One of the main tasks of a leader is to have a clear focus, not to lose track or get distracted, and keep the team aligned to the vision. This is one of the big differences between regular leaders and relevant leaders—not only in the secular world, but especially in spiritual leadership. For this reason, we need to know in depth why we exist as a church. After all, are we a saints’ club, a summer camp, or an army moving forward with precision? The answer to this question is fundamental to defining the focus of your work as an elder.
Perhaps the question is overly simple and the answer obvious, but practice shows that the issue is more complex. We have no doubt that we are on the stage of the great controversy, we are called to remain faithful to God, and we have the mission to lead the maximum number of people to Jesus. But when observing the church’s walk, it is evident that there are conflicts between vision and action.
We are the remnant people, and we believe that “the end of all things is at hand, and what is done for the salvation of souls must be done quickly.”1 This is the perspective of a dedicated army, with no time to waste. But despite this, we often act like a club, concerned with satisfying our own interests and making the church just a nice place to attend. The goal is to offer modernity and comfort in the temple, to use the latest trends in technology, to follow the profile of the most popular churches, to apply the most efficient secular leadership techniques, to have a very engaging worship service, to put together a contemporary liturgy, to present an impressive sermon, to have an outstanding pastor, but . . . what about the mission?
Our call is to put both feet on the mission accelerator, for only then will we resist the distractions of the enemy, remain faithful, and prepare a people to meet the Lord.
How many projects, programs, and materials revolve only around us and are only focused on pleasing the senses? Often the justification is the mission, but the focus is on personal satisfaction. We need to leave aside the club vision and commit ourselves definitively to the army vision, following John Wesley’s well-known advice: “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.” We cannot act without a clear focus, wasting time on what is not a priority, because as Dwight Moody said, “someone not involved in evangelism is like a fireman who runs into a burning building just to hang the picture back on the wall.” We may look interesting, but in the end we become irrelevant.
There is nothing wrong with making the church a pleasant, receptive, and welcoming place. It is needed, but always with a focus on mission, on reaching out to the community, on embracing the friends who come in, bringing them to Jesus, and making them part of the family as true disciples. It needs to happen not only through the words presented in the pulpit, in the mission statements printed in the church bulletins and displayed on the church walls, or even in the speeches of the leadership. Mission needs to be the spirit, the priority, and the practice of the church. In fact, the stronger the vision, the less it appears in words and the more it becomes evident in initiatives. There is less poetry and technology and more action and passion. When the church really shapes its culture with this vision, it becomes a winning army.
We cannot lose focus, because we were called to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium. Therefore, we cannot develop initiatives that will leave us longer on this earth, but that will take us faster to heaven. This is the focus of mission and the vision of an army, for “God will have men [and women] who will venture anything and everything to save souls.”2
What is the reality of your church? A man was talking to a pastor and asked, “How big is your church?”
The pastor responded, “A thousand members.”
“Wow,” the man replied. “It’s a big church. And how many are involved?”
The pastor said, “All of them are involved.” The other man was really impressed with such involvement. But the pastor added, “Two hundred are involved with the Lord and eight hundred with Satan.”
We cannot take the risk of having a church where the minority is involved, and the majority is distracted.
Ellen G. White warns us that “if every soldier of Christ had done his duty, if every watchman on the walls of Zion had given the trumpet a certain sound, the world might ere this have heard the message of warning. But the work is years behind. While men have slept, Satan has stolen a march upon us.”3 We need to be alert, for “Satan is ever ready to employ him who does not employ himself.”4 This is why we need to strengthen the vision of an army on the march and not a club on vacation. Charles Spurgeon is credited with this thought: “Either the Christian is a missionary, or he is an imposter.”
The formula is still the same. According to David Livingstone, “the best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet.” Robert E. Coleman also observes, “When our hearts are filled with Christ’s presence, evangelism is as inevitable as it is contagious.”
Our call is to put both feet on the mission accelerator, for only then will we resist the distractions of the enemy, remain faithful, and prepare a people to meet the Lord. After all, this is the reason why we exist as a church. We are not just here to take care of each other, but to support each other in fulfilling the mission as powerful and faithful witnesses.
Strengthen this vision of commitment to mission and of an army on the march, giving no room for distraction. After all, “the true Christian works for God, not from impulse, but from principle; not for a day or a month, but during the entire life.”5 The result of this clear focus will always be the assurance that “a working church is a living church.”6
1 Ellen G. White, From the Heart (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2010), 75.
2 Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1946), 63.
3 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Boise, ID, CA: Pacific Press, 1948), 9:29.
4 Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church (Boise, ID: Pacific Press,1948), 4:412.
5 Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1915), 84.
6 Ellen G. White, Christian Service (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1925), 73.
Erton C. Kohler is the secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, MD, USA. He holds a master’s degree in theology and an honoris causa doctorate from Peruvian Union University. He is writing his dissertation for a DMin from Andrews University
