Hopefully by now you’ve all read the church assessment sent by McGowan and filled out the survey to give your feedback. One topic that came up quite a bit in the assessment and survey responses was that of ‘Mission and Vision’. Does CTK have one? Does CTK need one? Who comes up with it?
And one question in particular that has come up in PSC meetings is “When in this transition process does the mission and vision development take place?” It seems like a classic chicken-and-egg situation… how can we choose a pastor if we don’t know our mission and vision? But how can we determine our mission and vision without our new pastor in place?
Oh, and by the way, how does the interim play into all this?
To get some clarity around all this, we held a meeting last week that included members of the PSC, members of the Cambridge board of elders, and several members from the McGowan team.
Let’s hit the highlights, shall we?
Does CTK have a mission statement?
Yep. We do. On the homepage of the website our mission is stated as “Serving God in worship, serving one another in love, and serving our city by bearing witness to the good news about Jesus Christ in word and deed.” And there’s more detail on the “Who We Are” page. That being said, we admittedly don’t call a lot of attention to that mission statement, and the “Who We Are” page tends to draw the attention of visitors and newcomers, not necessarily our members and regular attenders.
Does CTK need a mission statement?
Now, here I’m sharing my own opinions - I’m not speaking for anyone with this particular bullet point. But I - Laura Bullock - tend to be pretty suspicious when things get too organizationally slick and glossy. And so my radar went up when all the mission & vision talk started. I was worried that was “code” for branding and marketing. And besides, the Great Commission seems like enough of a mission statement to me. But it has been helpful to hear the reasoning. For one, we at CTK are a distinct group of people with certain resources and gifts. Having a mission statement is simply a way to steward those resources and gifts as best suits the community where God has placed us. It’s not a replacement of the Great Commission — it’s more like application of the Great Commission to our particular location.
When in this transition process does the mission and vision development take place? Who comes up with it?
For those of you who like clean, linear processes, you might not like this answer: but the development of mission and vision is going to be an iterative undertaking over the next year or two. It should also be stated that the mission and vision statement isn’t going to completely upend who we are at CTK. It will give us direction, it will hopefully challenge us to grow in areas, but it takes into account the gifting and resources of our congregation.
The Session is ultimately responsible for the mission & vision of the church, and will work with the new lead pastor when he comes on finalizing that statement. But that doesn’t mean we all just sit around til the new guy comes. What we can do right now is prayerfully consider what our gifts are, what the needs around us are, and ask for the Lord’s guidance.
What is the interim’s role in all this?
The interim’s role, aside from providing stability in the pulpit and leadership for the staff and congregation, can be to prepare the way for the lead pastor. For example, the interim won’t necessarily be implementing any big new ministries or programs, but he can certainly help us us improve our communication and give guidance to the week-in, week-out work of the church. To make “the uneven ground level, and the rough places plain,” if you will.
Soooo… that’s a lot. Speaking as someone whose home has been at CTK for 15 years, it is both exciting and daunting to consider this season of transition. Sometimes, I might list daunting first. But Christ promises to build His church. He Himself is the architect and the cornerstone. Our job in the next few months and years is not to reinvent the wheel - or reinvent CTK - but simply to follow His lead.
And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.' – Matthew 28