A few days ago I asked a guy about his faith and he responded, "I think organized religion has done more harm than good."

I responded, "Well that's OK, our religion is pretty disorganized."

Actually, a lot of churches are great at organization, but have little real sense of purpose other than to care for the spiritual needs of their members.  The term "purpose-driven church" becomes one more catch phrase that doesn't fundamentally change anything. "Feed me," we say.  "Feed my sheep," says the master.  And so we struggle in a narcissistic culture, and feeling that we need to have more of a purpose than "feed me," we start talking about becoming more missional.

Have you heard this term being bandied about, "missional churches"?  There's a book out called The Missional Leader.  It is subtitled, Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World.  Goodness knows our churches need a greater connection to their original intended purpose - so we have to recognize that this conversation about purpose is a good thing.

I have two questions to ask in light of this trend.  The first: What other kind of leader is there than a missional one?  If you don't have a mission, some kind of purpose and destination, then do you really need a leader?  If your mission is "make me feel better," then I submit you don't really need a leader, but some kind of spiritual masseuse.

The second question is: What is the purpose of organized religion?  Here we have a clear statement from Scripture to fall back on. Pure religion, we're told in James 1:27 is "to look after orphans and widows in their distress."  That's certainly a foundational part of your mission. Our churches need to be engaged in kingdom outreach that addresses God's heart for the poor.

Want to organize your religion? There are different metrics you can apply to help organize it.  One is to count up the number of orphans and widows you're looking after. Make it your mission to care for more of them and to care for them better.

For more on this subject, here's a great article by Alan Hirsch.