Have you ever been part of a group where there is no mission? Or have you been part of a church, attending every week, but you don’t know the reason why the church was first started?

A church is designed to be a community with a mission. God has given the church gifts to serve the people around them. The role of the pastor is to equip the believers to minister the gospel to the world. In this way, the church matures and becomes healthy.

Without mission, the people grumble because people need to expend energy. When their energy is focused on sitting in their favorite chair on a Sunday, they will look for other means to use their energy. That is the time when pew-warmers would notice how the church should be cleaner, that the music should be more conservative, the pastor should shave more and trivial etc. (if there is such a term)

But if the people are equipped to minister and given opportunities to minister, their sense of ownership goes up and they exert their effort towards the vision of the church.

“Equipping changes a church from a mere consumption center to a gathering of people who serve one another and the world around them. A church focused on developing God’s people to serve is a church that knows why she is on the planet, and the people are likely to sense the urgency and significance of the opportunity.” – Geiger and Peck, loc 882