“At First Baptist Church we are committed to…” “Our mission is…” Do you have such a statement in print or posted at your church? If any organization should have a mission statement, it would be a local church. But a mission statement must be more than an implementation of a popular trend, as one book on church evaluation reminds us: “For some organizations, including congregations, vision statements are just so much window dressing. Like earlier ventures into management by objectives and strategic planning, formulating vision statements can function primarily as a ritual—a rather empty one—that a congregation engages in because other organizations and congregations are doing it, or because a denomination requires it, or because the congregation’s leaders think it might be a good idea.