might be able to.
(Now, I recognize that from time to time a particular person in a particular moment needs something that’s off-mission for the ministry, and God will use that ministry to meet the need anyway. Wise leaders recognize that when it happens and don’t choose that moment to get cranky about the mission statement. But we’re talking about the overall mission of the ministry here.)
Moral of the story? Not only do we have a culture of ineffectiveness, at some level, we know it. So we avoid spelling out what we’re going to do in ways that would expose how little fruit we really see.
Why is that?
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Prayer Exercise
Ask God to show you if there are areas of your life where you are afraid to ask Him to do specific things — things where it would be obvious if He showed up or not. Wait in silence and see what He will show you.
Don’t be concerned if nothing comes to mind; just remain attentive over the next few days and see what comes up.
If God does bring an area to your attention, pray, “God I confess that I am afraid to ask You to show up and act in definite ways in this area of my life. Please give me the wisdom to know what to ask for, and the courage to keep asking.”
Then keep praying for wisdom in that area until God shows you what to ask for. When that happens, keep praying for it.
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