What is your purpose in life?  Do you ever think about that?  What on earth are you here for?  These questions are important for a life without purpose is a life without meaning.  Without purpose means a lack of goals.  You are on a journey without direction.  It is no wonder that Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life sold more than 30 million copies.  People are searching for purpose in life.

What is true for individuals is also true for churches.  Churches need to know their purpose.   What on earth are churches here for?  Without a clear sense of purpose, a church will lack goals and have no clear focus as to direction.  We have been discussing what strategic planning or setting direction looks like in the church.  How do you bridge the gap between the church you are today and what God wants your church to become?  In addition to doing a church analysis and a community analysis, as well as knowing your core biblical values, for churches to set direction they need to answer the question:  what is our purpose?   What is our mission?

This step of strategic planning is one of the easiest steps to take.  It might take a little time and creativity to come up with a good mission statement, but to discover your church's purpose or mission is as simple as opening up your Bible.   Regarding one's purpose in life Rick Warren writes:  "Only the creator or the owner's manual could reveal [one's] purpose.... God had not left us in the dark to wonder and guess.   He has clearly revealed his ... purposes for our lives through the Bible."  Even the athiest Bertrand Russell admitted this: "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  Knowing God, and what he has revealed in his Word, the question of life's purpose is answered.

Throughout the Bible we have clear guidelines as to why we exist here on earth.   There is the great calling.  God has called us to be a people set apart for himself and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:6; 1 Cor. 1:2,9)  We are called to be saints (Romans 1:7) and called to live holy, Godlike lives (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Thess. 4:7)   As people created in his image (Genesis 1:26-27) we exist to imitate God (1 Peter 1:15) and be like Christ. (Romans 8:28-29; 13:14; 2 Cor. 3:18; Philippians 2:3-5)  In all things, we are to bring glory to God (1 Cor. 10:31; Galatians 1:5; Ephesians 1:12; 3:21)

There is also the great commission.   Before Jesus ascended to heaven he told his followers that they are to make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to obey all that he has taught us.  (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8)  Bearing witness to Jesus and through faithful teaching churches exist to bring people to know Christ and become mature in him.  (2 Cor. 12:19; Ephesians 4:11-16; Colossians 1:28-29; 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 1 Peter 1:22-2:2; 2 John 9)

Beside the great calling and great commission we also have the great commandment.  As God has loved us, we are called to love others in like manner. (John 13:34-35)  When people experience this Christlike love in churches them begin to know the source of this love, Christ himself.  Churches are to be communities of selfless, sacrificial, Christlike love.  (John 15:12-17; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Cor 13; Galatians 5:13-14; Ephesians 5:1-2; Hebrews 10:24; 1 Peter 1:22; 4:8; 1 John 3:10, 16-18, 23; 4:7-12; 5:1-3)

Guided by a reading and study of what God has to say about the great calling, the great commission, and the great commandment churches can begin to understand the reasons why they exist, their mission to the world around them.  The challenge will be to reduce the purposes God reveals in his Word to a statement that is simple, short, memorable, and not cluttered with a whole lot of strategies. 

As CRCA churches our mission is to be "a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ."   Having such a mission statement is so important for a number of reasons.   First it sets direction.   We know where we are heading as a denomination.  Our goal is to reach the lost for Christ.  Second, this statement defines what really matters in the CRCA.  As churches we know, as did the apostle Paul, that we need to "become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Cor. 9:22)  Third, having such a statement inspires unity among us as churches.  A clear mission statement tells one another, "Here is where we are going.   Let's pull together and with God's help make it happen."  And let me mention one more reason why having a mission statement is important.  A good mission statement stirs up passion within an organization.  When you know your purpose in life, you get excited about doing something meaningful and being part of what God is doing in this world.

What is the mission of your church?   Do you know?  Can you repeat it or write it down from memory?  If you have a mission statement, does it stir up passion and commitment in your church?  If you struggle with answering these question, it might be time to revisit:  what on earth are we here for?  What is our mission?