Mission Statements and Church?

If you must have one, then consider this as an idea.

I do not get excited about church "mission statements." Theologically, they are asinine! Whenever someone posts a new and exciting slogan for the church's direction/mission/vision, I think, "Doesn't the church already have a mission? Why does it need something new?" Lyndon Shakespeare is spot on in his book Being the Church in an Age of Management when he notes that the church's identity as the Body of Christ is its mission. Its very act of being is to be an organ of grace in the world, restoring all that is broken and animated by sacraments such as word and table.

My distaste for missional slogans and the like is not merely because I am a theological purist. It is because these statements tend to mimic the culture around the church. They are as exciting as all the banality of a corporate sales pitch or as overwhelming as one of those foundations that supports NPR, you know, the ones that list their causes in an impossibly long list, i.e., "to better the world through verdant living, sustainable paper, ending cancer in horses, cleaning rivers in impoverished communities, and advancing journalistic excellence!" Really, can one foundation do all of that? The fact that church mission statements sound so corporate, or at least they try to, speaks to the fact that we have made the church a consumable concept, which is hardly a new critique. Yet this fact remains.

So, you have to have a mission statement because other churches do. Or if you need one to help clarify the church's projects given its community and context. Or, if you like putting biblical/theological/spiritual language into a common vernacular, perhaps I have a mission for your church to consider—given the current world it finds itself in.

Here it goes: "We exist to repent from all the trauma caused by abusive church leadership that has pervaded the worldwide and historical church not of only one tradition, but wherever there have been people in leadership."

I know, it is bold. And I know I run the risk of sounding self-righteous and glib. Rest assured, patterning ministries around this notion would be a FAITHFUL endeavor; it would also be effective at helping real-life people. "But what if our church never participated in any abuse? Why should we sully our name because of what some "other" bad apples have done," you might be thinking. For starters, Isaiah teaches a great lesson—as people, we are a community, and it is faithful to confess our sins (Isaiah ch. 6). But it is also accurate to confess corporate sins—it aids in seeking justice. Indeed, to take one's baptism seriously — at least as an initiation into a new community — as well as the Holy Eucharist, one must note that within the community of Christ, our fates are bound together. Finally, at least, dear reader…if you are a Christian or a church attendee, then your name is already sullied by other's abuses—guilt by association is a nasty reality.

We know these abuses well, whether it is sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church or the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, top-down control over adherents like in the International Church of Christ (i.e., the Boston Movement), or even simply the overuse of parishioners to the point of burnout, teachings that shame, or forcing congregants to seek their purpose and riches in multi-level marketing, there are plenty of noteworthy abuses that have caused Religious Trauma in individuals. Yes, I know that churches intend to be better than trauma-causing institutions, and we should….of course. But trauma has been caused, and as people continue to populate the world, trauma will continue in every corner that people have their influence. What does honesty, penitence, and focus harm?

Such a mission statement would lead to innovations in preaching. How does one preach, teach, and do spiritual direction where trauma has occurred? Sensitivity to religious trauma will significantly impact a sermon's content and word choices. Such a mission might also lead a spiritual community to invest in licensed and trained therapists as staff members to serve as a resource to members. Perhaps some of the ministers would receive training in spiritual direction—so they develop the subtleties of holy listening to add alongside other spiritual development tools. Worship liturgies will become more than performative productions filled with "set design" and "effects" and dramatic musical key changes.

Further, they will become guided experiences that need to be attended to be experienced. That is to say, there is no mere "so what am I supposed to do" practical application that serves as the motivating purpose of the telos of a corporate worship service. Instead, the objective is the event itself. By performing the shared ritual and corporate prayer, readings, meditations, etc., worshippers are led into a transformative experience. And the meaning of salvific language will overflow beyond the limits of "being saved from…" to include the healing and wholeness of the person and all of creation. Salvation, then, will reflect on the health of one's mind and body and the relationships within creation. And who would not be excited by that sense of mission?

By taking such an idea seriously into the life of a church's mission, the church would once more regain its identity as a hospital for the spiritually sick, even if it was the church that caused the sickness in the first place.