Last week a
church leader emailed me asking what documents were important for his church to
have in place. He listed as examples: a mission statement, a vision statement, a
statement of faith, core values and an employee manual. I began by answering
"yeah sure; whatever works for
you". However I had the feeling he expected more, and justifiably so. Following
is some of what I sent to him.
Various organizational documents are like
having a Twitter account, being on LinkedIn, having a family budget or a
personal mission statement; if it works for you go ahead. But don’t have them just
because someone else thinks you need them or some other organization has them.
Start by asking yourself "why do
we want these statements or documents; what purpose do they serve”? If no one
but the staff knew what the mission statement was, would you still have it; and
if you did have it would any employees remember what it was? Does a vision
statement guide your short-term and long-term plans? Does your statement of
faith remind you about what you believe or does it let others know what you believe?
Are your core values generic to any church or specific to yours? Is a mission
statement necessary because all missional churches have one? Do you feel
pressured to have a vision statement because all progressive churches have one?
Do you post it on your website so that people interested in attending your
church are so gripped by your mission statement that they will want to begin
attending your church? Do you have so few employees that virtually all
information and expectations are intuitive? Will potential attendees catch the
vision of your church and wanted to be part of it? Do your core values include
the Bible, prayer and missions or do they include values which describe your
church in ways which are distinct from other churches?
I
am a writer; writing things down
often serves to help me answer my own questions or articulate my ideas; (thus
this blog). I have a personal document to which I refer regularly because it
helps me to know what to say yes or no to. Part of it states I desire clear,
short-term, measurable assignments rather than assignments that are open ended or
vague. That statement is for my benefit; not for the
benefit of anyone else. As such when I am asked if I would like to do
something, be part of something or take on some task, I run it through the above
grid. So while I am in favour of writing
things down, it is only necessary to the extent that it is either helpful for
me, informative for someone else, or both.
The
same applies to your church, charity or mission agency. If it helps to provide definition,
direction or information, write it down.
If you aren’t clear about it, ignore it.
Who
cares and why bother? If you can answer the who and the why…write away.
