Driving down I-40 recently on my way home from bagpipe camp, I pulled off the exit to eat lunch at a diner. After ordering my sandwich, I noticed the diner’s mission statement dangling on a greasy white sign over the cash register. It read: Our Mission … To serve the best food. Does a diner need a mission statement? What about a barber, or a lawn care company? Are not their missions self-evident?
Does a parish need a mission statement? Do they matter for church growth? After all, Jesus did not leave us adrift; our Lord gave us five different “great commissions” (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; John 20:21; and Acts 1:8). Yet it’s near impossible to find an Episcopal parish of any size without a mission statement. Are they necessary?
The short answer is no. The Great Commission is perspicuous and compelling, and it is mission enough for Christ’s Church. And really, can we improve on Jesus’ stated mission for his followers? Why then do mission statements abound and perdure? In most parish settings they dwell on parish letterheads, and they tend to become important only when the rector resigns and the search committee decides to make the mission statement front and center. Most parishes could remove their mission statement permanently and few would notice or care.
So do mission statements have any utility? Perhaps, in two ways:
First, if the Great Commission is already foundational for a parish, then a short mission statement can impart a “local flavor” to how the parish expresses it. At my last parish, our mission statement was four words: Transforming lives through Jesus. Parishioners knew and were committed to the Great Commission, and the mission statement was a way to focus their response to it.
Second, mission statements can be the first step in a decision tree. A member of my previous parish once said to me, “We should have a disco night!” I replied, “Interesting! How will it help us accomplish our mission of transforming lives through Jesus?” Silence followed, and the idea was never raised again. I did not have to say no; the mission statement said it for me.
So mission statements have value if the Great Commission is already the foundation of the parish and if leadership regularly uses the mission statement for focus and decision-making. Otherwise, why not let the Great Commission be our mission statement?
If a parish chooses to craft a custom mission statement, is there a “best practice” to get it done? Most mission statements are formed by committee. Often the rector and vestry go on retreat. They pray and discern and edit; it’s exhausting and the result is a prolix compromise.
When I came to my current parish, Galilee in Virginia Beach, the vestry leadership had just crafted this kind of mission statement. It was theologically rich, biblically informed and very, very long: One page, five paragraphs, single-spaced, in a 10-point font. It was beautifully framed and hung in eight locations around the campus.
No one read it. In my first month I quietly took down all eight frames. No one asked where they went, because no one noticed.
Four years later, vestry members told me that we needed a new mission statement, but they averred: “We don’t want to go on retreat or form a committee. You’re the rector. You do it.” So I prayed and the Holy Spirit said to me, “Galilee has existed since 1888, and I’ve been at work here for 125 years. Look at what I’ve been doing all along, and you’ll see the mission.”
From the archives I pulled vestry minutes for 100 years—1,200 meetings—and I began to read. Somewhere around 1960, I started to see the thread: Renewal. For 100 years before I arrived, Galilee had been renewing individuals, the city of Virginia Beach, and the world. I did not need to come up with a mission statement. I just needed to know a little parish history.
When I brought it back to the vestry, the mission resonated immediately. We inscribed Revelation 21:5 (“Behold, I make all things new”) in granite at the nave entry, and now all parishioners walk over it as they enter for worship. We talk about renewal at newcomer events, annual meetings, vestry meetings—and yes, in sermons. Most parishioners know that “renewal” is how we help fulfill the Great Commission. “Renewal” has been a helpful guide as we review established ministries and consider new initiatives. And I suspect that the remarkable growth Galilee has experienced can be partly attributed to missional clarity. But even if we did not have the mission of renewal, we would still have the Great Commission. Our mission statement merely focuses our local expression of it.
So do we need mission statements at all? No. If we stopped talking at Galilee about our mission of “renewal,” people would notice, but only because we mention it often. The truth is that we’d do just fine, maybe better, if we focused only on the Great Commission.
Renewed focus on the Great Commission is part of how our church will grow. Episcopal clergy, vestries, and search committees need to fuss less over “mission statements” because Christ’s Great Commission makes the only statement we need.
The Rev. Dr. Andrew D. Buchanan is rector of Galilee Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
