WHY?
PRINCIPLE
Mission is the sine qua non
of all institutional success
Covenant is an
agreement about
how a group will
relate to achieve a
common purpose
WHY A MISSIONCOVENANT
STATEMENT FOR A
NON-CREEDAL
RELIGION?
ISSUES
 THE ISSUE OF THEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
 THE ISSUE OF SOURCE OF AUTHORITY
 THE ISSUE OF POSTURE TOWARD TRUTH
 THE ISSUE OF MISSION FULFILLMENT
Mission-Covenant
Elements
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Name of the people
Statement of mission
Source of authority
Posture toward truth
Covenant of fulfillment
Value=provides boundaries
and encourages brevity
What does a mission
statement provide for a
congregation?
A MISSION STATEMENT:
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•
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Determines the leadership
Defines the vision
Focuses the ministry
Shapes the organization
Motivates the resources
Prioritizes the agenda
SAMPLE
MISSION
STATEMENTS
Our mission is simple: To offer education
on the wise use of credit
- Springboard (non-profit credit management)
The mission of the Foundation has been to
improve the quality of life through a
balance between technology and nature
- Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation
To combine aggressive strategic marketing
with quality products and services at
competitive prices to provide the best
insurance value for customers
- Aflac (Fortune 500)
To provide an exceptional dining experience that
satisfies our guest’s grown-up tastes by being
“cut above” in everything we do
- Arby’s
To unlock the potential of nature
to improve the quality of life
- ADM (Fortune 500)
To bring inspiration and innovation to
every athlete in the world
- Nike
Our mission is to reach out to all in the
community with the good news (Jesus is Lord
and Savior)
- Church of the Savior (Windsor, Ontario)
WHY A NEW MISSION-COVENANT
STATEMENT EVERY FIVE TO SEVEN
YEARS?
• Ritualistic numbing
• Language obsolescence
• Membership addition
• Erosion of ownership
Unitarian Universalist
Confusions
The inability to distinguish between
symptoms and causes
• Community
• Social Action
• Political Correctness
• Covenant
THE MOST COMMON TRAPS
• Grounding the statement in present perspectives.
• Failing to distinguish between mission and
ministry – between ends and means.
• Assuming the mission is up for grabs
• Not looking at institutional origins
PRIMAL ISSUE AND GRAND IRONY
We have allowed individualism to
triumph over community and
enshrined this triumph in community.
The mantra of this enshrinement is
“unity in diversity”.
The Trap of Individualism
(members and congregations)
 the mission is up for grabs
 the mission is a smorgasbord to fulfill my
personal needs
 the mission commitment depends on my
personal satisfaction
 the mission is under minority rule
A LAUNDRY LIST OF PREFERENCES OF
MINISTRY THAT INDICATES THE TRIUMPH OF
INDIVIDUALISM OVER COMMUNITY
UNCHANGEABLE
the mission
CHANGEABLE:
how the mission is stated
within the historical context
How the mission is stated is as
important as what it is…consider:
“Sitz im leben”
Example: VENITIAN BLINDS
versus
LIGHT CONTROL
Low Sense of Mission Converts to a
Maintenance Mode
• Navelization (focus)
• Politicization (relationships)
• Minimalizaton (resources)
• Individualization (smorgasbord)
• Stagnation (growth)
A CLEAR AND COMPELLING
SENSE OF MISSION
WILL MEET THE DEMAND
OF
ANY ISSUE A CONGREGATION
CONFRONTS
CHURCH CONSULTANTS AGREE
Powerful Growing Congregations Share Three
Paramount Characteristics:
 A clear compelling sense of mission
Church
A cadre of leadership
devoted to thisAgree
mission
Consultants
above all other agenda
 An organization designed to facilitate this
mission
(a system)
According to church consultants
How do I know the mission of my
congregation?
That which
gets the most
energy is the
mission
CONSENSUS
SEEKING
REVIEW
Asset: raises the
outcome of the
democratic vote
Liability: easily
converts to minority
rule
Attitudes
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Noncritical
All are heard
Open-mindedness
Always an alternative
•
•
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Posture
Active listening
Think conceptually
Use synonyms
“What about…” “Would this work..?”
“I’m wondering if…”
SYNONYMITY
to
define
religion
Is
to define
its mission
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DESCRIPTION
(Discovered 1994)
22 acres
12,000 years (older than Stonehenge, pyramids)
Series of identical circular temples
Built – then deliberately covered over
Stones up to 18 feet high (ten to sixty tons)
Canines, boar, ducks. lizards scorpions, cattle, crows,
vultures, ants, etc. (elaborate as Byzantine art)
 Human and animal bones in pits (ceremonial?)
FEATURES
 Obvious spiritual mecca
 Stone Age era: pre-writing, pre-wheel,
pre-metal, pre-draft animals, pre-pottery
(flint instruments)
 No evidence of housing, fire, utensils or
workers habitation in the area
 Limestone and water three miles away
Implied Revolutionary Meaning
 A sophisticated level of organized social
construction in meaning-making.
 Institutionalized religion pre-dates the
emergence of the agricultural
settlement.
 Both community and religion came into
being as survival mechanisms –
physical and psychological.
Society
creates
institutions
to fill its
needs.
Assumption:
The
institutions
that
survive fill
enduring
needs
Examples:
financial
educational
political
health
economic
the first
institution
was clanfamily
All others
invented to
serve the
needs of
families
Imagine
 a prehistoric scene
 a huge rock outside of
a cave IMANGE
 a cave man on the rock
as Rodin's thinker
TABLE GROUP EXERCISE
 What need was society trying to
fulfill when it created religion?
 Scribe report to larger group in
one sentence.
TABLE GROUP
EXERCISE
• What is the purpose of a
religion’s “theology”?
• Scribe report to larger in
one sentence.
TABLE GROUP EXERCISE
 Using the material from the prior
two exercises….write a
congregational mission statement in
no more than twenty words
 Scribe to share
If you are doing your mission
You are going to grow spiritually and
numerically and your problem will be how
to accommodate all the excited people
who want to invest in the nobility of social
transformation.
NO WIND BLOWS IN FAVOR
OF THAT SHIP WITHOUT
A PORT OF DESTINATION
If you don’t know where you
are going you are liable to end
up someplace else.
- R F Mager