What is our mission?

Dear Minooka UMC Found Family,
As I understand them, our purpose is our “why.” Our mission is our “what we do.” Our vision is “who we are called to be.” That’s what I have in mind each Sunday during our Welcoming time when I remind us of our congregation’s purpose, mission, and vision:

Our Purpose is Loving God with our whole selves and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Our Mission is Forming disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, beginning with us.

Our Vision for who we are called to be is An inclusive gathering of found family learning to be more like Jesus and serving the community. 

My intent last week in this space was to white-board all three. But I though better of such a long post and only tackled our purpose. (You can read that post on our blog.) Making this entry about our mission. Not dissimilar to what I said about our purpose, I think it is easy for United Methodist churches to overthink their mission. As a denomination, the mission of the United Methodist Church is, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” That’s pretty darn good and just right there for us to use. So we did…with just a couple slight tweaks. 

“Form” feels like a better verb to use than “make.” “Make” sounds like creating from nothing, whereas “form” denotes shaping from existing material. The latter is a better description of the human condition.

Then we add on “beginning with us.” Why? Not to make our mission all about us, but as a way of reminding us that we all need to be formed as disciples. Disciple formation is a life-long process, not a status we achieve and then can lord it over on others we deign to help. No, we are all disciples in progress. Writing this makes me wonder: Maybe we should conclude with “including us” instead of “beginning with us”?? Let me know what you think of that!

So that’s how we got to “Forming disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, beginning with us.” Next week we’ll dive into our vision statement. 

Nota Bene: Just last month, the Council of Bishops announced a new vision statement for our denomination. That Trinitarian formulation of love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously was featured prominently at our Annual Conference earlier this month. I also can’t help but notice that the denomination is now using “forms disciples” — we were ahead of the curve!

Plotting Goodness,
Pastor Dave