Only 25% of U.S. adults report having a clear sense of purpose which they can easily articulate.
That does not surprise me.
As I listen to people, Christian and non-Christian alike, I regularly hear haunting questions like:
What is my purpose?
Why am I here?
What is the point?
If people cannot easily articulate their purpose, they settle for lesser things… like throwing themselves into the daily rush of “keeping up” with tasks and deadlines. Without a greater sense of purpose, they substitute activity for accomplishment. And the fruit of all their efforts is often only exhaustion, frustration, and anxiety.
Sound familiar?
Not surprisingly, most congregations struggle with the same question of purpose/mission. After all, if you gather a hundred people who have no clear sense of purpose into a local congregation, what can you expect?
A congregation who cannot easily articulate their purpose will also settle for lesser things… like throwing themselves into the weekly rush of “keeping up” with services and programs. Without a greater sense of purpose, congregations substitute activity for accomplishment. And the fruit of all their efforts is often only exhaustion, frustration, and anxiety.
And, worse, the community is left untransformed by the congregation.
The Good News is that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, your individual purpose, as well as your congregational purpose/mission, is clear (and easily articulated):
Your purpose is to be loved and forgiven by the Father through Jesus, and then to go find people who need His love and forgiveness, too. (See 1 John 4:10-11, 19; John 13:35; John 3:16; John 15:12-13; Matthew 22:34-40.)
Jerome (who lived around 400 A.D. and translated the Bible into Latin) tells a powerful story about the elderly Apostle John. In his commentary on Galatians, he wrote: “The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples would carry him to church but he could not muster the voice to speak many words. During individual gatherings he usually said nothing but, ‘Little children, love one another.’ The disciples and brothers in attendance, because they always heard the same words, finally said, ‘Teacher, why do you always say this?’ He replied with a line worthy of John, ‘Because it is the Lord’s commandment and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.’”
How clear and simple is your congregation’s purpose/mission? Is it as clear and simple as John’s?
Try an experiment this Sunday: during coffee hour, ask your friends what all the programs, classes and services are for? Do you think you will hear something like this, “The purpose of all our programs, classes, and services is to remind us that we are loved by God and to prepare us to go find people who need His love, too.”
If not, I can help.
I offer Next-Step Leadership Retreats that result in leaders gaining the clarity they need to evaluate and retool the congregation’s programs, classes, and services so people are prepared each week to live with greater purpose.
To start the conversation, contact me via the button below.