I.A.5
WRITING A MISSION STATEMENT
A mission statement identifies the Center’s purpose, identity, vision, services and goals. The statement is an expression of the spirit of the organization. It points a direction rather than providing details. Brevity in this instance is the soul of wisdom.
Why have a mission statement? Primarily, it is to let both outsiders and insiders know why the Center exists and what its main work is. The statement is a powerful tool for attracting board members and for gathering community support. It focuses the work of staff members and guides their selection of services. It answers the questions, what is our business and whom do we serve?
When the mission statement is short and clear, it functions like a motto for the organization. The motto can appear on virtually every piece the Center publishes for public consumption – its marketing materials, Center brochures and program announcements, annual reports, strategic planning documents, even its letterhead.
Write the mission statement using simple, direct words that your customer (client, sponsor, advocate) will understand. If it takes a dictionary to decipher the words, you have missed the mark. If your statement requires the comprehension of psychotherapy or seminary theology, you have targeted the wrong audience. If you include in your statement your methods of doing therapy or education, you are adding crippling management detail. You should write for the outside public -- those who know nothing about how you do your business but who can catch the vision of the benefits of your services.
Take a look at the following mission statement: what does it tell your customers?
Our mission is to express the love of God through an interfaith counseling ministry for people seeking help with stress and change.
The statement identifies the Center’s theological grounding, its focus as a specialized ministry, the target group it serves, and the aim of its services. It meets the standards for brevity and clarity.
Here are some of the variations on this same theme that Samaritan Centers have used. Each one gives a particular accent to the basic idea.
Our mission is
- To express the healing love of God through an inter-denominational counseling ministry …
- To help people of all beliefs grow towards greater health and wholeness …
- To apply spiritual and psychological understanding to dilemmas in human relationships …
- To sustain and empower those who suffer in mind and emotion …
- To offer support in meeting life’s challenges and to make faith and love relevant to human need …
Writing aMission Statement, page 2
- To promote spiritual and psychological growth through counseling …
- To help people restore wholeness to their lives ...
- To provide interfaith pastoral counseling, education, and consultation which honors the harmony of body, mind and spirit …
- To help people deal with the stress and hurt in their lives through counseling and education based on a Judeo-Christian heritage …
- To promote the healing and growth of mind, body, and spirit of persons, and the reconciliation of couples, families, organizations and congregations by integrating faith traditions and behavioral sciences …
- To alleviate suffering, facilitate change and bring about mental, emotional and spiritual healing and growth through pastoral counseling and psychotherapy, education, and consultation …
- To encourage human development by providing counseling and educational services from a Christian perspective …”
Not all of these statements meet the tests of clarity and brevity. Some of them include information that is extraneous to a good mission statement. But they do illustrate the intention to state simply what the unique purpose and task of the Center is.
While the recommendation here is for one-sentence mission statements, it is usually desirable to have additional text which shows how the Center tries to carry out its mission. For example:
Our mission is to express the love of God through an interfaith counseling ministry for people seeking help with stress and change.
Our services include pastoral counseling, psychotherapy, psychological testing, mediation, educational programs, and organizational consultation.
Our staff providers are licensed and certified practitioners trained to respond to the religious and spiritual needs of their clients to bring about the integration of mind, body and spirit in the healing process.
Our service area is the city of ( ) and its surrounding counties, with a particular interest in serving the needs of area congregations.
The board and the staff should periodically review the mission statement, particularly when engaging in strategic planning. Renewing the mission statement will guide your efforts to understand your strengths and weaknesses and to plan for new opportunities and new threats. As the Center develops, its leaders should attune themselves to expressing as cogently as possible the unique purposes and work of the enterprise in a changing and challenging environment.
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The Samaritan Institute