Hack the way mission gets done in the church…

The mission of the Mission Committee is to increase everyone’s participation in giving back. But in most churches, the mission committee is LIMITED in what it can accomplish because it is focused on its own series of events and special offerings, and hobbled by the time constraints of its own leadership.

Most Mission Committees lament the general lack of congregational participation in mission. You know the complaints, “people don’t show up,” “they only write checks, they don’t get involved,” etc. So rather than COMPETING with every other group in the church for the member’s attention, this HACK makes every group responsible for CONDUCTING MISSION in some way, shape or form.

Why? Because we’re too compartmentalized in the church.

• The Mom’s Group thinks “mission” is the job of the mission committee.
• The youth groups think they have no responsibility for helping take care of the facility.
• The Square Dancers just want to use our space.
• The choir thinks they’ve done enough and don’t need to serve the less fortunate.
• The Quilters only quilt for themselves.
• The Tech Committee doesn’t look at ways to promote mission on the website, they just sit back and wait for the mission committee to “tell them what they want up there.”

The Hack:  Mission and Service to the church should be part of EVERY GROUP’s “CHARTER,” because mission and service are part of every CHRISTIAN’s charter, and because it gives us a new way to accomplish mission beyond the traditional confines of “what the mission committee can get done.”

Here’s the Simple Idea: Any group that wants to use our facility, whether they are from our church or just coming to our church, must “give back beyond themselves” to the church community or to those less fortunate in some way on an annual basis. And your plan must be approved by the church council.  Thus, the mom’s group needs to have it’s own mission project, the square dancers might volunteer to paint a room or bring in canned goods and manage that annual drive, the Men’s Breakfast Club will do some church maintenance during the year, the youth group will wash windows and manage the clothing drive.

Who should manage all this?  The Mission Committee, …not as “one more thing to do” …but as a “new way to get things done by MORE people!

It’s a way of increasing the mission activity and awareness of your congregation in an EXPONENTIAL way on a regular basis.

It also taps into these other groups’ leadership to get mission done, rather than always relying on the Mission Committee to lead mission efforts.

And it’s theologically correct. “Make Mission part of Every Group’s Mission.”

Now let me add another crazy idea to the one above:

Every group in the church must include SCRIPTURE, some form of teaching, and prayer in it’s program.  Crazy I know, but how often do these groups LACK some semblance of spirituality?  Too often.

Lunch Bunch, Quilters, Men’s Work Group, Choir, Facilities, Work Day, and All the Committees that ever meet, must follow the church rule: “If you meet, then you read/teach/pray.”

It is the responsibility of those groups and leaders which are LEADING these groups to make sure that they are taking at least SOME time to share scripture and prayer. Doesn’t have to be long.

…I call this the “Wherever 2 or 3 are Gathered” Program.