Mission or Vision Statement (Week 2, Day 3)
Churches exist for a purpose – or should. The governing document that explains why
a church exists is usually called a mission statement (or vision statement, in some churches). Some churches may have both. Is there a written mission or vision statement? Has the statement been developed by the membership, or has it been developed by the staff (e.g., pastor and other church staff ministers)? How familiar are church members with the statement(s)? Is the statement available to the membership (e.g., posted somewhere, included in a new member’s packet, etc.)? If it is not too lengthy, attach a copy of your church’s mission/vision statement. If there is no such written statement, include in your discussion/assessment a discussion of this fact and the reason(s) for not having such a statement.
Conclude by assessing/evaluating the document(s) based on what you have learned
from the textbook and the criteria provided in this assignment. Point out where the document(s) give(s) evidence of good administrative thought and/or where it is/they are lacking in the particular administrative area.
Text Book:
Michael J. Anthony and James Estep, Jr., Editors. Management Essentials for Christian Ministries. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2005.
Assignment Instructions: Assignments call for you to relate the material you are reading in the textbook and your experience as a church administrator (paid or volunteer), making practical application to your present situation. The purpose of the assignments is to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your present church in its administrative functions.
NOTE that if you are not presently serving as a pastor or church staff minister, you
will need to talk with the person who serves as the administrator of your church to provide you with sufficient information to help you respond to the assignments. Usually, this person is the (senior) pastor of the church, but in larger churches there might be a designated staff minister (e.g., minister of education/ administration) who functions in this role. This also will necessitate having access to appropriate church documents (e.g., church mission or vision statement, church objectives and/or goals, etc.) to help you respond to the assignments, as well as various kinds of meetings (discussed in the various assignments).
Not all assignments will be due during the week in which you study about the
subject related to an assignment. This is to keep you from being overwhelmed in any given week and to help you in doing a good job on your assignments. Thus, for example, some of the assignments that relate to the planning function (e.g., mission/vision statement, goals and objectives, policies and procedures, and budget) are spread out over several weeks, even though your reading in the area of planning will be in weeks 2 and 3.
For each assignment, you are to post a response during the appropriate week, as
indicated in the individual assignments. To earn full credit for each assignment, the post must be about 1,000 words (for some assignments, your response may need to be longer). Your post must be relevant to the topic, give evidence that you have incorporated readings from the text into your response, and reflect your ability to evaluate your church’s administrative functions and identify areas in which your church’s administrative functions are meeting the needs of its constituents, both within and outside your church, and/or in which it could be improved.
Each assignment is worth 100 points, unless otherwise noted.
