What does our mission have to do with our motto? I addressed this question during our “Membership Matters” discussion a couple weeks ago. It is worth considering. You probably know that our motto is “Loving God – Loving Others.” You might not quite remember that we’ve identified our mission as being “. . . to serve, evangelize, and disciple individuals while loving God and loving others.” This is important to understand because it dictates what we do, and why we do it.
It is also important to recognize that being about the three actions identified in our mission SHOULD result in a right expression of Godly love toward him and others. Well-intentioned churches can fall into the trap of thinking that if they aren’t doing ______, they aren’t as good as the church down the street. This is not necessarily the case. We are not called to be the church down the street. Likewise, it can feel overwhelming to try and meet every need that presents itself in our community and our world. Good news – we aren’t supposed to. If we try and be about everything, we’ll only end up being mediocre, at best, in the things that really matter.
Why do I bring this up? Well, we just elected new committees and ministry teams. Thank you to everyone who said yes to serve in this capacity. As I work with these groups, I will encourage them to make decisions based on our mission. You may wonder why a committee chooses to do this or that; why they don’t decide to do something you think is a great idea, or another church you attended did. If we decide not to do something someone else is doing or something you want to do, it does not mean that these are bad ideas; it means that when considered alongside our mission, they may not be BEST.
I hope you’ll keep this in mind throughout our next season of ministry, and pray for our staff, leaders, committees, and teams as we all strive to serve in a way that fits with who the Lord is calling us to be!