Think about your mission…the one on your wall and in your vision talks.  Got it?  Let it roll around in your mouth for a minute so you can really get the taste.

Here’s the question: If I was a Martian (or a visitor), and I showed up at your church this weekend or called your church offices this morning, could I identify your real mission?  Would I come up with something pretty close to what you say or your senior pastor says when it’s vision weekend?

Or would there be enough out-of-place junk that would make it pretty hard for the fresh eyes of a Martian (or a visitor) to overlook?

Need an example?  Maybe you say your primary customer is unchurched thirty-somethings with young children but your music style reflects the milder tastes of an early sixties boomer.

Or your weekend experience for young children is understaffed but your midweek program for children is booming (and actually draws in kids from other churches).

Or how about this…you say you want to connect unconnected people but the curriculum you choose doesn’t even come close to peaking the interest or meeting the needs of the people on the edges.  See also Does Your Topic Connect with Your True Customer?

Maybe even the way your receptionist answers the phone is a tip-off that you’re saying one thing on the wall but another thing entirely with your ministry design.


Reading through The Advantage our team has wrestled more than once with mission clarity.  We’ve found ourselves coming back again and again to Patrick Lencioni’s six critical questions that create clarity.  Determined to get it right, we’ve stopped mid-discussion to revisit them once again.

Why?  In the 8 zip codes surrounding us there are 180,000 unchurched people.  There are only 30 churches for the quarter million people that live in our part of Las Vegas.

Our assignment is clear.  Is yours?  If a Martian couldn’t identify your real mission, maybe today’s the day to begin moving toward clarity?
