Church Mission Statement Problems

This past weekend I was visiting a church and the pastor felt their mission statement had a deficiency. Can you spot the deficiency? Here was their mission statement: “Living for Christ and serving the community through love.”

It is really easy to get confused on what to put in your church’s mission statement. Fortunately, Jesus gave the church their mission statement. In Matthew 29:19 (NIV) Jesus states: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” There should only be 2 things in a church mission statement:

1. Evangelism
2. Discipleship

Anything less is a parachurch ministry mission statement and not a church mission statement. Here are some examples of good mission statements:

Turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. – Willowcreek Church
Helping People Take Their Next Step Toward Christ…Together – Granger Community Church
Reaching Seekers. Building Believers. – Forest Hill Community Church
To Lead People to a Healthy Relationship with Jesus Christ. – Olathe Life Fellowship

A mission statement should be:

- Timeless – You shouldn’t ever have to change it
- Short – It should fit on a T-shirt
- Action oriented
- Memorable
- Easy to understand
- Publicly repeated until everyone is sick of hearing it
- Reflect the culture of the church

Some additional great resources on this topic are Visioneering by Andy Stanley and Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malpurs.