I See a Church... A Conversation about Mission Alignment
1. The model in brief:
In brief, the MACC model establishes that the General Board, representing the whole church, is responsible for major church-wide mission priorities. The model outlines the relative roles of the General Board and the other ministry boards in achieving that mission.
It strengthens racial/ethnic ministries by associating them closely with the General Minister and President's leadership table while keeping their primary accountability to the communities they serve.
It creates one new ministry in the area of congregational and/or leadership ministries and regroups other ministries for mission synergies. The result is one less general ministry overall. The model transitions Disciples Benevolent Services away from receiving Disciples Mission Fund Support.
The MACC model directs financial resources to the current four mission priorities and to racial/ethnic ministries which are expanding right now. It proposes that allocation of common mission funds be based on current mission priorities rather than dated formulas.
It envisions a greater role for regions - with funding - in leading transformation work.
2. The issues being addressed by the MACC model are:
- Desire for the church to be more effectively organized around mission;
- Congregations' desire for transparency in general church organization;
- Need to strengthen role of racial/ethnic ministries in life of whole church while keeping primary accountability to the communities they serve.
- Need to clarify church-wide accountability for mission
- Need to fund current mission priorities; increase funding for racial/ethnic ministries;
- Be better stewards of mission resources through streamlined administration and reduction of institutional redundancies
3. Any Plan for Mission Alignment will be based on current Mission Priorities, and on the Principles and Desired Outcomes of Mission Alignment.
Current Mission Priorities:
Our mission is: to be and share the good news of Jesus Christ from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.
Four priorities are: 1000 new congregations, 1000 transformed congregations, leadership development, becoming a pro-reconciliation/anti-racism church
Principles of Mission Alignment - A plan for mission alignment should be:
- Mission-driven and priority-focused
- Design-guided
- Future leaning: aware of a changing global context and the need to nurture new generations of disciples
- Promoting true community by embracing diversity
- Practicing good stewardship
- Empowering and enhancing networks of the church
- Encouraging partnership
Desired Outcomes of a Mission Alignment Plan
- Clarity about the General Board's responsibility for the mission of the church
- Congregations resourced for mission
- A focus on the mission priorities
- Networking and partnership
- Streamlined general church administration
- Attention to ongoing ministries
- One church embracing diversity
4. The expected benefits of this process include a general church structure that is mission focused and transparent to congregations in how mission is delivered. It will represent better stewardship of mission funds as less is spent on organizational infrastructure and more on actual ministry. It will provide clarity about the General Board's role in shaping mission and provide for more input from the congregations. It will help the church embrace more fully the racial/ethnic diversity that is both gift and challenge to the 21st century church.
5. This mission alignment effort is the latest stage in a long process. Forty years ago, Disciples restructured our common life. It was a time to solidify practices that had developed for several generations. It was a time to shape the church's common life according to an emerging theology of church. Our 1968 structure reflected that theology as much as it could at the time. Today, we can and must go further. We can be more fully one church, even amid the diversity of ministries we employ. We can reallocate our financial and human resources to serve ministries that are evolving and shifting throughout the church. We can organize ourselves more effectively in order to accomplish the ministry God has set before us. In 1968, we acknowledged that we were "church" bound together by our love of God and of each other. In 2008, we are called to be good stewards of that church, renewing and reorganizing it as necessary, for the glory of God who has called us to be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.