{"id":137,"date":"2016-01-14T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T15:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/?p=137"},"modified":"2016-01-18T21:47:31","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T21:47:31","slug":"why-are-we-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We Here?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-size: 36px\">Why Are We Here?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>by Thom Schultz<\/p>\n<p>What business are you in? It seems like an obvious question. But many businesses, organizations\u2013and churches\u2013have faltered and failed because their people were not clear about their true mission.<\/p>\n<p>This cloudiness of mission contributed to the eventual fall of the Eastman Kodak Company. As digital photography began to rise, Kodak\u2019s leaders started and stopped and started again a potpourri of disparate initiatives while they tried to preserve their film-based traditions. Our new documentary film, <a href=\"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/\">When God Left the Building<\/a>, includes that story of confusion, as told by Kodak\u2019s former engineer, Steve Sasson.<\/p>\n<p>Take a look at the following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DpLGvPHW7DM\" target=\"_blank\">brief clip<\/a> from the film. You\u2019ll hear from Sasson, followed by the pastor of a struggling church.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kodak and the American Church\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DpLGvPHW7DM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The film also shows other people from that struggling church who each expressed a different notion of their church\u2019s mission. Fogginess of mission contributed to that church\u2019s dramatic decline over many years.<\/p>\n<p>Not far from that church I visited another church\u2013and asked their people to describe their mission. Every person I asked, from the pastor to the volunteer staff to the rank-and-file members, cited the same mission for their congregation. For them, it\u2019s to reach their community\u2019s not-yet-believers with the love of Christ. That church, decade after decade, continues to grow in many ways. Mission matters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BEYOND MERE WORDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A guiding mission is more than a finely word-smithed mission statement that a committee cobbled together years ago. A well-founded and well-known mission shapes the very heart of an organization. It helps to drive everything. It brings clarity to every decision, large and small. When faced with choosing between multiple options, mission-driven people ask, \u201cWhich choice moves us further toward our true mission?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every church should think deeply about its true mission. And it\u2019s healthy to compare the congregation\u2019s mission with a consideration of Jesus\u2019 great mission during his earthly ministry. Sometimes we don\u2019t think big enough. And sometimes we fall in love with minor missions that sound good, and may be good, but don\u2019t rise to the ultimate priority. Sometimes these lesser missions would have worked equally well for the Pharisees in Jesus\u2019 time.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the former pastor of that sinking church in the film described the mission this way: \u201cTo be very visible in the community, to make life better for all.\u201d A nice thought. But would that come close to describing the ultimate mission of Jesus?<\/p>\n<p>Another church I visited described its mission this way: \u201cTo teach the Word of God.\u201d Again, a good thought. But if teaching about scripture is the ultimate mission, could the Pharisees claim the same?<\/p>\n<p>A great mission:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>bears resemblance to Jesus\u2019 overall big mission.<\/li>\n<li>can be described in a few words.<\/li>\n<li>is memorable.<\/li>\n<li>is clear.<\/li>\n<li>inspires people to engage in it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once a congregation\u2013or a ministry within a church\u2013prayerfully defines a great mission, it\u2019s up to the leaders to imbue the mission throughout the organization. It must be communicated often. The people should be able to readily describe it\u2013not necessarily as a word-for-word mantra, but as the essence of the true mission.<\/p>\n<p>A ministry stays mission-focused when its people tell stories\u2013weekly\u2013of how the mission is being pursued, and how God is at work around it.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing and pursuing a great mission helps to build a great ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Jump-start your ministry\u2019s mission-mindedness. \u00a0Bring the film to your church. Details <a href=\"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why Are We Here? by Thom Schultz What business are you in? It seems like an obvious question. But many businesses, organizations\u2013and churches\u2013have faltered and failed because their people were not clear about their true mission. This cloudiness of mission contributed to the eventual fall of the Eastman Kodak Company. As digital photography began to rise, Kodak\u2019s leaders started and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, nofollow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why Are We Here? by Thom Schultz What business are you in? It seems like an obvious question. But many businesses, organizations\u2013and churches\u2013have faltered and failed because their people were not clear about their true mission. This cloudiness of mission contributed to the eventual fall of the Eastman Kodak Company. As digital photography began to rise, Kodak\u2019s leaders started and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"When God Left the Building\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T15:43:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-18T21:47:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"433\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tschultz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tschultz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/\",\"name\":\"Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-14T15:43:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-18T21:47:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/0408ccc24630b09e05fe7d33361d8663\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg\",\"width\":650,\"height\":433,\"caption\":\"young woman photographer taking photo outdoor\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Are We Here?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/\",\"name\":\"When God Left the Building\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/0408ccc24630b09e05fe7d33361d8663\",\"name\":\"tschultz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dedfb628b3bb843c417905a78bc2ca8e662a0ca34c8532b6c463fc66f6e4e7ff?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dedfb628b3bb843c417905a78bc2ca8e662a0ca34c8532b6c463fc66f6e4e7ff?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tschultz\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/author\/tschultz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"nofollow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building","og_description":"Why Are We Here? by Thom Schultz What business are you in? It seems like an obvious question. But many businesses, organizations\u2013and churches\u2013have faltered and failed because their people were not clear about their true mission. This cloudiness of mission contributed to the eventual fall of the Eastman Kodak Company. As digital photography began to rise, Kodak\u2019s leaders started and [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/","og_site_name":"When God Left the Building","article_published_time":"2016-01-14T15:43:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-18T21:47:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":650,"height":433,"url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"tschultz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tschultz","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/","name":"Why Are We Here? - When God Left the Building","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-14T15:43:51+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-18T21:47:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/0408ccc24630b09e05fe7d33361d8663"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2016\/01\/woman-taking-photo.jpg","width":650,"height":433,"caption":"young woman photographer taking photo outdoor"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/2016\/01\/14\/why-are-we-here\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Are We Here?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/","name":"When God Left the Building","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/0408ccc24630b09e05fe7d33361d8663","name":"tschultz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dedfb628b3bb843c417905a78bc2ca8e662a0ca34c8532b6c463fc66f6e4e7ff?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dedfb628b3bb843c417905a78bc2ca8e662a0ca34c8532b6c463fc66f6e4e7ff?s=96&r=g","caption":"tschultz"},"url":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/author\/tschultz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/whengodleftthebuilding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}