By Jannah
We talk about being one body in Christ, a body made up of Christians all around the world. Despite this, it’s easy to get caught up in distinguishing ourselves by our various locations, denominations, and styles. This serves to divide that unified body into smaller subgroups. Churches spend time forming that perfect mission statement, trying to distinguish themselves from the others. I realize some competition is natural as churches try to grow and maintain stability. However, I also feel that this division reinforces the idea of singularity in the body of Christ instead of encouraging community between churches.
What would happen if all churches shared one mission statement? In reality, we do in God’s mission for the church, the original purpose of the church. What if churches stuck to that as the mission that all churches acted under instead of trying to distinguish themselves from each other with little nuances in their professional statements? Many churches move away from the ultimate purpose God has for the church and I think the focus then becomes on the church and what it does for people rather than God’s work through the church body. Darrell Guder writes, “The oneness spoken of here is a matter of obedience to the Lord of the church, obedience that centers on his mission.” I know there’s much more to unity than this, but I think if all churches made a bold change by identifying themselves together under a single mission, God’s mission, it could be an important step towards breaking down the walls we’ve built up. Granted, churches would also have to be willing to move towards unity together, but that’s a whole other level to this discussion.
Jannah,
I agree that the minute differences that divide churches are harmful and not Biblical, and I agree with Josh regarding the statement that there are some really weird churches in the world. It would seem that the more that churches unified in missions the more walls would be broken down. Just as Pastor Dave from The Porch mentioned that he wished that The Porch would have started with missions and then moved on to worship, I think the same could be applied here.
I wonder what would happen in Spokane if students at Whitworth began praying about this issue of the disjointed Church in Spokane? Thank you for writing your blog on this, it has spurred some creativity in my head!
I like this idea! I think it would be a stretch to get “every” church to agree on a common mission statement. There are some really weird churches out there…..but I still think that it would be great if 10 or so churches in Spokane agreed on some sort of mission statement. It would probably be bland and not real precise, but it would be a step in the right direction for sure!