Purpose Statements for churches have become the norm. The mainly include the 5 New Testament purposes of the church, which are Worship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry, and Fellowship. I believe that these statements are a good way to communicate a vision. However, churches must be able to go past just defining the statement (the what);churches must be able to define the process (the how) of the purpose statement. This is a where churches should focus there energy. The process is more important than the statement itself. If a church can only define purpose, then a vital step is missing.
In his book, “Simple Church,” Thom Rainer quotes Michael hammer who is a business consultant for 2 day seminars that cost more than $2,000 to attend. Mr. Hammer says that the process is more important than the purpose because it is what makes everything work. People within a church must know and understand the process because they are who fulfills it. The process is for them.
Clearly defining the process engages people through the process because they understand the expectation. People are unable to embrace something they don’t know. Let us walk through this process together so we can be a purposeful church with a process that engages people for the Kingdom of God.
In The Light, 1 John 1:7 