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The Mission of the Church

The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
(Luke 19:10)

Does the Institutionalized Church Help or Hinder in its Fulfillment?

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you . . .. (Matthew 28:19-20)

. . . Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

You and I feel free to speak honestly and openly of our own family. But if our family is, in the least, criticized by others, it burns our bacon. A blowhard French journalist writes a book about America that is full of arrogance and stupidity, and we want to let all the air out of him and mail him back home flat.

And when we do take an honest look at our church family, some things are so obvious that it becomes clear that we simply love the church too much for some things to be ignored any longer. The time for pretending is over. The time is past to expect that the decades-long challenges related to the institutionalization of the church will vanish.
They won’t.

These challenges are not exclusive to any one church family or denomination. They are true, in varying degrees of severity, for all church groups and denominations everywhere – globally.

Let me state my personal view of the obvious. The institutionalized church, for the most part, does not help in the fulfillment of the mission of the church.

It hinders.

And this is not new. It has been happening for decades with increasing frequency and intensity. The officials of every institutionalized church group everywhere are aware of this disturbing trend and are hoping fervently for a reversal of the crippling paralysis of institutionalization. In my view, church officials of almost all denominations are looking for a cure for this condition. My honest belief is that no church official – or group of officials – actually ever knowingly creates a full-fledged dysfunctional institutionalized church. None are intentionally created, but for the most part, are inherited. They are the product of a gradually failing system which, like an iceberg, adds layer after layer over several decades, with the bulk of it hidden from sight.

Sadly, and for whatever the reasons, many church leaders are themselves perceived in an adversarial role by the pastors and members. They are seen as mostly inaccessible, unresponsive to phone calls and mail and generally out of touch with reality. And among those who are not benignly oblivious to this phenomenon, most seem perfectly content for things to stay just the way they are.

In many instances, these guardians of the institutionalized church do not pursue nor inspire big dreams. In fact, they often torpedo any dreams that do not come directly through their “golden funnel.” As a result, the institutionalized church is generally bereft of any grand design or workable strategy to win and disciple lost people for the Lord. For the most part, church programs look good only on paper and have little, if any, relevance to the local church and its scriptural mission.

As a consequence, truly missional churches and ministers are decreasing both qualitatively and quantitatively. Decline and institutionalization are identical twins.

For the institutionalized minister in the institutionalized church, the ministry is a profession and not a commission. Most prefer "business-as-usual." Those who dare cause any ripples within the system are regarded with suspicion and are, at times, allegedly blacklisted and targeted for varying degrees of punishment and ultimate destruction of their “rebellious” influence.

So over time, an “us-versus-them” mentality emerges.

The wonder of it all is that as much gets done for the Kingdom as it does. I attribute that fact to those truly missional pastors, evangelists, teachers, and other Great Commission Christians who pro-actively pursue their Scriptural assignment or mission. They often feel like square pegs trying to fit into round holes. Bumper-sticker sloganeering just isn’t enough substance for them to fulfill their ministry mission. It takes something more. Much more. Pro-actively ministering under such conditions calls for a dramatic shift in thinking and perception at every level.

At its core, Missional means a shift in thinking and perception.

This shift is partially expressed by Ed Stetzer and David Putman in their book, “Breaking the Missional Code” (Broadman/Holman, 2006), in some of the following ways:

* From programs to processes
* From demographics to discernment
* From attractional to incarnational
* From uniformity to diversity
* From professional to passionate
* From decisions to disciples
* From monuments to movements
* From additional to exponential
* From services to service
* From organizations to organisms

As Rick Meigs also observes, Jesus told us to go into all the world and be His ambassadors, “but many churches today have changed the ‘go and be’ command to a ‘come and see’ appeal.” They strive to have the best show in town.

Somehow, many in the institutionalized church have fallen in love with buildings, programs, icy professionalism, multiple staffs and a varied menu of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people but with very little redemptive value.

Today, for an authentic missional leader to pro-actively pursue the fulfillment of the actual mission of the church strictly within the framework of the institutionalized church, it is like trying to swim in a pool of molasses in the cold of winter. While we may admire the effort, we must wonder if the end result is worth all the frustration incurred and the energy expended, resulting in disheartening futility and exhaustion.

A man or woman of God should not be required to run a complex gauntlet and jump through countless “hoops” before they can do what God has called them to do. Those who are prepared should be released to fulfill the mission of the church and should not be required to ask, in the words of the childhood game, “Mother, may I?” prior to their every effort. Most institutionalized leaders in the institutionalized church can politicize almost anything. Not even the Lord’s harvest is exempt when almost every decision is weighed from a personal political perspective.

Here, the operative word is control - not mission.

It should be different. God’s family is a big family and capable of grand visions for achieving great things for God’s Kingdom.

Please let me share this personal experience; in 1984 I prayerfully made a quality decision. I had spent years striving to be pro-active in the pursuit of the mission of the church and to help bring reform to the church from within the system, as the director of and speaker for Radio and Television for my denomination (Church of God, Cleveland TN). But I felt that I could make a greater impact for the Kingdom of God simply as Carl Richardson. I never even considered leaving my church – because the church is my family. Even so, making such a transformational decision nearly tore my heart out. But since that time, God has helped our ministry to win and disciple more than 2 millions souls for the Kingdom of God through our missional Beyond Borders network of trans-denominational ministries locally, regionally, and globally.

“The church,” said Christian Educator William Denney, “is the only organization in the world that does not exist for the benefit of its own members.”

Was he right? Or, was this just wishful thinking?

Stated simply, the mission of the church is – or at least should be – the mission of Jesus. In too many instances, however, it is not. It may be true in some places and cases, but it should be true everywhere, because the Word of God is true everywhere.

Lest some may have forgotten, let’s read again – and experience again – the passion, the power, and the sheer wonder of these missional scriptures:

The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)

. . . Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

When God loved, He loved a world. When He gave His Son, He gave His Son for a world. When Jesus Christ died, He died for a world.

Today, an increasing and often disturbing fiery spirit of localism, statism, regionalism, and nationalism renders the church ineffective in any attempt to obey the terms of the great commission. But its mandate is clear.

Add to this the disturbing evidences of an unsteadying paralysis of institutionalization and the result is a deadly concoction which causes a decided lack of passion for the true mission of the church – to win and disciple people for the Kingdom.

Almost always there is present both good and bad, strength and weakness in the expression of the church at any given time. Weakness may be manifested even when the church is at its best, and some strength is there when the church is at its worst.

To declare here that there is an increasingly strong tendency toward institutionalization is decidedly not a broadside condemnation of institutions and organizations per se. They are often necessary and desirable instruments or vehicles for the orderly advancement of the faith. It would therefore be utterly impossible for any effective propagation of the values of a movement to be made without appropriate institutions. Institutions can be a valid and valuable part of any significant movement. Historically, many church denominations got their start in this way.

“Seasons” in the Life of A Movement

There are “seasons” in the life of any movement or institution. There is the springtime and the greening of supple youth and rapid growth, to be followed by the summer of passion and fire, to be succeeded by the autumn of wisdom and maturity of middle age, which is often followed (after a time) by the winter of a gnarled old age and accompanied by a crippling paralysis.

Despite the frequent and vocal assertions by the unwitting perpetuators of the institutionalized church that “we are still a movement,” the overwhelming evidence is that the “movement” to which they so passionately refer is, in reality, no longer a true movement. It has become an increasingly stagnant institution. Denial soon becomes the real ongoing mission.

The Gospel says, “seek the lost.” But institutionalization says, “let the lost seek the church.”

The Gospel says, “Go!” But institutionalization says, “Stay!”

The Gospel says (in Luke 14:23), “Go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.” But institutionalization says, “Let’s launch a new public relations and advertising campaign to attract the right ‘profile’ or ‘demographic’ of the prospective church attendee we are currently targeting.”

Institutionalization is marked by inflexibility, immobility, insensitivity, and inconsequentiality.

Chanting the “party line” and reciting proven “trigger phrases,” the perpetuators of the institutionalized church give primary lip service to the Great Commission but only secondary action.

Often the most zealous among them actually perceive themselves as preservers of “the faith.” Imagining themselves to be among God’s most favorite people, they are expert at self-deception and self-righteousness, artifice and guile. Within the ultimate framework of the institutionalized church, the Great Commission is not resisted. It is ignored. It is quietly displaced with lofty sounding substitutions and high-gloss new programs void of much of anything of eternal consequence.

The bottom line is the only line. The mission of the church is surrendered – then forgotten. Meetings replace mission. Focus on the letter of the law unsparingly replaces the life-giving anointing of the Holy Spirit of God.

Servicing the institution becomes primary. Kingdom ministry becomes secondary.

Christ is no longer Lord of all. He is not Lord at all. Jesus is no longer Savior. He is relegated to and referenced as merely a partner in the “business” of running the church.

What it Looks Like When the Church Becomes Institutionalized

In big church meetings, any increases in finances are loudly trumpeted as “divine favor,” while with intentionality, the least, the last, and the lost are ignored and abandoned to a Christless eternity. It is as if there were no heaven or hell, no repentance or salvation, no Godly righteousness, no purity of heart, no judgment, no reality of regeneration, no real mission.

Institutions become most burdensome when their adherents are primarily related to the church as an institution or to the auxiliary organizations of the church, rather than to the Person of Jesus Christ.

The church becomes institutionalized when it turns its primary focus upon itself and when it is more concerned with perpetuating its own uniqueness than it is with the mission for which it was originally founded.

The final and most fatal mistake for any church organization occurs when it becomes self-serving, self-contained and ingrown. Cliquishness is mistaken for fellowship. Flow charts are substituted for the flow of the Holy Spirit.

Then comes a preoccupation with preserving the memory of the past.
Denominational monuments are built.
The movement fades.
The mission is lost.

But this doesn’t happen overnight. The change comes about so slowly and imperceptibly one is hardly even aware that it is happening. The sense of mission slips away until only the external forms remain.

Few are asked to take the form of a servant, but all are asked to take a packet of envelopes to keep the wheels of the institution well-oiled. Forgiveness becomes a “cosmic blotter” to individuals who pass through the institutionalized process. Once the individual is absorbed into the institutional machine, he can just about do as he pleases and have nothing to worry about. By attending the meetings and faithfully paying his dues to the institution, he thereby demonstrates his loyalty. He has “arrived.” He is now a “professional” Christian.

He has no cross to carry,
no burden to bear,
no load to lift.
no witness to share.

But there is not one shred of biblical support for such a lifestyle.

No church that drops its disciplines and demands for total commitment to the Great Commission can deepen its life or broaden its outreach or make a redemptive impact upon the world around it.

It is here that we face the full measure of who we are as people of God.

As a people, the church is itself the verification of the message it proclaims, or else the betrayal of that message.

I admit it. On the surface, one could easily be plunged into the throes of despair were it not for several very encouraging factors.

Solid ground of real hope

In personally ministering in all 50 states and more than 80 nations on 5 continents over the past 50 years, I have found solid ground which gives me real hope for the future.

* God relates Himself to people, not mere things, nor churchly institutions.
* Our people are good people.
* They are increasingly “Kingdom-minded” and many are global Christians.
* For the most part, they are disinterested in the nuances of politics in the church.
* Being missional is an individual choice pleasing to God, not necessarily others.
* Truly missional leaders want to do what is right in the sight of God and man.
* They care deeply about their faith, their family – and their church.
* They want to make a redemptive impact upon the people in “their” world.
* They want the priorities of the church, including financial priorities, to support the true mission of the church.
* They are fervent in their desire to save the missional church from the bog of institutionalization, even if they have to help drag the church kicking and screaming to the higher, solid ground of true Scriptural mission.

For the most part, genuine proponents of institutionalization are mere straw men anyway. The institutionalization process occurs as a result of passive acquiescence and not through active pursuit. I personally know of no one anywhere who actively pursues or defends raw institutionalization. Not one person. Period. The notion of anyone anywhere meeting covertly for the express purpose of displacing the mission of the church with peripheral concerns or trivial pursuits is non-existent.

Positive Pursuits

Therefore, truly missional officials and missional pastors and their congregations should begin at once to tweak any and all man-made systems to become closely and immediately aligned with the Great Commission. Re-thinking and revising spiritual priorities in keeping with the Word of God itself must at once become a top priority worthy of pro-active pursuit at every level. Some old-fashioned “praying through” is urgently needed – now more than ever – at every level in the Kingdom of God.

And in our eagerness to be counted among the “defenders of the faith,” let’s be rock-solid certain that it does not deteriorate into mere church politics and that we do not actually become defensive of the very institutionalization which may already be sounding the death knell of the truly missional church, locally, regionally, nationally, or globally.

I offer the Missional Manifesto (below) for your prayerful consideration.

Carl Richardson

Missional Manifesto

Great Commission Christians are missional in our vision and actions. Winning and discipling people for Christ is our true mission - our true priority.

At every level, therefore, we will resist the crippling effects of the institutionalization of the church, its systems, its polity, its government, its doctrines, its outreach, its spirit, and its fellowship. We will strive to keep ourselves, and the church, free from the corrosive effects of institutionalization and will embrace personal purity as God’s abiding lifestyle of thought and action for His people, the church.

We will steadfastly stand against the intrusion of carnal political thinking and activity in such a holy calling as the mission of the church.

We therefore urge the church, at every level, to begin at once to rethink its priorities, including financial priorities to fund the mission of the church, and to prayerfully and urgently re-align its operational systems, toward becoming truly missional in commitment in word and deed.

As missional Christians, we therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord of the harvest to work for personal spiritual renewal/revival as an ongoing lifestyle so that the Lord may be glorified in us and the church may be edified through us.

We not only accept what God is doing in us and through His church personally, corporately and globally, we hereby heartily embrace it.

Feedback

Thank you for this powerful reminder that we have a serious obligation to do the will of the Father as individuals. Nothing is more important than the original call to win the lost. When prayer and fasting drives that home to our hearts and minds, political gain and prestige will take a back seat to all that is important in these last days. God bless you for your strength and courage. You have stirred my heart.

Mrs. Billie Metler
Knoxville, TN

Excellent! This is a problem that transcends denominational walls. We fully agree and are of the opinion that voices raised in honest concern would not be stifled, nor ignored, by a true Missional church. We look forward to hearing suggestions on how to move forward from this point!

Arlen and Dee Yoder
Grace Fellowship
Mansfield, OH

Thanks for reminding us of our purpose as a church. It is easy to get sidetracked and we need a jolt as the church in America.

Pastor Lavoy Newton
St. Augustine, FL

After more than 30 years of waiting, finally I read a message that explores the depths of my soul. The church today has largely become a place of entertainment and attractions and not a place of salvation and deliverance. The people will give money but often will not go out and win one soul. I want a church that will go outside the walls and reach people for Christ. I am in a small church now and am ministering among the Lumbee Indian people and am seeing results. People are being saved by His grace! Your article blest me greatly and I appreciate a man of God that will be truthful about the times we are seeing in today's church.

Pastor Numer Locklear
Pembroke, North Carolina

Wow! Bro. Richardson, your assessment and challenge could not be more timely or relevant. May I as a Pastor take these words to heart, and by all means to God in prayer, that I will guard, and to the death defend, the mission of the Lord who loved me enough to change my life. I owe that debt to Him and to all I influence.

Dr. Darrell W. Waller, Lead Pastor
Winchester, VA

Thanks for sharing a message now fifty years in the making. Your perspective and the vantage point of this generation's church with its missions of ministry were not penned from a sideline observation tower. It is obvious you have seen the mission fields and the church at large in our generation.

Huge dreams of missions and ministry are still the fuel needed in every local church, they alone provide eternal significance. Engaging individuals in missions provides the cleansing agent so needed for reforming the vision of an institutionalized church. Discipleship without missions is a routine. A missions life style is the only method of generating and perpetuating the excitement of Christianity and value of being churched.

Your words are strong but I pray they would find their way into the heart of those who are willing to pursue the unproven trails of missions in every town, city, and nation.

MISSIONS WILL TAKE YOU PAST ALL THE COMFORT ZONES, and leave you often alone, with those Jesus died for. Most needed today is a reforming of the thinking of the church - a church having spent five hundred years specializing in protesting and proliferating ... a church always seeking a better method or message at the expense of better exploits into the mission fields of every generation.

Thank you for a missional challenge; your pulpit is huge -may your congregation rise to the occasion.

Being the effective church to those least like us WILL REQUIRE MORE TRANSFORMATION IN THE CHURCH than in the community.

Pastor Jimmy Jones
Columbia S.C.

Thanks for saying what I have been thinking for years!

We remember you coming to Korea and doing a TV story on us and our Ministry in the Military and also the Chief Chaplain of the U.S. Army in Asia. We changed directions in ministry in 2002 and are now working in the Philippines.

Roy L. Humphrey, President
Home and Abroad Ministries
Cleveland, TN

This is one of the greatest messages I've ever read or heard. It is a masterpiece. It cuts right to the heart of where the Church is today in America. The message not only identifies the problems but also provides the answers.

I wish there were forums where the leadership of all denominations could sit together and discuss this message - discuss it until the truth of the message would penetrate the hearts of the influencers in America and they, as well as the rest of us, would pray until we heard from heaven and God moved on His Throne and once again revival fires would sweep across this country and "the winds would indeed be blowing again."

Dr. Robert White
Tyler, TX

I read word for word your entire article and the comments of others about it. I agree wholeheartedly and you have stirred my 73-year-old mind and heart.

Pastoring is a definite calling of the Lord to minister to the saints but not to the exclusion of doing the work of an evangelist ourselves and doing everything we can within us to stir our parishioners to do the same. Thank you for the needed reminder and I hope I will put it into meaningful practice, not say ”Amen” and forget it.

Pastor Elwood Kern
Bartow, FL

This article portrays the heart-cry of the writer. It evaluates and shows the present condition of the church in the West. There are churches and denominations around the world that are institutionalized so much that they are a hindrance to the true Mission of the Church of The Lord.

The true evangelism is and should be done outside the church where the sinners are. It should be done by every Blood-washed believer on a one-on-one basis. Fresh converts bring freshness and joy into the Body of Christ just like newborn babes into the human families. Don't they keep everybody happy in the family!!

Evangelizing and discipling of the peoples is the true Mission of the church of Jesus Christ. It should also be the heart-cry of every leader in the church.

G. Moses Choudary
Founding Pastor
Hyderabad, India

I read your blog with interest. I have just returned from the first-ever Church of God Pastor Conference on Care in Ecuador. You would have been proud of your church.

Despite all the things written about, somehow we managed to truly minister to over 500 people in a significant way. It is amazing that somehow God blesses through our efforts no matter how small.

Mrs. Anita Hughes
Cleveland, TN

I retired early from the slogging through institutional hoops after coming to the perception that I could no longer endure the blockage to free ministry. I celebrate your courage to attempt to redirect the "ship" or church institution that has gone so far off course. May God help you to reach some whose eyes and ears will receive the truth. Christ tried to reach the church of his day, but inevitably the message bypassed them and was given to the true believers, as you have done. Blessings to You.

Jerry W. Tow
Charlotte, NC

Thanks for your powerful message on The Mission of the Church. Great truths are like honey to the taste.

Elvis and Rita Hester, Senior Pastor
Eagle’s Landing Church
McDonough, GA

Excellent article. Hope the message of this article spreads and transforms institutionalized churches everywhere to become the dynamic church that was birthed at Pentecost. Thank you for praying that the Brandon Church of God will not ignore the Great Commission and will truly become a missional church.

Pastor Don Horton
Brandon, FL

This is a powerful message, Carl. One of my greatest concerns is that there seems to be so little emphasis and concern for the lost in the Body of Christ.

Rev. W.C. and Monte Ratchford
Weatherford, TX

Terrific article. It leaves me, however, with questions. I am leaving for England tomorrow and don’t have time to fully explore my thoughts. But you have raised some very interesting discussion areas which I will share sometime soon. Hopefully, an interchange would be of interest to you.

Dr. Don Aultman
Chancellor, Church of God Education
School of Ministry
Cleveland, TN

As always, you really spoke into my life again. Thank you for your courage. What a powerful article.

Bobby Collins, Senior Pastor
World Outreach Worship Center
Denbigh, VA

Thanks, Carl, for your commentary on the mission of the church. Excellent insights!

Dr. Grant McClung
Cleveland, TN
www.globalbeliever.com

Strong stuff well said - obviously from a very concerned heart.

Seattle, WA

Your article is amazing! You effectively captured the heart and message of Jesus and contrasted it with the challenge the institutionalized church faces in embracing and in fully engaging in the mission of a revolutionary Jesus. I would love to publish you as a guest blogger on www.missionalCOG.com. I think you would add a lot to a discussion that is actively taking place broadly. No one lives out missionality more than you.

Travis Johnson, Lead Pastor
Life-Point Church
Homestead, FL

Surely you’re not joining “the church is dead” crowd, are you? You would be among the last I would ever expect to succumb to such a temptation. At times in your article, I wondered - until I got to the part where you gave reasons you have for being encouraged. Now, I am encouraged about something for which I was fresh out of hope.

DLW
Atlanta, GA

It took courage to speak out on such a sensitive subject. But it is exactly what we desperately need throughout the entire Body of Christ. It obviously came from your heart which is why I intend to take your words to my heart – especially the Missional Manifesto. I would like to see this Missional Manifesto adopted throughout all churches.

Rodney D. Moore
Melbourne, Australia

Though I’m not part of your denomination, you have spoken into my heart on many occasions throughout my life, but none any more pointedly or powerfully than on The Missional Church.

DLM
Dallas, TX

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