Vision for Sale

I am working with my leadership team to develop mission and vision for our group. While preparing for our next meeting, I did some research on the internet. As I was reading an article explaining the difference between mission and vision, I came across a link at the bottom of the page that made me laugh out loud. It said,

Church Mission Statements
Shop on Ebay and Save! Discount Church Mission Statements.

When you click the link, it takes you to a generic Ebay page of various items relating to mission statements. Nothing about churches.

But it did get me thinking about all of the churches that do copy or "borrow" other church vision and mission statements because they sound great. Most are taken from mega churches and “tailored” to fit their situation.

But aren't they missing the point? Isn't a vision and mission something that is unique to every church. We are not all to have the same statements, because we are not all the same church.

I mean yes, we are all to love God and love people. But come on, that's so bland and lifeless. The Apostles were called to proclaim the truth to all men, but Paul was called to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews. They had different targets, but the same end.

We don't need more church franchises, we need more specialty churches. Churches with unique targets to address the needs no other church can meet. When will we begin to see the open source Christianity God intended? He gave us the code; we just need to adapt it to our context.

My vision is to see churches embrace their peculiar identities and embark on journeys into spiritual renewal of global proportions where their visions are realized and missions accomplished through focused attention to their God directive. No plagiarized visions or purchased missions. Each one as unique as the people in them. That's my vision and I'm stickin' to it.