York, John O.

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LeavenVolume 2Issue 3 The Restoration Ideal Article 111-1-1993Stating the Obvious: A Look at CongregationalMission StatementsJohn O. Yorkjohn.york@lipscomb.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leavenPart of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought,Theology and Philosophy of Religion CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven byan authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Kevin.Miller3@pepperdine.edu.Recommended CitationYork, John O. (1992) "Stating the Obvious: A Look at Congregational Mission Statements," Leaven: Vol. 2: Iss. 3, Article 11.Available at: http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol2/iss3/11The Restoration Ideal 39StatingThe Not So ObviousA Look At Congregational MissionStatementsSeveral have pointed out in this issue ofLeaventhat questions of "brotherhood" identity are no longereasily answered. While once a sign above the door anda cornerstone that read "Established 33 A.D., thisbuilding erected in 1942"were enough to firmly estab-lish the identity of a Church of Christ. Slogans thatfunctioned as creedal non-creeds tripped off the tongueofevery member able to countto five. The plea for non-denominational Christianity was sufficiently clear toprovide the reason for existence for every congrega-tion. Mission or identity statements were not needed,save perhaps for Leroy Brownlow's "Why I am aMember of the Church of Christ."A sure sign that issues of identity in our tra-dition are up for grabs can be seen in the recentproliferation of congregational mission statements.Some are sufficiently short to place on the cover of theworship bulletin, or to embroider on a banner to hangin the church foyer. Others, however, are longer andare quite diverse in the types of commitments ex-pressed. We have provided two that represent manyof those we looked at for publication. The first isshorter and comes in language far different than thestock phrases of the past. The second is a longer,kinder, and gentler restatement of the themes thathave woven themselves throughout our history. Otherthan the introduction just given, we offer them withoutcomment for your consideration and reflection.Decatur Church of Christ, Decatur GeorgiaVision StatementThe Decatur Church of Christ desires to be a body ofsaints that:• acknowledges God as the creator and centerof our whole lives and Jesus as our Savior,• is united in our love of God and one another,• is concerned about justice, mercy andfaithfulness, and deeply aware of our own shortcom-ings,• is committed to knowing God and doing hiswill as expressed in God's word, the Bible,• is committed to sharing the good news ofGod's love and mercy as expressed in the dea th, burialand resurrection of Jesus Christ,• is sensitive and caring about others andresponsive to both the physical and spiritual needs ofthose less fortunate than we,• is diligent in following God's command-ments yet careful not to convert personal preferencesinto "additional requirements,"• accepts diversity ofopinions within the bodyand recognizes the need to continue to expand ourunderstanding of God's will,• provides an opportunity for individualservice and supports the efforts of every member whowants to be involved.1York: Stating the Obvious: A Look at Congregational Mission StatementsPublished by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 199240 Leaven, Summerl993Who WeAre and Why We CareEast County Church of Christ(Adapted from a publication of the Western HillsChurch of Christ, Temple Texas)Perhaps you have heard ofthe church ofChrist,or known people who attended worship services atthe church ofChrist. Maybe you have asked, ''Whoare these people? What, if anything, makes themdifferent from the other churches around me?" Youmay even have heard someone say, "Oh, they are thefolks who think they're the onlyonesgoingtoheaven!"While this last statement is not true, there areunique characteristics about the church of Christand its people that wewould like for you to know. Wehope you'll take the time to read on and discoverwhat we dobelieve about the Bible, about God'swillfor humans, and about our life together as a com-munity seeking to "reflect the Lord's glory."What we BelieveThe Godwho created the heavens and the earth(Genesis 1:1)also created humans in his image andgave them responsibility for the care and keeping ofearth. God loved those whom he had created in hisimage and desired that they return his love by livingaccording to his design. Beginning with the firstman and women, however, humans sinned and fellshort of God's intended design. The Bible is anaccount of God's activity in human affairs to bringpeople back into relationship with him. But God'speople never are capable of keeping his command-ments perfectly. Because sin sotainted God's peopleand impaired the relationship he originally desired,God culminated his plan to establish permanentrelationship by becoming human himself.Webelieve that Jesus ofNazareth is Godhavingcomein the flesh (John 1:1-18,Philippians 2:5-11) asGod the Son. As Matthew states in his gospelaccount, Jesus was Emmanuel, a name which means"Godwith us." Jesus was born of a virgin; he liveda life free from sin and demonstrated in his life andministry on earth what God intended from the be-ginning of creation for all humans. But God's planwas only partially fulfilled in the life of Jesus. Hisultimate mission on earth was completed only whenhe was rejected and humiliated byhis peers, sufferingthe death of a criminal by crucifixion on a cross.Jesus Christ then conquered evil and death itself,being raised on the third day after he died, andreturning to God forty days later where he nowreigns. There he is preparing an eternal dwellingplace for all who have been called by God to be hischildren. At a time known only to God, Jesus willreturn at the end of earthly time and judge theworld. Those who believe in him will receive aheavenly reward. Those who have rejected him willbe eternally lost.We believe that in his death and resurrection,Jesus offered himself as a once-for-all sacrifice forthe sinful condition of humanity. As part of hissteadfast love and grace, God has now offered allhumans the opportunity to receive pardon for sinand eternal relationship with him. That is thenature ofsalvation-freedom from the condemnationof our sins through faith in Jesus as God's Son andas Redeemer of humanity.We believe that salvation is a free gift of Godthat humans can never merit by good deeds or anyother human performance. By placing completetrust in what Jesus has done for us, we seek tosubmit oncemore toGod's design for humans and weseek to make Jesus the role model for our lives. ForJesus to be our role model, and for us fully to receivethe salvation he offers, we believe that we mustparticipate in the cross event ourselves by dying toour sinful ways and living as Jesus lived. We, too,must symbolically die and be raised to new life inChrist Jesus. Scripture describes a gracious giftthrough which God enables us to experience thatdeath, burial, and resurrection. That gift is baptism,the believer's immersion in water (Romans 6:1-6).We believe that all who have submitted by faith tothe Cross of Christ through personal experience ofthat event in baptism receive the forgiveness ofsins.At the same time, Godplaces his Holy Spirit withinthem (Acts2:38). Anyone thus identified with Jesus'death, burial, and resurrection is a Christian. Al-though we do not fully understand the operation ofthe Holy Spirit in our lives, by faith we believe thatGod's Spirit indwells us and guarantees our eternalinheritance as God's children (Ephesians 1:14). It isGod's Spirit that creates unity among believers andmakes us into the dwelling place of God-God'stemple (Ephesians 2:11-22, 4:3; I Corinthians 3:16-17).Thus, to become a Christian is to become amember of the community of believers on earth,God's church. The church is God's support group forhis people as they seek to live as Jesus lived, in loveand harmony with one another and with God'sdesign for humanity. Webelieve that the church asGod designed it has no color or race barriers, noeconomicor educational standards, but includes anyand all in our world who have accepted God's gra-cious salvation through faith in Jesus Christ andparticipation in the Cross event.Our Spirit of RestorationGod desires that all humans should be restored2Leaven, Vol. 2 [1992], Iss. 3, Art. 11http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol2/iss3/11to right relationship with him. Anew human barrierto the process began in the early centuries afterJesus rued, as more and more human additions andstructures were added to the church and demandedof peoples' lives. We believe that through the cen-turies, Christian unity has been obstructed by hu-man creeds and names and traditions. We arestruggling as a community ofbelievers to be Chris-tian Only, to find our identity not in any denomi-national name or creed, but in Christ alone. Wedesire to make our lives and our worship as God-centered and God-glorifying as possible. We believethat Scripture alone can provide the guidelines forliving such a lifestyle in our secular world. As weseek to apply the Bible to our own time, we believethat we must first understand what God intendedfor the original recipients of each text.We understand that we have not yet perfectlyrestored God's design for the church or for humansin our individual walks with God. But by God'sgrace, we as God's children-God's community ofbelievers here in Gresham are seeking every day tobecome more like Jesus and to share the good newsof salvation with those who do not yet know God orhis Son. .What's in a NameBecause we want to be Christians Only, wehaveno denominational ties or bureaucratic governmentas a church. Each congregation that wears the name"Church of Christ" shares a common allegiance toChrist as Lord and Savior, and often there are closeties offellowship between sister congregations. Eachchurch is self-governed, however. Rather than hav-ing a head Pastor who is looked upon as the singleleader of the church, our congregation has spiritualoverseers that we identify as elders. These men seekto observe the Biblical pattern ofchurch leadershipdescribed by Jesus: "...and whoever wishes to begreat among you must be your servant, and whoeverwishes to be first among you must be slave of all"Mark 10:43,44). As the greatest servants, and as thespiritual shepherds (I Peter 5:1-4), the elders areresponsible for the spiritual direction and welfare ofthe congregation. AIl others in the church areservants of one another, with some being assignedmore specific responsibilities than others. Staffmembers such as the preaching minister or thefamily life minister or the youth minister all areservants of the community of believers and, likeother members of the community, are under theoversight of the elders.Asa congregation we participate in God'sworld-wide mission to restore sinful people to God. Ourministries to the spiritual and physical needs of theThe Restoration Ideal 41world around us take a variety offorms: supportingmissionary endeavors, providing benevolent assis-tance, offering counseling services, operating theTree of Knowledge Preschool, hosting a great vari-ety of activities and classes. The list could go on, butyou get the point. The family ofGod as East Countyseeks to be all that Godwants us to be, and we wantto offer God's love to all who wish to share in it withus. For the entire community of faith, each day isseen as a new gift from God, a new opportunity toglorify God and his Son by bringing the presence ofGod through his Holy Spirit to the world around us.What You Can ExpectUsually when people think about church, theythink about what goes on in the worship services onSunday morning. As God's people, we believe thatworship is not just a once-a-week service, but theoffering of our daily lives, moment by moment, inpraise to God (Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 13:15-16).Our coming together, whenever we have the oppor-tunity, is made meaningful because our praise be-comes a shared experience oflearning and spiritualgrowth. Such gatherings provide strength for livingthrough the rest of the week. We want our assem-blies to be encounters with God, as we praise him insong, as weread his word and are instructed throughpreaching, and as we humbly share our thoughtswith God in prayer.Visitors to our assemblies notice that our sing-ing is without the accompaniment of any musicalinstruments. We do not use a piano or organ for tworeasons: 1. Wewant our praise to God to be the voiceofour hearts as much as the voice ofour mouths, andso we emphasize the human participation of voicesin song (Ephesians 5:19-20). In our Sunday morningassemblies, rather than being entertained by oth-ers, we want to edify one another. 2. As part of ourconcern to worship according to God's design, werecognize that musical instruments were not intro-duced into the Christian church until-the 6th cen-tury AD. Other religious leaders through the cen-turies, such as John Calvin, John Wesley, and CharlesSpurgeon have opposed instrumental music in theassembly because of its absence in the New Testa-ment and early church. We believe that aestheti-cally and spiritually you will enjoy human voiceswithout instrumental accompaniment.A second distinction you may notice when youvisit our assemblies is the weekly observance of theLord's Supper. Jesus himself instituted this memo-rial supper shortly before his death (Matthew 26:17-30; I Corinthians 11:23-26). From the earliest daysof the church, Christians have participated in thismeal to "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (I3York: Stating the Obvious: A Look at Congregational Mission StatementsPublished by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 199242 Leaven, Summerl993Corinthians 11:26). The bread and the cup symbol-ize the body and blood of Jesus given for us on thecross. To partake of the bread and the cup is toparticipate once more in the body and blood of oursavior. Each time we eat and drink, we celebrate thesalvation we have received through faith in Christ.As we share again his body and blood, we renew thecommitments made in our own baptism. In theSupper, we also recognize our mutual commitmentsto one another as the body of Christ-the church-on earth now (I Corinthians 10:16-17). The Lord'sSupper is thus a vital connecting link that continu-ally reminds us ofour identity in the Cross ofChristand our identity as the body of Christ on earth.While each of our Sunday morning assemblieswill characteristically include singing, prayer, theLord's Supper, preaching, and the reading of Scrip-ture, we have no set liturgy that is followed. Eachweek is a new assembly, a new encounter with God,a new participation with one another as community.While the "order ofworship" may change or remainthe same, we understand that beyond the individualacts of worship there is the activity of worship-rendering to God reverence and praise and awe forhis steadfast love.An Open InvitationAs already suggested, membership in this fel-lowship is determined first and foremost by one'sfaithful response to Jesus and participation withhim in the cross. All such people are members oftheLord's church, and as such are welcome to be identi-fied specifically with this body of believers to serveand worship God with us. We hope you will give usthe opportunity to be ministers of God's presenceand we offer our services to you in whatever way wemay help. More than that, we hope that you willexamine your own life and decide to be God's child,accepting his gracious offer of salvation. We wel-come the opportunity to share more of ourselveswith you, and we want you to know who we aretrying to become as a community ofbelievers here inGresham. Join us for worship, or comeby our officesanytime during the week. Wewant to respond to youand your needs in whatever way we can. We praythat the following vision is one you will want toshare.A Prayer of Vision for East CountyWepray that Godwill make ofus what he wantsus to be. May he grant us a vision ofhis church, thevery BodyofChrist, crucified then ri sen to be a livingsacrifice. Giving Godall love and God's love to all, wewill be a priesthood of Christlike servants fullyinvested in the work of His Kingdom. Ours will bea rich and varied fellowship where diversity andunity uphold each other. As a people ofthe Book, wewill be immersed in the Word as, each time we hearit, God speaks to us afresh. As a body of ministers,wewill share the equipping and mutual support thatenables us to reach out to each other and to a worldin need of Christ. As a church on its knees, Spiritfilled and led, wewill look solely to God to define andempower our mission. As an assembly of worship-pers, we will celebrate the divine presence in waysalways God-glorifyingand body-edifying. As a Familyfor families, we will support the home and enrich itsrelationships. Blind tohuman barriers that separate,responsive to persons in need, we will serve withgratitude as we are saved by grace. We pray thatGod will make us, indeed, a church of Christ!Written by John O. York4Leaven, Vol. 2 [1992], Iss. 3, Art. 11http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol2/iss3/11

Stating the Obvious: A Look at Congregational Mission Statements

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Stating the Obvious: A Look at Congregational Mission Statements

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