Unwritten Rule

What is the purpose of the Church?  That's what we need to ask.  As many inside of this dying institution struggle to make the Church relevant in the 21st century,  we've become fond of mission statements and newer buzz words for mission statements and for ministries (read outreach and extraparish interaction).  But, this is not what the Church is.  It's part of what it is.  The Church is a Christian community that broadcasts the Gospel and acts as both a centre for Christian spiritual learning and as a support network for it's members while being a place of worship, thereby self perpetuating.  Maybe that's all it's ever been.  But, I know two truths: one, this above unwritten rule of what we are as a Church is more of a constitution or supreme law with which all mission statements must comply, unfairly so when we don't acknowledge the rule; two, if we market the Church as just another charity while funds go toward the constitution, it will be a hard sell to those who want a higher percentage of their charitable dollar to go to the particular ministry or cause which they wish to support while other competing options have substantially less overhead. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android