I just finished day 2 of a 4 day conference in Orlando centered around reproducing churches. It has been a whirlwind of great information and great networking. I'm hanging out right now with 3 other church planters and have met a ton of people over the past couple of days. There are about 3,000 people from across the world attending this Exponential Church conference.
Over the past few years we have refined the purpose of New Hope, "To honor God by making passionate followers of Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit" and our core value as "Transformation through Grace, Growth, and Generosity." This has really allowed us to focus what we are about and how we make ministry decisions. However, as we have been challenged to refine our vision to the point of making it portable, Andy Stanley challenged us. He asked, what is the vision of the "One" campaign that Bono is leading -- "To make poverty history" - sure, there are more details with that, but it is memorable and everyone knows what it is about. He asked, what the vision of Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barak Obama were... the only one people knew was Obama's "Change" - everyone shouted it out. The point is that vision must be simple to remember and portable.
As Pastor Bill and I have chatted about our already refined purpose and vision, we started dialoguing about a perhaps even more refined vision. We toyed with "Reproducing Transformation". The idea here is that we want to be transformed and to reproduce that transformation in other individuals (through mentoring), through small groups, and churches. We are about transformation and we are about reproducing that transformation in others. Perhaps this does not discuss all of the theological elements of it, but we need to be able to clearly articulate what we are about. "Hey, what is New Hope all about?"... "Reproducing Transformation."
What is small groups about? Reproducing transformation
What is mentoring about? Reproducing transformation
What is children's ministry about? Reproducing transformation
What is Sunday morning services about? Reproducing transformation
Why do we have adult sunday school? Reproducing transformation
What is mens, womens, seniors, young adults about? Reproducing transformation
Why do we plant churches? Reproducing transformation
What d'ya think?
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I think it depends on who the target audience of the mission statement is. If it's for people who attend New Hope, they'll understand what "reproducing transformation" means. More specifically, they'll understand what we mean by "transformation." It is simple and memorable enough that we aren't likely to forget what the mission is. When making decisions, it's easy to remember that we are in the business of reproducing transforamation. For all the questions you listed, it makes total sense.
However, if this is something that is advertised outside of NH, it could be vague to some. In particular, non church goers. They'll of course understand what transformation means, but not necessarily what we mean by transformation. They may assume a different sense of transformation than what we intend to convey. Society has many different means to accomplish transforation. For some, a motivational speaker or a self help book is transforation. For others, diet or excercise equals transforation. Moving up at work or getting a better job could be transformation. Somewhere, be it in the mission statement or in the purpose, I think it's important to mention God to differenciate and provide clarity. Also, I have come across many people who do not understand what a community church is and believe it or not have asked if we believe what "normal" churches believe in.
I like our current purpose of "To honor God by making passionate followers of Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit." It is very clear, easy to understand, and mentions God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by name. I think the core value of "Transformation through Grace, Growth, and Generosity" is less clear to me. I almost wonder if it would be clearer if our purpose was "Reproducing Transformation," and our core value was "To honor God by making passionate followers of Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit."
It may not fit the defintion of a purpose to replace what we have with our current mission statement. I guess I don't totally get the difference between a purpose and core value, and why both are needed.
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