The Importance of Clarity

Without a clearly understood and communicated mission and vision, the church operates without focus and purpose.

10 Prescriptions for a Healthy Church, Bob Farr & Kay Kotan*

Have you ever felt like you weren’t really going anywhere? Maybe there’s a lot of activity, but not a lot of movement in your life. You just feel like you get up and do the same thing every day.

I’ve felt like that from time to time. I’ve felt like I’ve lost purpose and direction. I’ve felt tired – no, exhausted – and like there’s nothing more that I can add to anything.

In part, this is an early sign of burnout. It’s important to catch this early on. Burnout can have severe consequences for one’s personal health – both physical and mental. In a season of burnout (or right before a season of burnout), we can feel like we’ve lost our way. We’ve lost sight of why we do what we do.

The same is true in a local church. It’s easy for a church to go through lulls that make it seem like there’s no hope for the future. Nothing seems to gain any traction, and the metrics don’t necessarily look great. More likely than not, it’s a sign that the church has lost sight of the mission and vision.

So, what can we do to get it back? How can we get back on track? Those are great questions. I have some suggestions. I don’t have answers.

First off, reconnect with your purpose as a local congregation.

Many times, we enter into these lulls because we have lost sight of what is more important. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives his disciples the Great Commission. This is the purpose for every congregation. If we aren’t fulfilling the Great Commission, then what are we doing? If we aren’t making disciples, then we may be a decent social club, but we aren’t living into our purpose.

Ignite a passion for discipleship. This has to come from the leadership in both word and deed. We have to talk about discipleship – what it is and why it’s important. And then we have to give discipleship opportunities.

I can say, definitively, that there is a good bit of self-doubt that pastoral leadership has to overcome for something like this to happen. Personally, I struggle with giving these kinds of opportunities because I don’t want it to flop. I don’t want it to be a struggle. And it’s ridiculous.

Discipleship can be a struggle. It’s hard to change the focus of our lives. But it’s also worth it. Find a way – any way – to work on fulfilling that purpose for the local church.

Second, do something – anything – to work towards that purpose.

This flows out of what I just said. We have to actually do something if we want to accomplish our purpose.

The last two years have been difficult on so many levels. The pandemic effectively shut down anything we were trying to accomplish. We lost momentum. We lost motivation. We lost touch. Trying to restart after all this time is hard. But it needs to be done.

Having a purpose and not working towards it is the same as not having a purpose. There is no real difference.

And, finally, live into the mission every day.

We have a choice, every single day, whether or not we are going to live into our purpose. Maybe we have a bad day, and we don’t do it. What does that mean? It means we have an opportunity the next day to pick up where we left off.

We all have good days and bad days. The key is to not let our bad days take over and turn into bad weeks or months. It’s a choice that we have to make every day.

So, in summation, let me encourage you to put together a few good days. Remember your purpose, and live into it. Do something – anything – to work towards that purpose, and you’ll soon see the journey a little more clearly.

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