The Mission of a Church and Church
Administration
Now consider the mission of a church.
That along with the nature of church should help us understand its purpose. The
noun mission means first “a sending forth.” It implies that there is some
charge for which those sent forth are responsible. There is purpose to be
fulfilled. There is an errand to be performed. There is a commission to be
carried out. All of these elements grow out of the nature of the church. A
church does what it does because it is what it is. What is its mission? To make
known the manifold wisdom of God: the gospel. —It is the mission of a church to
make known the manifold. wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10). The individual who comes to
know the manifold wisdom of God, the “plan of the mystery” (v. 9, RSV), can
respond in faith, receive Christ, and become a child of God.
The people who have already received Christ are to make known the wisdom of God. This wisdom is the gospel, the good news. Christ gave His church the responsibility of unbinding the gospel, letting it loose in the earth. But with this responsibility comes also the possibility that a church might not unbind the gospel and, by this very default, will bind it. Not all children obey the Father. Consider this comment about Matthew 16:- 1:
The keys of the kingdom are the
gospel which Jesus deposited in his church. If the church binds it on earth by
not proclaiming it, heaven has already decreed that there is no other way
where-by men may be saved and enter into the kingdom of heaven. But if the church looses the gospel
on earth by proclaiming it, heaven has already decreed that men will hear it,
some will believe it, and those who do will be saved or enter into the kingdom
of heaven. It is a privilege and a tremendous responsibility!![1]
It is essential to the nature of the
church that its members be faithful in proclaiming the gospel. It is the only
hope of salvation for mankind. As Peter declared, “There is salvation in no
one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved” (Acts 4:12, RSV).
A church is a fellowship of disciples
making known to all the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its mission is not to be a
fellowship. That is its nature. It is a fellowship. Its mission is to make the
gospel known. It is a fellowship on mission.
Program leaders work with a statement
of a church’s mission
Program designs have done extensive
work over recent years in proposing accurate and practical answers to,
questions regarding the essential functions of a church on mission. They are
working with this statement of a church’s mission as their premise: The mission
of a church, composed of baptized believers who share a personal commitment to
Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, is to be a redemptive body in Christ, through
the power of the Holy Spirit, growing toward Christian maturity through worship,
proclamation and witness, nurture and education, and ministry to the whole
world that God’s purpose may be achieved!
The functions of a church as valid
expressions of what a church does as it carries out its mission. A function is
a basic activity natural to, characteristic of, and essential to the life of an
organism.
What are the functions of a church? They are four.
(1) Worship is the foundational
function of a church. Worship is a basic activity of a church. It is an individual
“encountering God in experiences that deepen a Christian’s faith and
strengthen his service.”[2] It is a natural expression
of one’s relationship to God. No one should be surprised to find a believer
worshiping. It is an act and an attitude which characterizes believers. It is
essential to the life of the church.
Without worship, frequently and
regularly, the organism cannot long perform its other functions. Worship
supports proclamation, protective nurture, maturing education, and ministry to
others that is more than mere humanism.
Corporate worship, with believers gathering together
and experiencing encounter with God as a body of His children, is imperative
(Heb. 10:25). It is a beginning point and a melding point for a church with
regard to its development into a genuine fellowship.
Moreover, those who comprise a church
must also experience worship individually, apart from corporate occasions.
These times of one-to-one encounter sustain the individual’s identity as an
individual disciple and contribute strength to his relationship to the others
when they come together for worship or for other purposes.
Neither corporate worship, individual
worship, nor both kinds together comprise the totality of one’s responsibility
to God or His church. A body of believers whose members only worship cannot be
a complete church. Conversely, to whatever extent the members neglect worship,
to that extent they limit the total ministry of their church. Worship provides
the basis for a fellowship on ° mission. It gives the message and the motive
for all the other functions of a church.
(2) Proclaim and witness comprise
a vital function —Proclaim and witness comprise another basic function of a
church. It is natural that disciples of Jesus Christ should tell others what
they themselves have seen and heard, what they have experienced with Christ.
It is characteristic of one who has
had a vital experience to want to share the Word with others in order that they
might also experience such joy and relatedness. It is essential that the
faithful proclaim and witness, both for what it does for those who proclaim and
for those who hear. It is life-extending for the body. Verbal proclaiming and
verbal witnessing, both oral and written, are vital.
One who has encountered Christ and
experienced salvation has something to tell! But no amount of telling, even
without a magnificent conversion experience, can adequately compensate for a
careless life-style which seems to belie the care of Christ for persons which a
believer’s life should reflect. One who runs roughshod over others as though they
were less than persons for who Christ lived, died, and rose to live again
cannot proclaim or witness with credibility. Also, not all of the verbal
proclaiming has to fall into one set pattern.
Not every disciple feels free to be
as bold or as confrontational as to some others. Certainly these less bold ones
should not be shamed or ridiculed by fellow disciples. All need to develop some
ways of verbally proclaiming or witnessing but in ways which are natural to
their own personalities. In any case, the witness of one’s life and behavior
might be the most effective word spoken.
A church must proclaim and witness.
To whatever extent it does, a church can expect increased vitality and new
life— indeed new lives—to be added to the body. To whatever ex-tent a church
neglects to proclaim and witness, to that extent it can expect to suffer loss
of vitality and the absence of new life. Proclaiming and witnessing are major
means of making known the gospel, the manifold wisdom of God.
(3) Nurture and educate make up an
indispensable function —It is a basic function of a church to nurture and educate. It is
natural for a church to “nourish, modify, and develop individuals within a
fellowship.”[3]
This is one expression of concern for persons and their needs. It is natural
for a church to provide maturing and growing persons in knowledge, wisdom, moral
righteousness, and performance. None should be surprised to find a church
engaged in activities to help persons in these ways. Rather, it should
characterize a church to be found faithfully working at nurture and education.
A church must engage its members in
regular and frequent nurturing and educating experiences. There is no amount of
nurture or education which can substitute for the conscious submission of one’s
will to the lordship of Christ for salvation. Nor can nurture and education
supplant worship, proclamation and witness, or ministry.
But to fail to nurture and educate is
to risk aborting the discipling cycle. It is imperative that a church nurture
and educate. The God of all truth intends for His truth to be made known for
the good of His creation as they begin and continue the disciple life. Nurture
and education are ways this can be done.
(4) Ministry is a function every
church needs—To
minister is a basic activity of a church. To minister is to do things needful or
helpful—to aid persons both in and out of its fellowship. Distinctively
Christian ministering, such as a church renders, is that which is done in the
name of Christ, through His power, in His Spirit, and for His glory.
Just as those who comprise a church
are emulating Christ when they worship, proclaim, and educate, so they emulate
Him when they minister to those in need. And while any church might hope that
those to whom they minister would accept their highest expression of loving concern—the
gospel of Christ for their salvation—such acceptance is not a condition for
the help to be given.
Individually and collectively, the
church actively ministers to the spiritual, mental, and physical needs of
persons. Ministry is largely made up of voluntary acts, those which a church
consciously chooses to do to help persons because the people of the church love
God, and they love and care for others as they care for themselves. Some
sincere persons might mistake the channel of ministry as the way to earn
salvation. This is regrettable, because Christian ministering comes from one
who is first a Christian.
Salvation is something given, not
earned. Just as one cannot be educated into the Kingdom, neither can one work
one’s way in by helping people. But there is a serious error at the other end
of this spectrum. There are many who declare them-selves Christians, who will
freely proclaim and witness and who will study and learn, but never minister
beyond the verbal. These Christians need encouragement toward a fuller participation
in the life of the church. To fail to minister is to risk spiritual decay.
Members of the fellowship—the
church—need to minister both to help others in need and to help themselves develop
as disciples. A church on mission is a fellowship on mission. One can tell when
this is the case because a church will be doing with some regularity and
balance of emphasis those natural, characteristic, essential activities which
are the functions of a church: worship, proclaim and witness, nurture and
educate, and minister.[4] What, then, is the purpose
of church? There might be many ways to say it with accuracy. Nolan Howington
wrote that the purpose of a church is “to carry out the will of Christ in the
world, to proclaim and apply his gospel.”![5] This is clear and simple.
In my opinion, it is accurate.
Statement of purpose of church—Another way of stating the purpose
of church is not as easily said but reflects the church’s nature and mission in
terms of this presentation. The purpose of church is to be a fellowship of
persons who have received Christ and who are attempting obediently to live the
way of Christ and to work faithfully with Him to bring others to God.
Different people probably would state
the purpose of church in different ways. The point to keep in mind is that leaders
and members of a church need to have a consensus understanding about the
purpose of church which serves as a touchstone, a rallying point, and a
reference point for guidance in all they undertake to do as a church.
It is an administrative
responsibility to lead a church in this understanding, and to keep it before
the leaders and members as together they try to do the work of a church.
Administration Enables a Church to Be
a Church
It is the work of administration to
enable a church to be a church on purpose and to do the work of a church. How
does administration relate to a church in ways compatible with this concept?
That is what this book is about.
Administrative Leaders Help Members
Clarify Purpose and
to Act Upon it
Some persons have gifts of
administration. Paul, especially, wrote of these gifts. He included
administrators in his listing of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and in other
places. He said of the gifts in Ephesians 4:12 that they were given “for the
im-mediate equipment of the Children of God for the work of service”
(Williams). Administration is an enabling gift. As believers come together and
form a church, administration enables the members to identify and clarify
their purpose. In today’s churches, it might be the Church Council or the
long-range planning committee of a church which leads in the development of
purpose. In some churches, a special commit-tee for this purpose might be
called into being. In any event, there needs to be widespread involvement of
members in the process of developing a statement of purpose. The church should
ratify the final statement of purpose. It should be part of a church’s
documents, such as its constitution and bylaws. But it must not remain locked
in some obscure place only to be discovered by some diligent historian in the
future. Purpose Permeates Church Objectives The undertaking of purpose should
permeate the thinking of those who determine a church’s objectives. Objectives
are those statements that reflect in somewhat ultimate terms what kind of
church the members of the fellowship believe God wants the church to become.
These statements of objectives verbalize directions in which the energies of a
church are to be focused in light of theological and philosophical insights as to
what God wants the church to be. In the next chapter we will deal in detail
with leading a church to minister by objectives.
Purpose and Objectives Guide in
Ministry Planning
Purpose and objectives provide the
ideological backdrop against which a church develops its program—its plans for ministry.
A church’s program is what the church does intentionally as an expression of
its awareness of and commitment to meeting the needs of persons in light of its
purpose and objectives. Chapter four is the one in which we consider
developing a church ministry plan. In it we shall see that what a church does
in its program must be evaluated by its purpose and objectives. The program
must make some contribution to moving a church toward fulfillment of its
objectives and realization of its purpose.
Program (Ministry Plan) Determines
Organization
A church’s purpose, objectives, and program speak to its design of organization. Organization in a church involves the patterns for relating persons to one another to accomplish the program, which in turn helps move a church toward its objectives in light of its purpose. There is a definite sequence of the functional areas of administration. Thus far we have mentioned purpose, objectives, program, and organization.
Resources and Controls Are Geared to Program, Objectives, and
Purpose
Clarity of purpose helps a church to
maximize its resources: human, physical, and financial. The administration of
these vital areas is the subject of subsequent chapters. And in these and all
other areas of a church’s life work, administration helps to provide effective
controls—guidance which helps to assure that what is done is closely
approximate to what was intended. This, too, is the subject of a later chapter.
Church administration and the purpose of church are very closely interrelated.
Good administration begins with a church’s purpose and tries to help a church
to realize its pur-pose. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it. Good
church administration enables those of the fellowship to do the same.
In a Nutshell
Church administration exists to
enable a church. The first task of church administration is to help a church
clarify its purpose. As a church seeks to clarify its purpose, it should examine
the nature and mission of a church. The nature of a church is found in its
unique fellowship. Its mission is to make the gospel known in all its fullness.
Certain essential functions
characterize the life of a church on mission: worship, proclamation and
witness, nurture and education, and ministry. The purpose of church is to be a
fellowship of persons who have received Christ, and who are attempting
obediently to live the way of Christ and to work faithfully with Him to bring
others to God.
It is an administrative
responsibility to lead a church to understand its purpose, and to keep it
before the leaders and members as together they try to do the work of a church.
A church’s program, organization, human resources, physical resources,
financial resources, and controls should grow out of and contribute to
fulfilling its purpose.
[1]
Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message(Nashville: Convention
Press, 1971), p.74.
[2]
Reginald M. McDonough, comp., A Church on Mission (Nashville: Convention
Press, 1980), p. 17.
[3]
Reginald M. McDonough, comp., A Church on Mission (Nashville: Convention
Press, 1980), p. 18.
[4]
Reginald M. McDonough, comp., A Church on Mission (Nashville: Convention
Press, 1980), p. 90-95.
[5]
Nolan Howington, “Church Base Design Revision,” (unpublished paper, July
20, 1978), p. 9.
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