Case Study: Mission and Method

Hey there, and welcome to another edition of the Church Helper Podcast. Our mission is to help churches make every decision on purpose, so they can reach their communities with the message of Jesus.

A SHORT STORY

In my last podcast, I was talking about how to identify Mission and Method in every conversation. If you missed that podcast, please go back and listen to it before hearing this story. It will give you more context, and the story will make a lot more sense. 

 This is a real conversation that I had with a church and shows you how easily the lines between mission and method can blur. 

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

I met with a church a few years back, and I asked them many of the same questions I presented in my previous post. I was sitting a team of leaders putting different church areas into a “Mission” or “Method” category. When I came to Sunday School, their answer was clear. They believed their Sunday School was a Mission in their church, not a method. 

As I often do in these moments, I asked them to explain their answer. 

THE BACKBONE

Almost as quickly as I could ask, we began a full conversation about the history of what was a wonderful Sunday School ministry.

They told me the church used to have a jam-packed Sunday school, where the teachers would teach the word of God with passion and excitement. There were always creative, engaging activities, and often the leaders would plan events outside Sunday mornings for the kids. They told me that even as numbers dwindled in the past few years, their teachers continued to plan lessons every week, hoping more children would arrive. These people were exactly who you’d want leading kids on a Sunday. Full of love and passion for both the kids and the program.  

Near the end, one person turned to me and said with a firm conviction that they believed the Sunday School was the backbone of their church. 

THE BACKBONE WAS BROKEN

Although I wasn’t sure they had explained why it was a mission and not a method, I was encouraged by their passion. So I decided to ask one more follow up – I said, “how many children do you have in your Sunday School now.”

After a brief pause, one of them said, “none.”  

I was a little surprised. This group had a passion for Sunday School and believed it was essential – but they admitted it wasn’t happening anymore at their church. 

“When was the last time you had children in the Sunday School?” I asked.

The answer – about 6-7 years.  

THE MISSING PIECE

At that moment, I became sad.

Looking back now, there were two reasons for my sadness.  

First, here was a group of people who felt that they had something so important to do, but it wasn’t happening anymore - and hadn’t been for a long time. The disappointment was on their faces and in their voices. They loved running Sunday School, and they wished they could go back to how it used to be.

The second reason I was sad was this group of committed churchgoers couldn’t see they had become so focused on the method, on running a Sunday School, that they couldn’t identify the mission anymore. They called the Sunday School the backbone of their church, but admitted they hadn’t done anything to fix it. Somewhere along the way, they forgot that the church’s mission wasn’t to run a program; it was to teach people the good news of Jesus.

 Later, they assured me that they were still ready to lead if any kids ever showed up. Each week, even seven years later, they had a lesson prepared and someone who could teach it. 

But they also told me very clearly that they didn’t think who attended their church, or inviting new families, had anything to do with them. Their role wasn’t to seek new people to tell about Jesus; it was to run a program.

MISSION IS ALWAYS THERE, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT IT

These were leaders who had become so passionate about their method that they left the mission behind.  

They didn’t do it on purpose. It wasn’t intentional; in fact, they didn’t even know it had happened.  

They were some of the kindest people I’d ever met. They welcomed me in and were excited to talk about their church. But over time, their focus had slowly shifted from the why to the how. And at some point, their method became their mission.

 I tell you this story not to make anyone feel bad, but to show how losing focus on your mission happens to the best, most passionate, most committed church members.  

And that’s why I believe every meeting, big or small, needs to start with a reminder of your church’s mission. The only way to make sure that the mission never leaves your sight is to make sure you never take your eyes off it.

We need to be intentional about making it a part of every conversation because it’s always there, whether we’re talking about it or not. 

LET’S TALK!

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Thanks for listening or watching the Church Helper Podcast, and I’ll talk to you again real soon!

Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you again soon.