Consulting, Coaching & Chatter

This article appeared in the Jul-Aug 2008 Net Results magazine.

Pastor Chuck pulled the desk drawer open to see what the previous pastor had left behind in the pastor’s study. A quick glance revealed the usual collection of the pencil stubs, rubber bands, a knot of paperclips, two nickels, a couple of pennies, and the ever-present membership directory. He was about to push the drawer shut when he caught sight of the corner of a piece of paper pushed all the way to the back. Out of curiosity, he pulled the drawer all the way out. There, all alone, and probably unread for several years, was a single typed page that was headed

Our Mission, Vision, and Values

Adopted September 2004

What he read was quite well done, but as the new kid on the block, even he knew that although the church had “adopted” them in 2004, the mission, vision, and values hadn’t in fact done much. The church still struggled with focus, conflict, and direction.

Sound familiar? Over the past few decades there’s been a move towards the adoption of a congregational DNA statement—a church’s mission, vision, and values. For many churches, the discernment process has been both time consuming and traumatic. Indeed, some churches lost members during the process. And yet … when all was said and done, most of the mission, vision, and values statements ended up like those Pastor Chuck discovered—either shoved to the back of a drawer or posted on a wall and seldom referred to.

I’ve reviewed a lot of mission, vision, and values statements over the years in an effort to help churches move to their next level. Some have been stellar, but most have been ineffectual. The mission tends to be murky. The vision is almost always “nice,” but hardly exciting. And the values are generally more about what the congregation believes than what’s important enough to drive action.

There are plenty of books and programs out there to help you develop effective mission, vision, and values statements. Bill Easum’s method (in Unfreezing Moves) is to empower leadership to discern them and then take the statements to the board and finally to the congregation for tweaking and approval. It’s the method I both recommend and prefer.

Although some churches have poorly written or conceived DNA statements, there are two other reasons why so many churches see few results when they unveil their literary masterpieces. First, many DNA statements are descriptive rather than proscriptive. They reflect a reality, or more often a desired reality, but don’t provide guidance for how to reach that reality. The second reason is more pernicious. Many leaders spend inordinate time discerning the congregation’s mission, values, and vision but once it’s on paper and been approved by the decision makers, it feels like the task is done. Voila! Il est fini! However, when the DNA statement is complete, the work has just begun.

Let’s spend a few moments solving the two issues.

Create a Strategic Statement

The first fix for descriptive DNA statements is to create a strategic statement. Simply put, a strategic statement informs the congregation how the church is going to achieve its mission and vision. The strategic statement has three parts: an objective (the “end”), a target (the “client”), and a strategy (the “means”). Each part helps refine the answer to the question “How do we get there?” The callout shows an example strategic statement.

To grow to 1,300 in average worship attendance with 60 percent in small groups by 2010 by offering indigenous and updated-traditional worship opportunities with exceptional hospitality and effective adult spiritual formation training to unchurched adults with a “Christian memory” through a network of convenient “neighborhood” multi-site locations.

The Objective

To grow to 1,300 in average worship attendance with 60 percent in small groups by 2010 by offering indigenous and updated-traditional worship opportunities with exceptional hospitality and effective adult spiritual formation training to unchurched adults with a “Christian memory” through a network of convenient “neighborhood” multi-site locations.

The objective so refines the vision that everyone in the congregation will know when they reach it. Although the ultimate mission of the church is to make disciples, that’s the mission of every church whereas the objective portion of the strategic statement is specific to the local congregation. For an objective to compel church members to action it must be both actionable and measureable. It also helps if it’s crystal clear, concise, and compelling.

In the example, the measurable part of the objective is clear: an average of 1,300 in worship with 60 percent in small groups by 2010. As time passes, church leadership will be able to track and know instantly whether or not the congregation is on target for reaching it’s objective. Similarly, the actionable part of the objective is clear: creating indigenous and updated-traditional worship services that have great hospitality as well as creating an effective adult spiritual formation training system. These are tall orders, to be sure. But leaders, members, and even guests who read the objective will know exactly what the congregation is trying to accomplish.

The Target

To grow to 1,300 in average worship attendance with 60 percent in small groups by 2010 by offering indigenous and updated-traditional worship opportunities with exceptional hospitality and effective adult spiritual formation training to unchurched adults with a “Christian memory” through a network of convenient “neighborhood” multi-site locations.

Defining a target is often the most traumatic of all the whole DNA discernment process. Every church naturally wants to reach as many people as they possibly can, so they chaff at the notion of limiting the scope of their ministry. I suppose that pointing out that Jesus, the twelve, and even Paul had a clearly defined target for their ministries isn’t going to actually convince anyone otherwise, but the fact remains that few churches have the resources to appeal to every micro-culture in their community. Of course, defining a target doesn’t exclude people from outside the target from attending, participating and benefitting from the church’s ministry. It simply means that the leaders and members can determine how to best appeal to a segment of the population. Indeed, every congregation has a target whether it’s defined or not. If your congregation holds “traditional” worship services, you are targeting a specific demographic … and you’re not targeting Gen-X families who were raised outside the church (among others).

In our example, the church decided that it could best reach adults that have some sort of Christian memory, that is, they had some sort of a relationship with the church sometime in their past. Because this church is already running multiple services, they can appeal to a wider spectrum of generational adults, thus there is no generational limit. In addition, since it is located in the South, unchurched adults with a Christian memory currently represent the majority of adults living in their community, so this limit makes sense. However, if the church was smaller and located in the Northeast, the target would definitely need to be redefined. For instance, the target could be “unchurched families with resident children living in the South-Side borough of Pittsburgh.” Defining this target helps focus the hospitality needs … child care whenever adult spiritual formation training is offered, exceptional children’s programming, etc.

The Strategy

To grow to 1,300 in average worship attendance with 60 percent in small groups by 2010 by offering indigenous and updated-traditional worship opportunities with exceptional hospitality and effective adult spiritual formation training to unchurched adults with a “Christian memory” through a network of convenient “neighborhood” multi-site locations in and around Columbus.

The strategy is both the specific and primary means by which the church will accomplish it’s mission and vision. The strategy is meant to be a guide—the primary guide—that tells leaders, members, and even the casual onlooker how the church is going to reach its objective. This shouldn’t be a bulleted list of every program the church offers or might offer. Instead, the strategy helps church members know exactly how they can best help reach the congregation’s mission.

In our example, leaders and members know that the strategy of the church is to create a network of multi-site locations in neighborhoods across the Columbus area. With this in mind, the members can easily surmise how they could use their spiritual gifts and passions to help the church achieve its goals. For instance, someone with gifts and passions in hospitality could aspire to becoming a neighborhood site host. Or they could embed themselves in a neighborhood site and host a local adult spiritual formation small group. Someone with gifts and passions in business could help the church leadership identify potential locations for new sites and indigenous worship styles. Note that the chief strategy is the primary means used by the congregation to achieve its end.

With the strategy statement in place, church leadership can track the key measurements to see how the church is doing. If, using the example above, in 2009 it becomes clear that even though the worship attendance is growing, the participation in small groups has barely crossed the 40 percent mark, the leadership is immediately aware of the issue and can take steps to boost participation.

Embedding the DNA

The second solution to the ineffective DNA statement is the most important. A church can develop perfection in its DNA and still end up with little more than bonfire fodder if the leadership does little more than build a gold gilded frame and hang the statements in the hallway. Implementation of the DNA in the church is the primary function of the leadership. First, the lead pastor has to be the chief proponent of the DNA. S/he must not only know the DNA by heart, it must be written on their heart. They must become DNA Champions who focus on the mission, reflect the values, live the beliefs, exhibit the behaviors, plan and work from the strategy statement, and see the vision so clearly that it’s more real than reality to them. Virtually every business management book on the market claims that if senior leadership doesn’t live the DNA, the organization will never reflect it.

But it’s not enough for the paid staff to implement the DNA. If the congregational leaders are resistant or apathetic to them, the rest of the congregation will not follow. For instance, if Discipleship is a core value of the congregation, but the congregational leaders aren’t supportive of adult discipleship training and/or aren’t personally involved in an adult discipleship small group, then attempts to achieve the mission, vision, and objectives will be futile.

The axiom of successful leadership is that leaders lead. They are models first and leaders second. People are willing to follow leaders who lead, but are resistant to leaders who push. How many of us remember those in authority (like your parents) who’d say “Don’t do as I do, do as I say”? The rank and file church member isn’t stupid. They know that if it’s not important enough for leadership to engage in, then it probably isn’t all that important, regardless of how loudly the preacher preaches it.

On the other hand, in those churches and organizations where the key leadership has both embraced and manifested the DNA in their lives, the congregation has followed. In some cases it took some time before the congregation came along, but ultimately leaders lead because followers follow those who’ve shown themselves worthy of being followed.

Sidebar

DNA Definitions

Mission: The reason the church exists. The primary purpose has already been claimed by Jesus: To make disciples. A good mission statement could be Disciples making disciples.

Core Values: What’s important enough to the church that it drives action. “Hospitality” is a value. “We respect diversity” is a value. “The Bible is the word of God” is not a value—it’s a statement of belief.

Vision: What the church is trying to achieve. Sometimes stated in terms of measurable and time-bound results. Sometimes a more general statement about the church’s effect on the community.

Bedrock Beliefs: The bottom-line beliefs of the congregation. Sometimes stated in terms of a particular creed.

Expected Behaviors: A brief list of behaviors expected by leaders and members. Often derived from the New Testament’s One-Anothers.

Strategic Statement: The missing link in most DNA discussions. Defines the congregation’s primary objective (the “end”), it’s target (the “scope”), and it’s chief methods to achieve the objective (the “means”).