Clarity and Purpose

Clarity and Purpose are fast becoming my two favorite words... especially when it comes to church ministry.  Why?  Because it's incredibly difficult to do anything constructive and effective without clarity and purpose in our ministry.

I love the definitions of these two words...

Clarity: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

Purpose: the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

I think in ministry what can so easily happen is that we just get used to the way things have always been done that we forget what it is supposed to be accomplishing... without that constant reminder ministries just start to get mixed in ambiguity and it's reason for existing gets lost...

That's why I think it's of the utmost importance to make our ministry purposeful and to make that purpose so clear that everyone understands and is on board with it.

In my new role here at LifeSpring I think we're going to have a really fun time sorting through the clarity and purpose issues of our church...  especially in the area of the Sunday Celebration and the Small Groups.

LifeSpring follows a cell based model of ministry... meaning the small group is the primary ministry for connection, pastoral care, spiritual growth, community service, outreach and evangelism.  More people attend our small groups then our Sunday morning worship service.  Our Sunday service is a time to get together as a larger group of believers to worship God and to learn from the Bible.  It sounds simple... but the lines can quickly be blurred and we can so easily lose clarity on what these two ministries should be accomplishing.

What is the difference between the small group and the celebration?  If we do music, study the Bible and have communion in the small group why do we need the celebration?  And if the Sunday celebration has open sharing and prayer requests and announcements and feel like a small group then why do we need to meet during the week in our homes?  

For me, the small group and the celebration have VERY big difference and accomplish two very different and important things in our ministry.  The small group shouldn't try to be a Sunday morning worship service... and the Sunday celebration shouldn't try to be a small group...

So today I'm doing a lot of praying and reading on this topic of clarity and purpose.  And really pumped to see how God wants to use this for his glory.

How about you?  Have good have you been at keeping your ministry clear and purposeful?  How do you get everyone on board in your congregation on board with it?

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