By Preston Foster
Nowadays, most state-of-the-art organizations have mission statements. Most of these are high-minded, eloquent statements of intent. By reading one, you can easily understand an organization's intentions and priorities.
However, a true mission statement is not a list of intentions or objectives. A true mission statement articulates the reasons why an organization exists. It is more about why they are here than what they intend to do.
We Seventh-Day Adventists define ourselves by our intentions and our objectives: keep the Sabbath, live the "health message," love our neighbors, reflect Jesus. We have, however, lost sight of our mission -- the reasons why we, as a denomination, exist.
Don't ignore the obvious. Look at our name. As Seventh-Day Adventists, our mission -- the reason why we exist -- is to tell the world about the Second Advent of Christ, and of the role that the seventh day Sabbath will have in identifying allegiance to God's Word over the traditions of men, as the last day events unfold.
Take a deep breath.
I'm not saying that our message isn't Jesus Christ, and him crucified. It is. I'm not saying that the most important thing that anyone could ever discover isn't the love of Christ and the gift of salvation thru His sacrifice. It is.
But those fundamental truths are not our mission. They are not why the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination exists. Other Christian churches, along with ours, preach the gospel of Christ. Preaching that gospel is the collective mission of the body of Christ -- the Christian Church.
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church exists to deliver a very specific message at a very specific time.
The value of any forecast (or prophecy) depends on two things: accuracy and timeliness. In other words, a forecast of rain is useless if it is either wrong or late. The weather man can be right about the rain, but still useless if he tells you that it will definitely rain -- yesterday.
As the "last day church," our message is useful for the same reasons. An accurate interpretation of the Book of Revelation (augmented by books like The Great Controversy) is useless if we tell people after the prophecies are fulfilled. It is not enough to "have the truth." The value of our message is a function of both truth and timing.
Have we intentionally lost sight of our mission? In trying to become a mainstream denomination, have we co-opted the larger mission of the body of Christ and set aside the unique mission assigned to us? Have Seventh-Day Adventists have become the messengers of, "It's gonna rain -- yesterday?"
Breathe again.
The notion of mission implies more than intent. Mission implies expectation. When a captain gives a private a mission to take territory, the expectation is that it will be done. Not attempted, not in-process, but accomplished.
President George W. Bush took a great deal of flak for declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq while the fighting persisted. By declaring the mission to be accomplished, Mr. Bush inadvertently prompted the press to chart a new statistic: "casualties since the president declared ‘mission accomplished.'" The statistic exists because it contradicts the notion of accomplishment.
Commitment to a mission creates a sense of urgency and expectation: a reason for self-sacrifice. A clear mission provides a focal point for everything an organization does. A clear mission gives a private direction, even when the captain provides no specific orders.
Think about it: when was the last time you heard a sermon on the essential teaching of Adventism: the Third Angel's Message? If you were not Adventist and visited and Adventist church only one time, would you leave with a clear understanding of the link between the last day events and the Sabbath? We've even changed our logo from three angels sounding their trumpets to a more vague, not threatening flame.
Why is this? Mission drift. As a denomination, we have drifted away from our unique mission and move to safer, lukewarm objectives.
This dilution of the mission is not, I believe, a purposeful, malicious plot by our leadership. I believe the "mission drift" is a result of our church's growth as an institution.
In the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption," Morgan Freeman's character, a wizened old inmate, describes himself as being "an institutionalized man." That is, he had been imprisoned for so long, that he had become more comfortable with the rules and routines of prison than he was with the options of a free man.
Seventh-Day Adventists are at a turning point. We are perceived by many as "institutionalized." We are more comfortable with occupying till He comes that we are with entrepreneurial evangelism. We are more interested in pursuing objectives (tithe growth, baptisms) or in the politics of the General Conference than we are in accomplishing our mission. All of this looks like work, but it also avoids the focused pursuit of our mission.
I recognize the dynamic because I am an institutional man. I have worked in corporate America, the U.S. Government, and the ivory tower of academia. The common currency in all three is dedication to the perpetuation of the institution. Put simply, the first job of an institutional manager is to maintain the organization itself.
As Adventists, our mission is not to maintain the organization. Our mission is to prepare people for the end of the world. It is not a mainstream, non-confrontational mission. It is the work of the Marines, not the Coast Guard.
Our distraction with institutional issues is not a coincidence. The Church of Laodicea is defined by its lukewarmness (Revelation 3: 14-16). The love of the world and the things in it makes the status quo attractive. Our complacency is predicted in the same book that contains the core message of our mission (Revelation 14: 9-12).
Those prophecies need not become our fate. Indeed, the prophecies were given to us to ensure that they not become our fate.
Our new GC President has called Adventists back to the basics. Though well intended, this has, in my opinion, been used by both conservative and liberal Adventists to seed the seemingly never-ending discussion about the role of E.G. White in the church. My wish is that, instead of arguing about what a return to the good-ole-days means for the church, we would focus our energies on how to prepare mankind for the end-of-days. That is why we, as a denomination, exist.
Ironically, one prophecy is, indeed, intended as our fate. It has been predicted that laymen would finish the work of the church. Our willingness to walk in faith with God to fulfill the mission He's assigned to us is all that stands between us and "mission accomplished!"
Take a deep breath.
I'm not saying that our message isn't Jesus Christ, and him crucified. It is. I'm not saying that the most important thing that anyone could ever discover isn't the love of Christ and the gift of salvation thru His sacrifice. It is.
But those fundamental truths are not our mission. They are not why the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination exists. Other Christian churches, along with ours, preach the gospel of Christ. Preaching that gospel is the collective mission of the body of Christ -- the Christian Church.
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church exists to deliver a very specific message at a very specific time.
The value of any forecast (or prophecy) depends on two things: accuracy and timeliness. In other words, a forecast of rain is useless if it is either wrong or late. The weather man can be right about the rain, but still useless if he tells you that it will definitely rain -- yesterday.
As the "last day church," our message is useful for the same reasons. An accurate interpretation of the Book of Revelation (augmented by books like The Great Controversy) is useless if we tell people after the prophecies are fulfilled. It is not enough to "have the truth." The value of our message is a function of both truth and timing.
Have we intentionally lost sight of our mission? In trying to become a mainstream denomination, have we co-opted the larger mission of the body of Christ and set aside the unique mission assigned to us? Have Seventh-Day Adventists have become the messengers of, "It's gonna rain -- yesterday?"
Breathe again.
The notion of mission implies more than intent. Mission implies expectation. When a captain gives a private a mission to take territory, the expectation is that it will be done. Not attempted, not in-process, but accomplished.
President George W. Bush took a great deal of flak for declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq while the fighting persisted. By declaring the mission to be accomplished, Mr. Bush inadvertently prompted the press to chart a new statistic: "casualties since the president declared ‘mission accomplished.'" The statistic exists because it contradicts the notion of accomplishment.
Commitment to a mission creates a sense of urgency and expectation: a reason for self-sacrifice. A clear mission provides a focal point for everything an organization does. A clear mission gives a private direction, even when the captain provides no specific orders.
Think about it: when was the last time you heard a sermon on the essential teaching of Adventism: the Third Angel's Message? If you were not Adventist and visited and Adventist church only one time, would you leave with a clear understanding of the link between the last day events and the Sabbath? We've even changed our logo from three angels sounding their trumpets to a more vague, not threatening flame.
Why is this? Mission drift. As a denomination, we have drifted away from our unique mission and move to safer, lukewarm objectives.
This dilution of the mission is not, I believe, a purposeful, malicious plot by our leadership. I believe the "mission drift" is a result of our church's growth as an institution.
In the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption," Morgan Freeman's character, a wizened old inmate, describes himself as being "an institutionalized man." That is, he had been imprisoned for so long, that he had become more comfortable with the rules and routines of prison than he was with the options of a free man.
Seventh-Day Adventists are at a turning point. We are perceived by many as "institutionalized." We are more comfortable with occupying till He comes that we are with entrepreneurial evangelism. We are more interested in pursuing objectives (tithe growth, baptisms) or in the politics of the General Conference than we are in accomplishing our mission. All of this looks like work, but it also avoids the focused pursuit of our mission.
I recognize the dynamic because I am an institutional man. I have worked in corporate America, the U.S. Government, and the ivory tower of academia. The common currency in all three is dedication to the perpetuation of the institution. Put simply, the first job of an institutional manager is to maintain the organization itself.
As Adventists, our mission is not to maintain the organization. Our mission is to prepare people for the end of the world. It is not a mainstream, non-confrontational mission. It is the work of the Marines, not the Coast Guard.
Our distraction with institutional issues is not a coincidence. The Church of Laodicea is defined by its lukewarmness (Revelation 3: 14-16). The love of the world and the things in it makes the status quo attractive. Our complacency is predicted in the same book that contains the core message of our mission (Revelation 14: 9-12).
Those prophecies need not become our fate. Indeed, the prophecies were given to us to ensure that they not become our fate.
Our new GC President has called Adventists back to the basics. Though well intended, this has, in my opinion, been used by both conservative and liberal Adventists to seed the seemingly never-ending discussion about the role of E.G. White in the church. My wish is that, instead of arguing about what a return to the good-ole-days means for the church, we would focus our energies on how to prepare mankind for the end-of-days. That is why we, as a denomination, exist.
Ironically, one prophecy is, indeed, intended as our fate. It has been predicted that laymen would finish the work of the church. Our willingness to walk in faith with God to fulfill the mission He's assigned to us is all that stands between us and "mission accomplished!"
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