Prayer-Mining Mission Statements
by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader
In those quiet moments, when you breathe a prayer, asking for God’s help for your church…..
What do you pray then?
What’s your deepest, most primal prayer for your church?
If your church could do nothing else, what MUST it do?
What do you ask God for when no one else is listening? And how do you feel about that answer, especially held up alongside the Way of Jesus described in the gospels?
Certainly, there are techniques for discerning mission statements which have proven useful and effective over time. We use many of them at Pinnacle. Sometimes, we harvest words from the congregation, forming a Word Cloud which yields a nice visual for what’s really important to this congregation. Other times, we give out those small sticky dots of various colors, inviting people to vote with their dots on what resonates with their identity and mission. Other times a pithy saying rises out of visioning work or other activities that captures the essence of the church. These are good and helpful approaches.
Yet, I’m drawn toward prayer-mining. What is our deepest prayer for our churches?
Sometimes the answers are less than stellar. Perhaps we pray for more members, more money, and more status in our communities. Sometimes we pray for programs and methodologies that make us feel comfortable. Sometimes we pray for more people like us, while praying for others to stay away. Sometimes we pray that the church will function like it did 20, 30, or 40 years ago, a time when we really liked how things were.
Praying for organizational health and growth isn’t bad, it’s just that those metrics are outcomes of something more central… transformation and vitality. Churches who are engaged with the Way of Jesus so they are being transformed are vitalized. Often organizational metrics will follow this “enlivenment,” so to speak, but not always.
So, when we pull back the layers, centering down deep into our souls, sitting quietly in our prayer closets (literally and metaphorically)… then what does our prayer become?
“O God, help us to…
Form people in the Way of Jesus
Be transformed into new creations
Love like Jesus loves
Join your world transformation efforts
Become reflections of Jesus in our daily living
Bring signs of your kingdom to our community
Open the doors to God with those who are ready”
When we can drill down to our deepest, most primal prayers… those informed and shaped by our faith, something beautiful and life-giving happens.
Through Prayer-Mining, and many other approaches, may we discern God’s mission for the body of Christ, living drawn into more robust expressions of church as we go.