The Great Ends of the Church

The Great Ends of the Church are: 

the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; 

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; 

the maintenance of divine worship; 

the preservation of the truth; 

the promotion of social righteousness; 

and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. 

(Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order F-1.0304)

Setting Goals

Many of us have heard about setting goals in our lives.  Some of us might have been told to do this in high school or college as you prepared for the “real world”. You might have been asked about your goals as you entered a new position. Most of us have set a goal. We understand that a goal is something we want to achieve. Once we have a goal, we need something more. We need objectives.

Objectives are items with specific dates and times we prepare to accomplish our goals. Without a good set of objectives, we will not achieve our goals. Many groups and individuals miss this step of the planning process. We will spend months and hours developing our goals, but not take the time to set the objectives.

Other times, the objectives are written for us. We have just not realized we need to put in a little more effort. The list above is from my Christian tradition rules. It is in a part of our constitution we call the historic foundations for our government. I believe these are the objectives set forward for each congregation, region and national church. These objectives were never given details of how to accomplish these objectives. The reason is that each group must discover for themselves the how of accomplishing these objectives.  The goal for the church remains to make disciples.

Review, Review, Review

When was the last time you reviewed your goals and set some objectives? Most do this once a year at New Year’s with resolutions. This time of year, we are busy with way too much and the pressure to accomplish these resolutions. Our goals and objectives need to be reviewed more often. Actually, every day is the real need to review these objectives. Each objective needs to be examined for accomplishment to move on to our goal.

The same is true with groups. If a group wants to continue seeing success, they need goals and objectives. Without a goal, we are working towards nothing. For a congregation, this is the road to an end. When the church is not making disciples, there are no new followers. Most congregations are seeing a lack of new disciples. A growing church see transfers and the declining churches are the ones sending the transfers.  Goals, objectives and time lines are needed to grow, thrive and life a full life.

We Can Help

Are you stuck in the setting objectives? Have you not set any goals for work, ministry or life in a long time? Has your congregation set goals (5 year plan) but no objectives? Christ Focused Coaching can help in setting these areas.  Contact us to see if our services will help you.