Some years ago it became clear to us that as we grew in size as a church we were not working to our full potential.
We had structured the church around different ministry programs, like Explaining Christianity, Men’s breakfasts, Growth Groups, Men’s Ministry, Women’s Ministry, Youth Ministry and Kids Ministry. What we found was that those overseeing each ministry program or area were often trying to do the same things – just for a different group of people or in a different setting.
One of the main purposes we share as Christians (evangelism) was split across many different team members. This was repeated across most areas of church, resulting in lots of repetition, inefficiency, and a divided focus.
Biblically, God’s people are to operate as a body where each part does its work. In other words we are called to be specialists who are good at a few things (eg the heart is good at pumping blood). However what we often do is to focus on a lot of things, including the things we don’t do well and often at the expense of the very thing we were made for. We need to remember God has given us all to each other to work together. So we should focus on using and developing the gifts God has given us.
We feel that the following 5 purposes helpfully summarise God’s purpose for his people here at MBM. They are not perfect, but we have found them really helpful in summarising just about every purpose God has for our lives.
