Small Churches and How Discovering Your DLP Will Overcome the Difficulties
What is the ultimate purpose of the life of this church? Who is the beacon that directs the course you trace?
I’m not asking about your mission statement or your belief statement. What I am asking is, what is the very purpose of you constantly gathering here every week? What is the guiding standard that drives you to speak and act throughout each day?
If you are willing to take the time, individually and as a congregation, to carefully define and identify the ultimate defined purpose of the life of this church, you will reveal the real reasons for your struggles within the church and your community. Your main definite purpose in life is a central focal point. It has to become the anchor point in everything you do. Without this anchor, you may be successful in your endeavor, but you will not accomplish what God has called you to do. It will most likely move forward, but it will not be in the direction of God’s direction. You will probably grow, and yet your harvest will yield little. You will be like Laodocia, lukewarm and spewed out like vomit. I am not speaking this way to be harsh, but out of tender and pure love for you today.
Once your ultimate life purpose is defined, you begin to play an important role in planning your strategy and your efforts as a body, individually, and as a whole. If you are not moving towards this definite purpose, you are moving away from it. There is no middle ground. Complacency is not in the vocabulary of enemies. Satan is always pressing to take back the ground that he once had. We have not been gathered to fight Satan, we have been called to dislodge him.
Did you know that even without knowing what it is, you are already working towards a defined life purpose?
A man saw three men working when he came across a construction site.
He asked the first man, “Sir, what are you doing?”
“I’m laying bricks”, the man replied.
So he went to the second man, “Sir, may I ask what you are doing?”
Confidently, the second man replied: “I’m building a wall for the church.”
This answer caused him to also question the third man,“Sir, what are you doing here?”
With a wide smile, the third man boldly proclaimed: “I, good man, have been given the opportunity to be part of the construction of a beautiful building to be used in giving glory to God. It will be a place of reverence and service to my King, Jesus Christ! Would you like to meet him, sir? I have time.
There’s more to this little story than just talking about perspective, though it deserves more time than we have right now to cover. The point here is that all three men were doing the same job. The result would be the same for each one at the end of the job. One man’s job was no less important than another man’s. What is important to note here is simply this, no matter whether you realize what the effects of your words or your deeds are. It will not change the fact that they will affect many others around you. Make sure you have a great deal of clarity for the outcome before beginning any effort. Then work with all of your focus and intention in that direction.
Identify where individually and within the church you are spending your efforts and resources and you will see where you have put your focus…
What does your budget say about your priorities and your goals? What does your checkbook say about how you prioritize your budget? Are they being affected and directed or are they corrected and ordered by adhering to their defined life purpose?
I remember him in Basic Training in the Army. We had to spend some time learning LANDNAV. We had to learn to read maps and plot courses. I remember plotting degrees and distances and counting the grid squares on maps to judge distance. We learned to follow the features of the terrain and identify safe ways to reach our destination.
I grew up a country boy, so this all seemed pretty basic to me. However, that realization got me into a lot of trouble when we got to the forest. You see, even a picture taken from an aerial view looks nothing like the reality of being on the ground. Two-dimensional conceptual thinking seemed to go to waste, as everything became three-dimensional and we were looking at it from a completely different angle.
I learned a very important life lesson that first week as a point man in a land navigation exercise. It doesn’t matter where you were going or how well you charted your course. The only thing that was important. The only thing that could keep you and your unit alive… was your knowledge or your current location. Inevitably, the landscape you found yourself in had changed since the map was made. You had to be able to identify your current position and then adapt to a new route or strategy to reach the desired destination.
It is the same in life. If you never take the time to stop and identify where you are in life or in relation to your goals, you will never reach your intended destination. Like a ship pointing straight across the sea toward port… without constant adjustments, the currents of the sea and the winds of the air will alter its course and it will never arrive where it was intended.
We must identify where we are, our defined purpose in life, and then continually adjust our course to fulfill our purpose and arrive safely at our destination.
What is a higher and defined life purpose?
How do we find and identify what that is?
When I ask this, I’m assuming many of you will be sitting there, as you’re not just staring blankly, wondering what I’m talking about and wondering if this has anything to do with you…I assure you it does. Others, who will be far fewer, will confidently and haughtily say that their definite purpose is to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every corner of the world! Congratulations on that, at least you have an address!
My experience has shown me one thing. Most people when asked directly what the gospel message is tend to summarize that Christ died for our sins so we don’t have to go to hell. If that was all, don’t you think everyone would be saved by now?
Do not think that by quoting a commission you are on the right track. You are part of the body of Christ and that body has its own life, it is Jesus Christ who lives within us. However, we must remember that each member of that body has its own purpose. You individually have a specific purpose to fulfill within this congregation. You have PURPOSE! Spend time with God and seek his desired role and responsibility for you here.
There’s a much bigger picture that this is at work here today. You as a church, as a congregation of believers in Jesus Christ, are just a small member of the body of Christ. You are not a thumb, but you have been approaching life as if you were. Just as an opposing thumb needs something to work with in order to be used effectively, this congregation must understand that it is not a single, separate member. When we begin to see ourselves as members of a body within our congregation, we begin to see that we cannot fulfill our purpose alone. When the body of this congregation begins to see itself as a member of the Body of Christ, we begin to see that it cannot fulfill its defined purpose in life without the fellowship and cooperation of other congregations.
I know I still refer to the term higher life purpose defined. Let’s take a moment to simplify what I’m saying here.
Take a moment right now and ask yourself, “Why did God, in His infinite wisdom, allow me to take a breath this morning? What was His purpose for this?” Go ahead, ask, I’ll wait for you.
IF we take the time to ask our Lord God this simple question, we will begin to seek clarity of purpose. God tells us through his Word that those who seek will find. He also tells us that wisdom comes from the Lord and He gives it generously to those who ask for it.
Many times, as a small congregation of believers, we see larger churches with all these resources: people, bank accounts, real estate. We see where they are and start making excuses why we can’t be as effective as them. I have some breaking news for you. You’re not supposed to do what they’re doing, so stop complaining that you don’t look like them! God brought them together to accomplish a specific purpose in today’s world. He has grown you, empowered you, and commissioned you to accomplish something in a very special and unique way.
It is not about being like the Mega-Churches or the thriving and well-known churches in your community. It is about one thing. When the name of your church comes up in conversation, it is integral to the completion of the work of Jesus Christ.
Greater Defined Life Purpose!
You are a member of this body of believers, this body of believers is a member of the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the life that flows through her. The purpose of Christ Jesus on this earth was to open the way for us to have a right relationship with God the Father. If there is something you are doing as an individual that is not moving others in this direction, stop doing it. If there are areas where this church is directing time, finances, people, or efforts that are not specifically moving the world toward this goal, stop doing it! Pray and find where God has called you to work most effectively where you have been placed, and then trust that He will provide all the resources needed to do the work He has called you to do.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE! YOU ARE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF KING JESUS CHRIST. I recommend as a body that we begin to act and live according to the defined life purpose of Jesus.
