Mission, Vision and Outcome Statements

I have received a telephone call from someone who was asking what on earth these 'statements' were all about. As we chatted I realised that he (and his PPC) were struggling with the dreaded 'vision' and 'mission statements.

Those short statements that tell people who we are and why we're here (Mission) and where we're aiming to be and what things will be like when we are (Vision).  One church sent me the mission statement which was, "To be Church where we are!" Well at least it was short.

Along with these, I think people should do a third statement. This statement helps you to measure your outcomes as I find many people have no idea how to measure 'success'. A quick for instance. I was involved with a church who had put a church based counselling facility. I asked them how they measured success and was told,"We count successes as those who don't come back!"

A mission statement:
The outreach team exists to engage with the community by means of social, social and practical work. It raises it's own money to support its work and informs, trains and releases church members to be engaged and work within it.

Tells you what it's called, what it does, how it exists and how it relates to the church.

A vision statement:
With the nnnn estate church plant new families will come to faith in a place which is accessible with an informal worship style and an obvious and practical concern for the community. By being involved with the practical we will encourage people to belong and develop deeper spiritual realities by nurture and discipleship teaching.

Again, this tells you exactly what they will have when the project aims are met and clearly tells you what this will 'feel' like. There is a temptation for people to get too deep in theses statements. All I can say is look at the Athanasian Creed and see what trying to pin everything down does to an otherwise simple statement.

An outcome/success criteria statement:

Over the next twelve months the Kid's Club aims to:

• Have at least two outings (Drayton Manor, Pantomime, etc.)
• Raise money to provide additional console games
• Introduce an art/craft teaching workshop (monthly)
• See an average membership of 20 

Now this sets targets and allows you to see whether they were met, exceeded of missed and that will enable you to celebrate and refine (even if you're successful, you still need to be revisiting and managing the targets).

There's little point in me listing the good, bad and ugly in each of these categories. If you'd like to see them just Google around and you'll find some excellent and frightening examples for yourself.

I hope this has made things a little clearer regarding 'statements'. They're not hard, especially if you know who you are and know what you want to achieve and have an understanding of what you need to do within a set period (for the outcome/success statement). Having things that are measurable or quantifiable  helps you to realistically assess what's going on and if it's not going on, to make changes to bring about some successes.

Blessings people.