You might consider using strategy in your church because the God of all creation used one. If God operated strategically, why would some avoid it?
Here’s another reason your church would benefit from a strategy:
Jesus operated according to a strategy.
Rich Halcombe
Like most strategies, His didn’t live on the surface like a mural. Strategies preform and design the final product. They don’t exist as expressions themselves. The value of strategy comes from planning frameworks that support expressions. Jesus taught and healed and recruited leaders, for example. But, He performed those actions towards a particular end, with His overarching purpose ever in view. And, not unlike the sketches the artist used to conceive the wall-wide painting on the exterior of the building, strategy guides and drives behavior.
This planning, whether for pictures or procedures, occurs in the mind before the brush goes in the bucket.
But the outside observer only sees the behavior, not the prep work. While the painting shines visibly, the planning that led to the painting cannot be seen merely by looking at the colors. You must go deeper, and you also must go a priori.
We watch what people do and surmise why they do it. There is a reason. Because, people act based upon rationale, whether conscious or unconscious. A particular person may act because of a previous plan. Another reacts based upon a previous or a current hurt or wound. Yet another person initiates an interaction due to a desired outcome. He/she may just want to meet someone new, make a friendly acquaintance or network for business. There are a lot of reasons why someone performs a particular act. But, something triggered the action, whether it was an inclination or a deliberate move.
Likewise, when we see a church or a business perform a function, we generally know somebody, or a group of somebodies created each step in the process. Those somebodies may have intentionally set out to design a well-crafted set-of-steps to a desired end. Or, maybe the steps morphed over time. Person A did it that way. Person B adjusted and Person C added her own twist. Whatever the resulting process, people took action to produce it. Those processes are better, of course, when they are by design, rather than by default.
These processes also hold true for Jesus. The great thing about Him, however, is that we know He acted deliberately, with intention, at each juncture. As we watch Him, we benefit from the narration. His life fulfilled a purpose that was preplanned before His physical birth. The backstory, before and after His time here, grants us access to not only what He did, but why He did it.
Based on the information the Bible gives us, we know several things:
- Why Jesus came
- What He did while He was here
- Why He did some of the things He did
- The Results
All this adds up to strategy. Strategy is “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result:”
The Bible makes it clear why Jesus came. Dr. W.A. Criswell, longtime pastor of FBC Dallas, Texas coined it the “scarlet thread of redemption.” This purpose first identifies itself in Genesis 3:15, the protoeuangelion. Protoeuangelion, from two Greek words means “the first gospel”. It travels as a thread throughout the sixty-six books, weaving together the forty authors on three continents in three languages across fifteen hundred years. The plan culminates with Jesus’ exclamation from the cross, “It is finished.” His resurrection and ascension complete His purpose on the planet. John 17:4, in fact, tells us Jesus accomplished His purpose: “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”- John 17:4
Can you say that? Do you know what your church’s work is? Are you accomplishing it? Jesus knew. You can know. Do you know?
It’s categorically impossible for us to fulfill our purpose on this planet unless we know what that purpose is.
Additionally, another impossibility is for your church to fulfill her purpose if you and the members of your church don’t know what that purpose is.
Probably like yours, Jesus’ purpose found its fulfillment beyond Himself. He was not a solo actor. It’s probably safe to say that no one person ever impacted all humanity by Himself. I don’t. Jesus did not. How do I know? Because His strategy included the building of an organization, called the church.
Consider Matthew 16: 18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” A lot of debate looms about what Jesus meant by “on this rock.” Was the rock Peter? Was it the group of disciples? Or, was it Peter’s confession? People debate this. But, no one debates the fact that Jesus came to build an organization, a church. We don’t debate that Jesus came to build an organization (the church) because Jesus did it. And, He only acted on purpose.
So, Jesus, to fulfill His God-given mission/purpose did it through an organization. He played His personal role. And, that personal role included an organizational role. Jesus was not a solopreneur. He operated His strategy through an organization that we call the church. So, when you gather together with other believers this Sunday and hear the Word preached, experience worship and join your hearts with others, you help fulfill the organizational structure Jesus used to implement God’s purpose for Him.
Jesus knew His purpose. He fulfilled it personally. And, that personal fulfillment included working His purpose through an organization. He then established instructions and parameters for that organization. Many of you lead, in toto or in part, one of those organizations today.
God in the Flesh built an edifice of flesh and blood from those who follow Him. If He hadn’t He would not have fulfilled His purpose. (We know it was necessary to His purpose because He did it). The Bible calls it the “body of Christ.” We sometimes call it a local body. The Bible also terms this grouping the “bride of Christ.” Named a few different ways, you cannot get around the fact that the church is an organization. And, Jesus used organizational principles to build it.
So, just as Jesus Himself lived His personal purpose strategically, He established the church to operate as an organization strategically.
When you worship this Sunday, some two thousand years later, you know Jesus successfully fulfilled His purpose organizationally.
What about you?
What is your church’s clear purpose? Are you fulfilling it?
Take a minute here. Write your church’s purpose in one statement of about thirteen words.
- Did you have a ready answer?
- Was it one answer?
- What is it?
- Is it clear?
As the leader, if it isn’t clear to you, it isn’t clear to your church. And, if it isn’t clear, what are the chances you are fulfilling it?
But, Jesus did not stop with a clear purpose. Jesus executed a clear, robust, winning strategy that included an organization.
What is your church’s clear, robust, winning strategy to fulfill Her purpose?
Clarifying your church’s purpose is an important first step. But, to do what Jesus did, it cannot be your only step. You need a strong, purpose-accomplishing strategy.
More on how Jesus did that next week.
For a related post, click here.
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