The Six “Great Ends:” Seriously??
Written by Steve Nofel, Co-Pastor of the Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church, Cortez, CO   
Thursday, 25 February 2010 00:00
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The Six Great Ends of the Church as a mission statement for 21st century congregations?  Quinn Fox and Jim Singleton must have been kidding when they made that suggestion in last month’s Eighth Day.  Common sense tells us it can’t be done.  It won’t be done. To dig those historical statements out of the Book of Order; even if attempted, would be a disaster.  Well, maybe not a disaster, but a real yawn, Right?

Wrong!!!

Our 100 member Montezuma Valley Presbyterian Church in Cortez, Colorado, embraced the Six Great Ends, and they have changed us forever!  To be fair, they became part of our mission statement almost a decade ago, but for most of that decade, we left them alone.  Then at Easter, 2008, our congregation came to a “holy stop.”  We declared a Year of Jubilee and immersed ourselves in the Great Ends, taking two months to study each one.  We were so transformed and excited by this experience that we extended our “year” of Jubilee six more months as we completely made the Great Ends our own and claimed the transformation the Lord had provided for us.  Here is our congregation’s story.

When my wife, Kim, and I applied to be co-pastors of this congregation, we were intrigued that its mission statement included the six “Great Ends of the Church.” The congregation’s mission study report was built around the Great Ends as well.  But as a session and as a congregation, we made the mistake of putting the mission statement on the back burner while we went about the work of ministry.

In 2007, our Worship Committee, feeling called to delve deeper into an understanding of what it means to be a worshiping congregation, covenanted to meet every two weeks to study Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Church.  We found Pastor Warren’s perspective much different from ours.  We did not plan to grow into a mega-church (nor was it likely in our small rural town!).  We felt a measure of our “success” was not through statistics, but in a deepening relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Warren challenges his readers to look again at their own mission statements.  So, we took up that challenge along with a study of the mission report the PNC drafted when Kim and I were called.  We spent hours pouring over that short document, including discussions of the six “Great Ends,” and how they applied to our congregation.  We became energized by these discussions, and shared our excitement at our next Elder / Deacon Retreat.  Kim and I even offered to preach a six-week series of sermons, highlighting each one of the “Great Ends.”

Then one of our deacons, made a comment that has quite possible changed the direction of our congregation forever.  “I need more than a week for each one.  I won’t even be able to remember any of them after just a week.”

The Holy Spirit roared through our meeting.  In just a few hours we had planned a Sabbatical year, a Jubilee year, in the spirit of Leviticus 25.  We planned for this to be a “holy stop;” no new programs or new ministry until we had spent two months focused on each of the “Great Ends.”  We began our Year of Jubilee on Easter in 2008, coincidentally the 60th anniversary of our congregation.

We submerged ourselves in each “Great End” for two months.  We published weekly blogs, devotions, sermons, scripture cards, and newspaper articles.  The planning, discussion, and application of this study was amazing.  Everyday experiences seemed different as we intentionally tried to see life through the lens of the “Great Ends of the Church.”  Opportunities for real time intersections of life and faith just seemed to explode around us.  We saw our world, not with our own eyes, but with a Holy Spirit perspective.  This Year of Jubilee changed us as the people of God in this place.

As we studied the first four “Great Ends” in the months before Christmas, it seemed that our focus was completely internal.  What were WE doing?  What do the “Great Ends” mean to US?  How are WE living them out?  But we came to realize that in order to reach out, we must first have a solid foundation from within.

Building beautifully on the first four, the final two “Great Ends” moved us naturally beyond ourselves.  As a congregation, we began to see our lives founded in Christ, but grounded in the world.  An outward focus and a new missional approach to ministry just exploded out of this study.  Truly the Year of Jubilee renewed, revitalized, and encouraged us to realize how well we already lived out the Great Commandment, and how much better we can do so.  (Not bad for some old historical statements buried in the Book of Order!)

As our “Year” of Jubilee passed its first anniversary; we felt called to keep going.  We heard from many in the congregation that they were not ready to give up our daily scripture cards, devotions, and our intense study.  Our Worship Committee spent several meetings restating the “Great Ends” in our own 21st century Southwestern Colorado dialect.  We just HAD to share these revelations, and we do with cards we have printed and give away at every opportunity.  By the time of the final celebration of the Year of Jubilee, our “year” had extended to a full 18 months!

The result is that we have now truly embraced the “Six Great Ends of the Church” as ours for today.  Our Year of Jubilee and the focus on the “Great Ends” did exactly what Quinn Fox and Jim Singleton advocated in their article.  We truly made the Six Great Ends a living, breathing mission statement that supports and guides our life in Christ.

Beyond our Jubilee Year, we continue experience the “Great Ends” in ways that both make sense to us and challenge us.  They have transformed us, bringing us closer to Jesus Christ and closer to each other in His name.



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