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Defining Your Purposes
Let there be real harmony so that there won’t be splits in the church… . Be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
1 Corinthians 1:10 (LB)While I was a seminary student in Texas, I once agreed to help some leaders of a large church evaluate their total church program. The church had been a strong, vibrant witness for Christ in the past, and it had a historic reputation. I was a little intimidated as I drove up to the massive red brick structure for my first experience at church consulting. The hall to the conference roomwas filled with the portraits of the men who had pastored the church in the past one hundred years. This was a church with a history!
As we sat down for our first meeting I asked the group of leaders gathered, “How do you feel about your church?” Most of the comments expressed a quiet sense of satisfaction. One man summed it up by saying, “We have a sound church.” But
as I probed deeper I discovered that the church was sound asleep! While the church was theologically sound, nothing of spiritual significance was taking place there. The buildings were all paid for, and the church leaders had become lazy and lethargic. They were, as the prophet Amos would have said, “at ease in Zion”—and their “at ease” disease was slowly killing the church. Since they’d hired me to be their doctor, I gave thema simple prescription: Rediscover your purpose.
Leading Your Church to Define Its Purposes Leading your congregation through a discovery of the New Testament purposes for the church is an exciting adventure. Don’t rush through the process. And don’t spoil the joy of discovery by simply telling everyone what the purposes are in a sermon. Wise leaders understand that people will give mental and verbal assent to what they are told, but they will hold with conviction what they discover for themselves. You’re building a foundation for long-termhealth and growth.
It’s thrilling to see apathetic members become enthusiastic as they rediscover how God desires to use them and their church. Below, I will explain the four steps to take in leading your church to define, or redefine, its purposes.
Study what the Bible says
Begin by involving your congregation in a study of the biblical passages on the church. Prior to starting Saddleback Church I took six months to do an extensive, personal Bible study on the church, using the methods described in my book
Dynamic Bible Study Methods (Victor Books, 1980). During the first months of the new church, I led our young congregation through the same study. Together we studied all the relevant Scripture about the church.
Some of the Scriptures you may want to include in your study are: Matt. 5:13–16; 9:35; 11:28–30; 16:15–19; 18:19–20; 22:36–40; 24:14; 25:34–40; 28:18–20; Mark 10:43–45; Luke 4:18– 19; 4:43–45; John 4:23; 10:14–18; 13:34–35; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2:41–47; 4:32–35; 5:42; 6:1–7; Rom. 12:1–8; 15:1–7; 1 Cor. 12:12– 31; 2 Cor. 5:17–6:1; Gal. 5:13–15; 6:1–2; Eph. 1:22–23; 2:19–22; 3:6; 3:14–21; 4:11–16; 5:23–24; Col. 1:24–28; 3:15–16; 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:11; Heb. 10:24–25; 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 2:9–10; 1 John 1:5–7; 4:7–21.
Gene Mims has written a great little book entitled Kingdom Principles for Church Growth (Convention Press) that can be used as a churchwide study course on the purposes of the church. As you lead your congregation in a study, there are several topics that you should consider.
- Look at Christ’s ministry on earth. Ask, “What did Jesus do while he was here? What would he do if he were here today?” Whatever Jesus did while he was on earth, we are to continue today. The different elements of Christ’s ministry should be evident in his church today. Whatever he did while here in a physical body, he wants continued in his spiritual body, the church.
- Look at the images and names of the church. The New
Testament offers many analogies for the church: a body, a bride, a family, a flock, a community, and an army. Each of these images has profound implications for what the church should be, and what the church should be doing.
- Look at the examples of the New Testament churches. Ask, “What did the first churches do?” There are many different models given in Scripture. The Jerusalem church was very different from the church at Corinth. The Philippian church was very different from the church at Thessalonica. Study each of the local congregations found in the New Testament, including the seven churches listed in Revelation.
- Look at the commands of Christ. Ask, “What did Jesus tell us to do?” In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build my church.” He obviously has a specific purpose in mind. It isn’t our job to create the purposes of the church but to discover them.
Remember, it’s Christ’s church, not ours. Jesus founded the church, died for the church, sent his Spirit to the church, and willsomeday return for his church.As the owner of the church, he has already established the purposes, and they’re not negotiable.
Our duty is to understand the purposes Christ has for the church and to implement them. While the programs must change in every generation, the purposes never change. We may be innovative with the style of ministry, but we must never
alter the substance of it.
Look for answers to four questions
As you review what the Bible says about the church, watch for the answers to the questions below. As you formulate your answers, focus on both the nature and the tasks of the church.
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- Why does the church exist?
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- What are we to be as a church? (Who and what are we?)
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- What are we to do as a church? (What does God want done in the world?)
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- How are we to do it?
Put your findings in writing
Write down everything you’ve learned through your study. Don’t worry about trying to be brief. Say everything you think needs to be said about the nature and purposes of the church. When we did this in the first year of Saddleback, I used a flip chart and felt-tipped marker to record all the findings that came out of our group study. Then we typed up everything that had been written down on the chart. The result was a ten-page document containing our randominsights on the church.
Don’t try to come up with a purpose statement at this point:
Just collect information. It is always easier to edit and condense than to create. Focus only on getting all of the purposes clearly identified. I want to reemphasize this for pastors: Don’t rush through this process! You’re building a foundation that will support everything else you do for years to come. Even though you already know the New Testament purposes, it is vital for your congregation to review all that the Bible has to say about the church and write down their conclusions.
Summarize your conclusions in a sentence
From our collection of typed insights from our Bible study, we eventually distilled a single sentence that summarized what we believe are the biblical purposes of the church. That’s what you need to do as well. First, condense what you’ve discovered about the church by grouping similar concepts together under major headings such as evangelism, worship, fellowship, spiritual maturity, and ministry. Next, try to state all these major themes in a single paragraph. Then begin to edit out unnecessary words and phrases to reduce that paragraph to a single sentence.
Condensing your purpose statement into a single sentence is absolutely important. Why? Because it will have limited value if people can’t remember it! Dawson Trotman used to say, “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and the fingertips.” In other words, if you can say it and write it, then you’ve clearly thought it through. If
you haven’t put your purposes on paper, you haven’t really thought themout.
Francis Bacon, the English essayist, once said, “Reading makes a broad man, but writing makes an exact man.” When it comes to communicating the purposes of the church, we want to be as precise as we can be.
What Makes an Effective Purpose Statement?
It is biblical
An effective purpose statement expresses the New Testament doctrine of the church. Remember, we don’t decide the purposes of the church—we discover them. Christ is the head of his church. He established the purposes long ago. Now each generation must reaffirmthem.
It is specific
Purpose statements need to be simple and clear. The biggest mistake a church can make when developing a purpose statement is trying to cram too much into it. The temptation is to add in all kinds of good, but unnecessary, phrases because you are afraid of leaving out something important. But the more you add to your statement, the more diffused it becomes, and the more difficult it is to fulfill.
A narrow mission is a clear mission. Disneyland’s purpose statement is “To provide people happiness.” The original mission of the Salvation Army was to “Make citizens of the
rejected.” Many purpose statements are so vague, they have no impact at all. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific. Some church statements say, “Our church exists to glorify God.” Of course it does! But exactly how do you accomplish that?
A specific purpose statement forces you to focus your energy. Don’t be detoured by peripheral issues. Ask the questions, “What are the very few things that will make the most difference for Jesus’ sake in our world? What can we do that only the church can do?”
It is transferable
A purpose statement that is transferable is short enough to be remembered and passed on by everyone in your church. The shorter it is, the better. Although the purpose statement of every biblical church will include the same elements, there is nothing to keep you from saying it in a fresh, creative way. Try to make it memorable.
As a pastor I hate to admit this, but people don’t remember sermons or speeches—they don’t even remember paragraphs. What people remember are simple statements, slogans, and phrases. I don’t remember any speech John F. Kennedy gave, but I do remember his statements, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” and “I am a Berliner!” Neither do I remember any sermon preached by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but I do remember his famous phrase, “I have a dream!”
It is measurable
You must be able to look at your purpose statement and evaluate whether your church is doing it or not. Will you be able to prove you’ve accomplished it at the end of each year? You cannot judge the effectiveness of your church unless your mission is measurable.
A great purpose statement will provide a specific standard by which you can review, revise, and improve everything your church does. If you can’t evaluate your church by your purpose statement, go back to the drawing board. Make it measurable. Otherwise your purpose statement is just a public relations piece.
Two Great Scriptures In the first months of Saddleback I led our new church in the process I have just explained to you. Finally, we concluded that although many passages describe what the church is to be and do, two statements by Jesus summarize it all: the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37–40) and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19–20).
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… . Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Matthew 22:37–40
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
The Great Commandment was given by Jesus in response to a question. One day, Jesus was asked to identify the most important command. He responded by saying, “Here is the entire Old Testament in a nutshell. I’m going to give you the Clif Notes summary of God’s Word. All the Law and all the Prophets can be condensed into two tasks: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Later, in some of his last words to his disciples, Jesus gave the Great Commission to them and assigned them three more tasks: Go make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything he had taught.
I believe that every church is defined by what it is committed to, so I came up with this slogan: “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a Great Church.” It became Saddleback’s motto.
These two passages summarize everything we do at Saddleback Church. If an activity or program fulfills one of these commands, we do it. If it doesn’t, we don’t. We are driven by the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Together, they give us the primary tasks the church is to focus on until Christ returns.
The Five Purposes of the Church A purpose-driven church is committed to fulfilling all five tasks that Christ ordained for his church to accomplish.
Purpose #1: Love the Lord with all your heart
The word that describes this purpose is worship. The church exists to worship God. How do we love God with all our heart? By worshiping him! It doesn’t matter if we’re by ourselves, with a small group, or with 100,000 people. When we express our love to God, we’re worshiping.
The Bible says, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matt. 4:10). Notice that worship comes before service. Worshiping God is the church’s first purpose. Sometimes we get so busy working for God, we don’t have time to express our love for himthrough worship.
Throughout Scripture we’re commanded to celebrate God’s presence by magnifying the Lord and exalting his name. Psalm 34:3 (NASB) says, “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.” We shouldn’t worship out of duty; we should worship because we want to. We should enjoy expressing our love to God.
Purpose #2: Love your neighbor as yourself
The word we use to describe this purpose is ministry. The church exists to minister to people. Ministry is demonstrating God’s love to others by meeting their needs and healing their hurts in the name of Jesus. Each time you reach out in love to others you are ministering to them. The church is to minister to all kinds of needs: spiritual, emotional, relational, and physical. Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in his name was
considered as ministry and would not go unrewarded. The church is to “… equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12 NRSV).
Unfortunately, very little actual ministry takes place in many churches. Instead, much of the time is taken up by meetings*.* Faithfulness is often defined in terms of attendance rather than service, and members just sit, soak, and sour.
Purpose #3: Go and make disciples
This purpose we call evangelism. The church exists to communicate God’s Word. We are ambassadors for Christ, and our mission is to evangelize the world. The word g o in the Great Commission is a present participle in the Greek text. It should read “as you are going.” It is every Christian’s responsibility to share the Good News wherever we go. We are to tell the whole world of Christ’s coming, his death on the cross, his resurrection, and his promise to return. Someday each of us will give an account to God regarding how seriously we took this responsibility.
The task of evangelism is so important, Christ actually gave us five Great Commissions, one in each of the gospels, and one in the book of Acts. In Matthew 28:19–20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47–49, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8 Jesus commissions us to go and tell the world the message of salvation.
Evangelism is more than our responsibility; it is our great privilege. We are invited to be a part of bringing people into
God’s eternal family. I don’t know of a more significant cause to give one’s life to. If you knew the cure for cancer, I’m sure you’d do everything you could to get the news out. It would save millions of lives. But you already know something better: You’ve been given the Gospel of eternal life to share, which is the greatest news of all!
As long as there is one person in the world who does not know Christ, the church has a mandate to keep growing. Growth is not optional; it is commanded by Jesus. We should not seek church growth for our own benefit, but because God wants people saved.
Purpose #4: Baptizing them
In the Greek text of the Great Commission there are three participle verbs: going, baptizing, and teaching. Each of these is a part of the command to “make disciples.” Going, baptizing, and teaching are the essential elements of the disciplemaking process. At first glance you might wonder why the Great Commission gives the same prominence to the simple act of baptism as it does to the great tasks of evangelism and edification. Obviously, Jesus did not mention it by accident. Why is baptism so important to warrant inclusion in Christ’s Great Commission? I believe it is because it symbolizes one of the purposes of the church: fellowship—identification with the body of Christ.
As Christians we’re called to belong, not just to believe. We are not meant to live lone-ranger lives; instead, we are to
belong to Christ’s family and be members of his body. Baptism is not only a symbol of salvation, it is a symbol of fellowship. It not only symbolizes our new life in Christ, it visualizes a person’s incorporation into the body of Christ. It says to the world, “This person is now one of us!” When new believers are baptized, we welcome them into the fellowship of the family of God. We are not alone. We have each other for support. I love the way Ephesians 2:19 is phrased in the Living Bible: “You are members of God’s very own family … and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” The church exists to provide fellowship for believers.
Purpose #5: Teaching them to obey
The word we commonly use to refer to this purpose is discipleship. The church exists to edify, or educate, God’s people. Discipleship is the process of helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. This process begins when a person is born again and continues throughout the rest of his life. Colossians 1:28 (NCV) says, “We continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ” (italics added).
As the church we are called not only to reach people, but also to teach them. After someone has made a decision for Christ, he or she must be discipled. It is the church’s responsibility to develop people to spiritual maturity. This is
God’s will for every believer. Paul writes: “… so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12b–13).
If you examine the earthly ministry of Jesus, it is apparent that he included all five of these elements in his work (for a summary see John 17). The apostle Paul not only fulfilled these purposes in his ministry, he also explained them in Ephesians 4:1–16. But the clearest example of all five purposes is the first church at Jerusalem described in Acts 2:1–47. They taught each other, they fellowshiped together, they worshiped, they ministered, and they evangelized. Today our purposes are unchanged: The church exists to edify, encourage, exalt, equip, and evangelize. While each church will differ in how these tasks are accomplished, there should be no disagreement about what we are called to do.
Saddleback’s Purpose Statement At Saddleback we use five key words to summarize Christ’s five purposes for his church.
Magnify: We celebrate God’s presence in worship
Mission: We communicate God’s Word through evangelism
Membership: We incorporate God’s family into our fellowship
Maturity: We educate God’s people through discipleship
Ministry: We demonstrate God’s love through service
These key words, representing our five purposes, have been incorporated into our mission statement, which reads as follows:
Saddleback’s Purpose Statement
To bring people to Jesus and membership in his family, develop them to Christlike maturity, and equip them for their ministry in the church and life mission in the world, in order to magnify God’s name.
There are three important distinctives I want you to notice about Saddleback’s purpose statement. First, it is stated in terms ofresults rather than in terms of activity. Five measurable results are listed. Most churches, if they have a purpose statement, usually state it in terms of activities (“we edify, evangelize, worship,” etc.). This makes it harder to evaluate and quantify.
At Saddleback, we identify the results we expect to see coming from fulfilling each of the five purposes of the church. For each result we can ask questions like: How many? How many more than last year? How many were brought to Christ? How many new members are there? How many are
demonstrating spiritual maturity? What are the signs of maturity we look for? How many have been equipped and mobilized for ministry? How many are fulfilling their life mission in the world? These questions measure our success and force us to evaluate if we are really fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
Second, I want you to notice that Saddleback’s purpose statement is stated in a way that encourages participation by every member. People must be able to see how they can make a contribution toward the goals of your church. The mission must be stated in a way that everyone can not only believe in it —they can participate in it. If your statement doesn’t allow individual participation, very little will get done.
Third, and most importantly, notice that we’ve arranged the five purposes into a sequential process. This is absolutely crucial. To be a purpose-driven church your purposes must be put into a process. That way they can be acted on every day. Every purpose statement needs a process to fulfill it; if not, you simply have a theological statement that sounds good but produces nothing.
Instead of trying to grow a church with programs, focus on growing people with a process. This concept is the heart of being a purpose-driven church. If you will set up a process for developing disciples and stick with it, your church’s growth will be healthy, balanced, and consistent. Benjamin Disraeli once observed that “constancy to purpose is the secret of success.”
Our process for implementing the purposes of God involves four steps: We bring people in, build them up, train them, and send themout. We bring themin as members, we build them up to maturity, we train them for ministry, and we send them out on mission, magnifying the Lord in the process. That’s it! This is our total focus at Saddleback. We don’t do anything else.
If I were to use business terms I’d say that our church is in the “disciple-development” business, and that our product is changed lives—Christlike people. If it is the church’s objective to develop disciples, then we must think through a process that will accomplish that goal. Your church must define both your purposes and a process for fulfilling those purposes. To do less is to leave to chance the great responsibility we’ve been given by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every great church has defined its purposes and then somehow figured out a process or system for fulfilling those purposes. The Central Church of Seoul, Korea, was built on a cell-group system. First Baptist Church, Dallas, was built on a fully graded Sunday school system. Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, grew due to a personal evangelism system. In the early 1970s, many churches were built around a system of bringing attenders to church on buses. In each of these cases, church leaders clearly defined their purposes and then developed a process to fulfill those purposes.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of defining your
church’s purposes. It is not merely a target that you aim for; it is your congregation’s reason for being. A clear purpose statement will provide the direction, the vitality, the boundaries, and the driving force for everything you do. Purpose-driven churches will be the churches best equipped to minister during all the changes we will face in the twenty-first century.