What is our mission?

What is our mission? It’s a question we return to from time to time. All organizations do it. It gets set off in a variety of ways. There may be a change in a society or the neighborhood in which we are set. The congregation may be experiencing something new in its internal life. That could be something tangible like a change in attendance at the Eucharist, or a sudden increase or decrease in financial resources, or something less tangible, feelings of anxiety or hope. Occasionally it’s driven by one or two people with some hidden agenda. As the pandemic lessens its grip on us many may seek a sense of grounding and direction.

The task

What most will see rather quickly is that the question is about the stuff that is close at hand. It’s about how we live and work in ourselves and in relationship to some neighborhood or community of people. It’s about how we make use of the gifts and resources we have at this time and in this place. 

The “big questions” are, of course, sitting there in the background. It may be useful to take note of them as we begin. What ground do we stand on?

The ground we stand on

We don’t begin with an empty page. There are a few starting places we may rest in. We do stand on a bit of solid ground.

I’ll offer two lines of thought.

The mission of the church

We all know that the prior question is what is God’s mission? What is God up to? The church’s mission is all about God’s mission. That’s certainly the Prayer Book’s assumption in stating the mission of the church.

The mission of the Church is to restore all people to
unity with God and each other in Christ.

It’s set within the context of the nature of the church and how the church carries out it’s mission. Worth a look. See the catechism page 845 in the Book of Common Prayer.

I’ve always been fond of John Macquarrie take of what God’s up to.

..our belief is that the whole process only makes sense in so far as, in the risk and the struggle of creation, that which is is advancing into fuller potentialities of being and is overcoming the forces that tend toward dissolution; and that continually a richer and more fully diversified unity is built up. ...The end, we have seen reason to believe, would be a commonwealth of free, responsible beings united in love; and this great end is possible only if finite existents are preserved in some kind of individual identity. Here again, we may emphasize that the highest love is not the drive toward union, but rather letting-be. 

“A commonwealth of free, responsible beings united in love” seems a useful counterpoint and complement to the catechism.

The purposes of a parish church

I’d suggest this as a consideration in the parish’s conversation.

Will the actions we take improve the overall health of the parish and enhance our ability to perform the parish’s three purposes? Substantial advances not tinkering! 

1. The worship of God

2. The formation of the People of God

3. Having a sanctifying relationship with the broader community.

How?

How we approach the question is as important as our answers to the question.

We want to do this in a manner that strengthens love and hope. A way that brings us closer to God and one another. The work will usually involve a series of structured conversations. Parish leaders will do well to read something short on group development dynamics. There’s research and experience to guide us.

You can find the five stages of the Tuckman Model online: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. In some manner each stage will happen both in the whole parish and in each small group engaging the work. It’s worth some consideration to engage “forming” with care. How you begin will impact what happens later.

Many of the church’s best training programs make use of a model based in the work of Chris Argyris. He developed “intervention theory”  which starts with the assumption that we want as many people as possible to have a high level of  internal commitment to the mission or work.  He describes it as a process that starts with people engaging valid and useful information. That would include listening to one another; to that messy variety of thoughts and feelings existing among any group of people. It would also include information about trends in the local and national culture and the church’s resources of energy and money. Valid and useful information provides us with a base for the next two steps.

We want decisions made on the basis of free and informed choice not coercion or habit. This base of information and freedom of choice will help build stronger internal commitment within the parish community. You can find a one page PDF on Intervention Theory under “Core Models” on this page – HERE.

You may also find it helpful to look at discernment processes frequently used in making important decisions within the body of Christ.

 No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. (John 3:27)

We are to listen for God’s voice and all that we do. Discernment in Parish Life is a short assessment that may help you understand the community’s readiness for a fruitful look at “What is our mission? As always, we begin with where we are now not where we wish we were.

If your church is about to launch into a conversation about your mission know that the Holy Spirit is in and among you. If you’d like the sisters and brothers of the Order of the Ascension to hold you in prayer, please leave a comment below.

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On the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Resources

You will find a variety of models, theories, and assessment tools available on the Shaping the Parish Resources page.

There are also a number of related blog postings on “Means of Grace, Hope of Glory.”

           2020-21 postings

           2012 – 2020 postings