The Mission Filter

Introduction

I have always been struck with the final prayer of Jesus for his disciples. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17: 25-26 NRSV). In other words, the most important thing any human being can know and do is love God and love others.

A retired Methodist evangelist once travelled the Midwest preaching at ten-day camp meetings in the 1930’s giving sermons with the aim of making disciples. As a mentor he often asked me to memorize those verses (John 17-25-26) because they explained Christ’s mission to the world and our continuation of Jesus’ mission. I am grateful for this mentor’s influence and teaching. He was right. Jesus was sent by God to find followers and challenged us as followers to make disciples so God’s forgiving love could be in them just like it is in us.

A question. Do you think the best decisions and the best planning are being made for your church? When I served as a young pastor in the early 1980’s, a congregant asked me this compelling question. I replied, “Yes. I hope so.” After all, I had made many decisions already but at the time failed to comprehend the weight of the question and the ease in which I answered.

Let me give an example. The church I served at this time (in my 30’s) was the result of a major merger of three smaller congregations from the county. None of those churches were reaching their community and they were dying on the vine. Their leaders collaborated and decided to become one larger church and purchased a vacant church building in this small midwestern town, a county seat. The previous occupants were a church group of another affiliation who discovered Christ’s mission and relocated to accommodate the growth of more disciples.

Twenty-two years later, I became the pastor of this three-church merger. Unfortunately, with lack of insight and experience, I listened to the leaders who perpetuated the status quo and the complainers of the consolidated group. Five years later I was frustrated. And, for good reason. I realized the church was failing to reach people in its community. It was too late!

The death of a congregation is slow but the years pile up quickly. For a church, dying is not a wall, but a set of gates. It doesn’t have to be this way. Declining churches behaving with apathy and neglect can re-focus on the mission at any time but it must be done with intentionality and before exponential decline becomes the pattern set in stone.

A new life-cycle can begin. This new set of gates has entry points for us to come and go and build connections to where people really live. The best decision and the best plans for your church is to see itself as a portal and to welcome new disciples with intentionality. Allow me to ask the question again. Do you think the best decision and the best planning are being made for your church?

The aim of this book is to raise mission consciousness amid a crisis. This book emphasizes the priority of mission, to embrace it, and to keep it alive for the next generation. With intentionality, better decision-making and everyday hope, readers can embrace the challenge of how to filter core ideas and core initiatives in order to faithfully and consistently execute the mission of “making disciples for the transformation of the world.”

A strength of this book is that it presses in on the consciousness of the local church and asks…Who are you really? As a church do you know your why? Challenging the way any church does business can be a productive struggle when accomplished in love and with the help of a mission filter. Having a mission filter is like having a truthteller in your life. There is a lot of noise to be heard even when there is no crisis…at least not an identified crisis. Yet, no one really comprehends the importance of leadership and mission in a crisis until there is an absence of leadership and mission. Then, it shows up!

HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE

This book is the culmination of fifty years of ministry, learning from mentors, failures as well as success. In particular, the idea of this book started soon after I served with a group of dedicated men and women as a district task force to determine the viability of a dying church. I have seen up close how the witness of a church can vanish while the community grows. Sometimes subdivisions of un-discipled young families and children drive by a dying church to go to another church that thrives.

Each chapter contains a set of questions for group interaction called Matters for Thought and Discussion. I encourage you to take advantage of these exercises as you study with other leaders to ponder how the mission filter concept can be beneficial to your church or organization.

I hope something I have written will inspire, maybe even provoke you to consider developing a mission filter. As a disciple and leader, you can have a laser focus on the good news of the gospel that you and I carry around inside us but is to be given away just like the Father gave everything into Jesus’ hands. The un-discipled and the next generation need our engagement to reach the next level with intentionality, everyday hope, and interest in their lives.

Enjoy!