Clarifying the Mission of the
Local Church
by Wesley S.K. Daniel

Having clarity about the mission of your congregation is critical for the effectiveness of a local congregation. It is important to clarify the mission of your church because everything you do, including how you envision results and build or improve a system to reach these results, depends on the mission of your church. The number one or primary task of the local church is to make disciples for Jesus Christ. But then, what does this really mean? How do we effectively accomplish this task?

There are in essence four major processes that help a congregation achieve the primary task of disciple making:

1. Reaching and receiving people into the congregation:
   the ministry of evangelism

 
2. Helping them strengthen their relationship to God through Christ:
   the ministry of worship

 
3. Nurturing and equipping them in Christian faith:
   the ministry of Christian education

 
4. Sending them out into the world to live as Christian disciples:
   the ministry of mission

I believe every local church leader needs to be asking, Do we have these processes and systems actively functioning in our congregation so that ultimately the task of disciple making is accomplished? What is our church doing to offer warm welcome to strangers? What is our congregation doing to intentionally invite new persons into the fellowship of the church? How are we making ourselves known in the community? How are we as a congregation intentionally sharing our faith with those who do not yet know God? Once we have opened our doors and warmly invited these people to come and taste the warmth and love of God, how are we helping them to connect with God? How are we helping God become real in their lives? How are we helping them to worship God for who God is? How are we teaching and nurturing them in their journey of faith? Are we giving them adequate tools to effectively live their Christian life in the world? How are we helping them to grow in their faith? How are we making the Christian faith and teachings relevant to their needs, to their family, and to the circumstances of their life? How does the Christian faith speak to them in the 21st century? And how are we equipping them to put their faith into action in the world? Are we teaching them the importance of living out their faith and sharing their faith with their loved ones, colleagues, and coworkers? In other words, how are we helping them to grow and become like Christ each day?

As you do your annual planning and strategizing in your churches, it is important for you to challenge your leaders to be intentionally asking such questions. Every work group, committee, and ministry group must be frequently asking these questions and aligning themselves to the mission of making disciples; this must be done very intentionally. Too often, in many of our churches, we have moved and drifted away from the primary task of the church. We have become so busy and occupied with maintenance issues and neglected to keep the main thing, the main thing! So, in order for us to keep our focus and mission crystal clear and ever before us, we need to be frequently calling and challenging our people back to the basic and fundamental mission of our church, which is making disciples for Jesus Christ! This can only be done by frequent reminders, effective planning and strategizing, and leadership, which teach, believe, and own the mandate from our Lord to "go and make disciples."

Wesley S. K. Daniel, former staff of the General Board of Discipleship, is now serving as a superintendent in the Des Moines District of the Iowa Annual Conference.

Posted 4-14-03.