There is lots - a mission statement, purpose statement, vision statement and strategy statement. Each is different from the next and long. Each ministry department has different statements. There is a degree of influence from Willow Creek in the the five 'M' words. It is unclear how all the statements fit together and unsure of the real focus of the church.
The Pastor
He moves between saying all is ok and looking really frustrated by everything. He hints that the church is disjointed and heading in multiple directions. He doesn't know what his desire for the church is though.
The Leaders
Each leader gives a myriad of responses to the question of what the focus of the church is however not one of them mentions any of the various mission, vision, etc, statements. None of them have been internalised.
The what and the how are very unclear for this church.
Programming
They have 8 major programs in 7 days! That is just for adults and doesn't include youth and childrens. It is clear that the programs are good so much so that the attention is divided. Every program is short on leaders and all complain that their program isn't publicised enough.
Numbers
They look to see how many people are attending each program. Each program is separated from the whole.
2. Cross Church
Only 20 yrs old, less well known on the landscape. People have come to Christ, been plugged into ministry and are contributing to the body of Christ.
Statements
There is only ONE statement, one overarching theme. It is short, it is adapted for each age group - 'loving God, loving people, and serving the world'. But is it the DNA of the church?
Pastor
He indicates that the church stands behind the statement. There is a fascinating dialogue on p38 between the pastor and the author.
Author: So, this is your purpose, right?
Pastor: I guess you could say that
A: Talk to us about your process. How do you make your purpose happen?
P: Love God, love others and serve the world is our process
A: I thought you said it was your purpose
P: It is both. Our purpose is a process.
A: Oh.
Interesting. Genius. Simple. Instead of a chasm of separation between their purpose and their process, the two are one in the same. Their purpose is their process.
They then share some of the history of how this pastor came to this conclusion and moved towards simplifying their church.
Leaders
The vast majority of the leaders speak freely about loving God, loving others, and serving the world. It is clear that it is the DNA of the church.
Programming
All programs are set up to move people through loving God - loving others - serving the world. Loving God is the weekend services. Loving others is to help people connect relationally in small groups. Serving the world has ministry teams engaging people in team ministry. Some focus on the church, others on the community. New people are told not to join if they don't want to serve. There are essentially only 3 main programs correlating with the loving God, others and serving the world.
Numbers
They evaluate people as to where they are at in the ministry process - worship service, small groups or ministry teams. They look at quarterly reports to see each if each process is increasing or decreasing.
The comparisons continue in terms of handling new ideas and staffing but you get the general drift of this chapter. They end the chapter asking, Is your church more like First Church or Cross Church?
My thoughts:
As a Pastor it is so easy to keep adding new things on to the agenda, new programs, new ideas, events but these don't always or even necessarily equate to growth in the life of a Christian or in the corporate life of the church. It is a very real challenge to keep things simple like Cross Church does. Once again this chapter is exciting me for the challenge of simplifying everything. This is not a new thought for where we are at in our church family. We need clarity, movement, alignment and focus which is the focus of chapter 3.
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