What Are We Doing Here?

What are we all supposed to be doing here at church?

I've been hearing versions of that question since I entered the ministry in 1986. Two decades haven't brought all that much clarity to the church at large--I hear a different answer to the "vision question" just about every week.

Our core mission is pretty well laid out in Jesus' Great Commission. We're supposed to be making disciples (or students, or followers) of Jesus Christ throughout the world. That includes two phases--introducing theme to the faith (i.e., evangelism) and helping them grow to maturity (i.e., discipleship). 

Of course we all have to flesh that out in our particular context--enacting the great commission might look different in Fishers, Ind., than it does in, say, Bronx, N.Y. So we each need to have a way of stating our mission that translates these rock-solids into our cultural context.

Here's mine.  It's terribly unoriginal. In fact, I can't even remember where I borrowed the language. But it makes sense to me and, hopefully, to those at Fall Creek.

Our mission is to Connect, Grow, and Serve. 

Connect

By connect I mean that we connect people to God and each other in authentic spiritual relationships.

That means two things. One is that we bring non-religious people into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The old-school word for that is evangelism, and if we are not doing it we're not an authentic church. We should be spending a fair amount of energy helping other people come to hear and accept the news that God loves them and offers them an abundant, eternal life.

A second meaning of connect is that we are connected to one another. We are not intended to live solitary lives either as human beings or as Christians. We need each other, and church should be a place where we find deep, supportive relationships. It's also the place where we hold each other accountable. (We used to call this fellowship, not a bad word in its own right.)

We connect to God and to each other. That's why we're here.

Grow

By grow I mean that we help each other grow to become the people God intends us to be.

God always has more in mind for us than we have for ourselves, and church is the place where we grow into that potential. We become better, healthier, more content people. We become more like Jesus Christ. We do that by learning new ideas, observing more mature people, asking questions, an applying truth to our lives. This is what we used to call discipleship. 

The church helps people move from living self-centered, unfulfilled lives to being fully mature followers of Jesus Christ.

Serve

By serve I mean that we use our God-given abilities to serve other people. 

We are created to be givers, not merely takers. People are not complete until they discover how God intends them to contribute to the lives of others--and do it. Some people do that at the church itself by teaching classes or helping out with the things that go on when Christians are together. Others find their place of service outside the church, in the world. This is really part of discipleship--helping people grow to maturity.

Church is the starting point for finding and achieving personal mission. 

I haven't bothered to list the specific programs under these categories, but they all fit somewhere--or they should. 

For now, that's the "big picture" of my philosophy of ministry. This is what I think we're all supposed to be doing as a church--any church, really. Others may state this using different words, but each of these elements would have to be present, I think, to have an authentic church (vs. a club for like-minded people).

So what do you think? What is your philosophy of ministry? How would you state your vision for your church?