Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion International said,
I can think of many Christian organizations that have lost their spiritual commitment. I can’t think of one secular organization that found its way to a Christian commitment. Any leader who inherits a strong Christian commitment must shepherd the culture and steward that commitment.
In a nutshell, that’s why this new book by Peter Greer and Chris Horst Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches is so important. Having just preached a vision series at Revolution and going through a process of re-clarifying the win or why of Revolution Church, this book was incredibly refreshing to read, as well as incredibly challenging as I think through the task of keeping the mission clear, putting things into place to protect this clarity and keeping everyone on the same page.
The stories they tell of organizations who less than 50-100 years ago who were Mission True and had a clear Christian identity, to now simply collecting money is scary.
Here are a few things that stood out to me:
- Without careful attention, faith-based organizations will inevitably drift from their founding mission.
- According to studies, 95% of Christian organizations said mission drift was a challenging issue for them.
- Mission True organizations know why they exist and protect their core at all costs. They remain faithful to what they believe God has entrusted them to do. They define what is immutable: their values and purposes, their DNA, their heart and soul.
- Mission True organizations decide that their identity matters and then become fanatically focused on remaining faithful to this core.
- If we aren’t entirely convinced that our Christian faith is essential to our work, then we won’t be willing to make the tough decisions to fight for it.
- It’s often Christians who seem most likely to be the biggest critics of bold Christian distinctiveness in our organizations.
- Mission drift is a daily battle.
- Mission True organizations know who they are and actively safeguard, reinforce, and celebrate their DNA. Leaders constantly push toward higher levels of clarity about their mission and even more intentionality about protecting it.
- The single greatest reason for mission drift is the lack of a clear mission and vision.
- If leaders aren’t bleeding the mission, drift will always trickle down.
- When we begin to see our priority as a growing ministry, instead of a faithful one, we sow the seeds of drift.
- Leaders always act in accordance with their beliefs.
- Mission True organizations find a way of stating and measuring what they believe matters most.
- What’s not measured slowly becomes irrelevant.
Highly, highly recommend this book to any pastor or leader who works with a non-profit.
