61. A clear goal for house church
One pastor said, “default mode of any organization is complacency, not urgency”. To simply put it, people naturally want to maintain the “present reality” and instinctively repel “new reality”. To avoid this, defining a clear mission and putting all effort to move toward that mission is required.
To achieve a mission, you need a set of concrete goals. Because the mission is often very big and it is hard to measure if it is being fulfilled or not. So having achievable or actionable goals is crucial because they can serve as a clear measuring stick whether an organization is moving toward its mission or not.
Our church mission is to lead people to become followers of Jesus. To use a Bible term, it is “making disciples”. Each church has a different definition of a “disciple” but in our church, if someone joins a house church, gets baptized and becomes a shepherd, we say he/she became a disciple. If someone in his/her house church also wants to become a shepherd to lead his/her own house church, then we say the shepherd made a disciple. It is because disciples are the ones who not only learn to love and serve like Jesus but also raise someone to live the same way. Disciples always make other disciples.
So for us to not move away from this mission, each house church should make it their ultimate goal to multiply. It is necessary because no house church members like multiplying. People love to stay with their house church members as long as they want because they became like a family. But if the goal becomes making your house church the best one, then the house church becomes “inward-focused”, loses the vitality, then eventually becomes complacent. And complacent organization or group is not attractive to its outsiders.
The sign that a house church became complacent is when some members no longer like having new members. They get upset because they want to maintain “their” family. But if you make “multiplication” as the ultimate goal, you will focus more on people you want to reach, not people you want to keep. That is why having the goal of “multiplying” at the back of your mind helps you to not lose the sight of mission Jesus gave us: “Make Disciples”.
A clear indication that a disciple is made is when a house church multiplies. Putting this goal at the forefront keeps the house church in the mode of “urgency”, being ready to move whenever and wherever God leads. There is nothing wrong trying to make your house church the best one. It simply can’t be the ultimate goal.
