Staying
Mission True
A.
What do we
mean by Mission Drift and Mission True?
Mission
Drift is a book written by
Peter Greer and Chris Horst, from HOPE International. They have done an amazing
work, researching dozens of organizations, ministries, universities and
companies to see which percentage of them have stayed faithful to their
original mission. They have tried to identify the factors representing a danger
of mission drift, of slipping little by little away from what the founders had
in mind when they started. They also give strong recommendations on building
safeguards in different elements.
How do Greer and Horst define a Mission True organization?
In its simplest form, Mission True organizations know why they exist and
protect their core at all costs. They remain faithful to what they believe God
has entrusted them to do. They define what is immutable: their values and
purposes, their DNA, their heart and soul.
This doesn’t mean Mission True organizations don’t change. And it doesn’t
mean they aren’t striving for excellence. In fact, their understanding of their
core identity will demand they change. And their understanding of Scripture
will demand they strive for the very highest levels of excellence. But growth
and professionalism are subordinate values. To remain Mission True is to adapt
and grow, so long as that adaptation and growth does not alter the core
identity.[1]
Darlene Cunningham has been challenging us to
read this book during the YWAM gathering in Singapore in September 2014. After
reading it and having heard Darlene speak about it during our Executive Master
in Leadership in February 2015 in San Diego-Baja, I have become even more
convinced that we need to consider this warning seriously and to let the Holy Spirit
search our hearts and highlight the way we function as King’s Kids
International, as this puts words on something we have been sensing as a Core
Leadership Team for several years now.
B. Examples of Mission Drift
The book describes scores of organizations
having drifted from their original mission, like YMCA, Harvard, Yale and many
others. Over time, new leadership came in, with new ideas, and new ways of
doing things. The Christian aspect became less and less important and at one
point they decided to get rid of it. Other times, it is caused by an unwise way
to handle finances, or by inviting business-oriented people on the board that
didn’t understand the DNA of the mission and wanted to run it like a business.
Other companies or organizations are good
examples of what it means to stay Mission True: Cru, Compassion, Intervarsity
stayed committed to their original mission and even improved their
effectiveness and clarity of mission through the years.
I would like to highlight one
sentence of the book: “The founders’ passion rarely translates to subsequent
generations of leadership. Too often, the passions of the first generation
become the preferences of the second generation and are irrelevant to the third
generation.”[2]
King’s Kids will celebrate its 40th
anniversary next year. Are we still in our original mission? Our founders are
still here, and we have the chance to have an international fellowship of
leaders with a whole mixture of age, the younger ones having the opportunity to
rub shoulders with older one and “pump” their DNA. But we are not immune to
mission drift and we need to process together how we can safeguard what we
consider as essential.
C. What is our mission as KKI?
King’s Kids was birthed in 1976 in Kona through
Dale and Carol Kauffman and a few other families. During their DTS outreach,
they took time to teach the children and teenagers to listen to God’s voice;
thus the children became active participants and took ownership of the ministry
as the words they received from God became true. Even the name King’s Kids was
received by a child.
Through the years, KKI developed, and some
patterns became clear trademark of what makes KKI unique and what its mission
is. Listening to the Lord with the participants (not for the participants) is
central. It’s not about a program where children and teens come to participate
as consumers. They shape it by what the Lord speaks to them. They own it.
Because of that, KKI had a prophetic dimension
in the beginning. God speaking to the participants, they took steps of radical
obedience and faith, in going to Japan expressing forgiveness during a
commemoration of Hiroshima’s bombing. KKI was radically God-led. They went to
URSS and Eastern Europe when it was still behind the Iron Curtain. This prophetic
edge led KKI during the first twenty years to be used by God in mighty ways to
open new fields, make breakthroughs, discover new dimensions. Miracles and
supernatural move of God were the norm.
Another element that was very strong in the
beginning was that everything was centered on Jesus. Jesus came first – every
activity was for Him before all. And so worship became a lifestyle.
Participants were taught to start their day, praying: “Lord, how can I bring
joy to your heart today?” At the end of the day, it was time check out with Him
how they did, to receive His “well done” or His corrections keeping a balance with knowing we already bring Him joy by who we are,
not by what we do.
Even the famous choreographies were primarily a
way to worship the Lord and bring joy to His heart. Based on Psalm 8:2, these
worshipping kids and young people released God’s presence in dark places,
silencing the enemy and making a way for God’s glory.
KKI was really YWAM for the “under eighteen”.
Knowing God and making Him known. But not only for the under eighteen, as from
the beginning the Lord led us to work with all generations, even if the younger
ones were put forward. With time, the words of the Lord and the experiences
having shaped its DNA, KKI’s mission was formulated in those terms: “Leading
children, teenagers and families in a proven knowledge of God, bringing joy to
His heart and making Him known in all the world and all the spheres of
society.”[3] The
small differences with the YWAM motto is about a “proven” knowledge – meaning
not just passing on information or head knowledge about God, but bringing
people into situation where they can really experience Him in a revelatory way.
“Bringing Him joy” has been added to emphasize the levitical calling of doing
everything first for Him as an act of worship. This mission statement is still
worked and reworked to make it as simple as possible without losing its
specificities.
KKI worked on its values very early – another
indication of its prophetic anointing. The leaders of the time gathered all the
words of the Lord they got through the years, all written in Carol Kauffman’s
Bible, and prayed about the different experiences they were led into during
their activities and community life. They identified six core values and under
each of them several principles. So KKI is defined by its values, not by its
programs or activities. KKI’s values are:
1.
We value
our relationship with God as our first
priority by growing to know Him intimately and by bringing Him joy.
2.
We value
discipleship training in the context of everyday life.
3.
We value
the spiritual capacity and destiny of children, preteens and teenagers.
4.
We value
the importance of the family and the linking of the different generations.
5.
We value
team leadership, networking and partnerships.
6.
We value
a lifestyle of reaching out by making Jesus and His Salvation known to all
peoples, serving in ways that can extend His Kingdom into all spheres of
society worldwide.
A few months ago, we expanded our six values to
seven, to doubly emphasize the role that the family has to play and to
underline the linking of the generations element.
For KKI is not and has never been a children’s
ministry, nor a teen or youth ministry. And it is not a family ministry neither.
One of the difficulties in our society who loves to put labels and thing in
boxes to define (and subsequently reduce) them is to convey this generational
approach. There is power in unity.[4]
Bringing the generations together in unity to love God, listen to Him and obey
Him radically is what KKI is all about. It’s more difficult, it may be les
appealing for some who wants to only be with their peers and don’t want too
many adults or small kids around, but God has blessed this generational
approach. We compare it to an arrow, the children and teens being the tip, the
adults the shaft and the older generation the feathers. This is based on the
Scripture in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17: “In the last days it shall be, God
declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men
shall dream dreams.” Each generation manifests God’s anointing differently and
bringing them together is just powerful! Still, the children and teens have
this prophetic anointing and play a major role, but they don’t stand alone.
And KKI is family-based – it is not a drop-off
ministry where the parents sub-contract their responsibility to specialist.
Parents were invited and many families went together on outreach with KKI.
Besides, KKI foundational scripture is Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “And
you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving
you today.
Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them
when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed
and when you are getting up.”
So
through the years, God not only spoke about the “what” (KKI’s mission), but
also about the “how” (KKI’s values and principles).
D. Where are we drifting, or in danger of drifting?
Through the years, KKI has changed.
Let us think about the element that drew us to this ministry? How and why did
God call us? Are those elements still present?
I believe we are in danger of losing
our anointing, and in some places it may already have happened. Let me suggest
some dimensions where we may have drifted, or where we are in danger of
drifting:
-
God first – our levitical anointing: in many places, worship tends to become just
the first part of the program. We need to remember that we have been set apart
to worship Him and that whatever we do, He should be our focus. “Bringing joy
to God’s heart” is KKI’s purpose. If we drift away from it, we forsake the very
reason why we exist.
-
Continuing without the presence of God: in Exodus 33:15, Moses said, “If
your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” KKI is
all about seeking God’s presence, and ministry should flow from this position. With a program mentality, we don’t
need God’s presence any more. We just go through the motions! The presence of
God is our motivation, our main thirst; this is what will touch people around
us.
-
God-led – listening to the Lord with the participants rather than
organizing a program:
Our staff certainly continue to listen to the Lord to organize their activities.
But the core of KKI is the ownership of the participants. This is their
ministry, they have an active role and what a child receives can orient a whole
day’s activities. It’s not about planning some times where the participants
listen to the Lord as part of the program – everyone, from the youngest to the
oldest, is invited to be sensitive to the Father’s voice any time, anywhere.
KKI needs to recover its prophetic edge and come out of a program mentality
where everything is well organized, but where there is no risk-taking, no
radical obedience, because there is no need of it – everything has already been
planned!
-
Monogenerational: Many places find it too complicated to gather the generations. It’s
easier and more efficient to target only one generation – the teens, the youth,
the children. This pragmatic approach rather than the value-based approach
honoring the word of the Lord to us is a real danger in several places. It
doesn’t mean though that we can’t do activities only with teens or with kids,
it’s not a choking legalistic approach of doing everything all the time
together. It’s about recognizing and honoring the other generations and seeking
to partner with them whenever relevant and possible.
-
Non-involvement of parents: Our approach to discipleship, based on Deuteronomy 6, is
lifestyle-based. It should happen in daily life, and to be able to live it, we
cannot bypass the role and responsibility of the family. How can we get more parents
and grandparents involved?
-
Multiplication of expressions: KKI developed and became very diverse through
the years, going from outreaches to year-round teams where discipleship happens
in partnership with families and local churches, then to child evangelism and
mercy ministries. These new expressions may represent a danger of drift if we
are not careful. As Phil Smith said, “One of the primary reasons for mission drift
is that people join your organization who are very excited about portions of
your vision, but are either opposed to or don’t care about the rest of it.”[5]
This is a real danger in some of these expressions. I believe there is place
for child evangelism and mercy ministries in KKI, but we need to work out
models where our values are not compromised and where people believe in our
global mission and don’t use KKI to get what they want without adopting the
full DNA! Because of the strong emphasis on meeting the needs of children,
whether physical or spiritual, the need can become the call and this is
definitely a drift factor as we are no more led by what God speaks and does.
-
Decrease of outreaches: We have seen these last few years less and less outreaches. Some of our
ministries turning towards mercy ministries and child evangelism do outreach
all-year round but the kind of outreaches where KKI was taking new ground, making
breakthroughs, obeying God radically seems to decrease more and more.
Outreaches in the context where children, young people, teenagers, families
will experience God in powerful ways; this is the pool where our future staff
should come. Because KKI’s vision and values are better caught than taught, we
need to re-emphasize this aspect.
-
Decrease of young leaders: decrease of outreaches may bring another problem – young people being
no more exposed to real KKI DNA are no more attracted to KKI long term. This is
a factor of drift for, as our leadership gets older, we tend to lose our
prophetic edge. We have good teachings because of our experience, but we lack
the capacity to multiply, try new things, take risks… and we are left with a
sweeten version of KKI that lacks strength and attractiveness. I was
twenty-three when I joined KKI – it was after an outreach where I have seen God
move like never before, and I told myself: “This is the kind of life I want to
live, this I what I want to give my life for.” I am still here twenty-five
years later. Without this kind of life-changing experience, our young people
will enjoy KKI for some years, then move on into other things. This is what we
see in many places. Our older leaders are now entering in a new stage of life
where they can be tremendous elders – we have the fathers and mothers, but
where are the ongoing sons and daughters?
-
Decrease of schools and training programs: I am not sure where to put this one. On one
side, we’ve seen in Loren Cunningham’s presentation in Singapore[6]
and in the document David Hamilton has given us during our Executive Master in
leadership in San Antonio del Mar[7]
that the number of long term staff increases proportionally to the number of
schools. But we also have seen a decrease of registration in our PCYM schools
these last few years, leading several to be cancelled and some of our leaders
to hesitate organize one again. Others try to find new ways of training.
So are we drifting because we
organize less schools and consequently have less long-term staff, or are we
organizing less school and consequently have less candidates because we are
drifting? In other words, is the decrease of schools a cause or a result of the
drift?
-
Failure to address the spheres of society dimension: As far as I can remember, we
haven’t put an emphasis on this aspect. It was more the geographical element
and the traditional evangelism/worship/prayer/service side of things. However,
it has been part of our intention, as reflected by our mission statement from
the beginning. But I think it is not so much a drift factor, but an element
that we felt from the start we need to include without having yet fully
developed and modeled it.
-
Team leadership not applied everywhere: In several places, a single person is leading
the ministry, and this is not what we champion and promote. Most of the times,
this is not because this person wants to lead alone, but because personality
types, or because other leaders left and the persons is the only one to stay.
In some cases, particularly when this is a single woman with a strong motherly
tendency, it can even become controlling and protective, thus hindering the
releasing and “pushing out of the nest” of young leaders who need to be trusted
and challenged.
-
Lack of supporting community: Some of our KKI leaders have found themselves
quite isolated – and this is not good in terms of accountability and
protection. We need to reemphasize the importance of community life for each of
us, whether in a YWAM base setting, a local Church, or a small group… We can’t make it alone!
-
Distance taken with the rest of YWAM: This is a more challenging one. The history of
KKI within YWAM has not always been easy, and talking with our founder Dale
Kauffman, we can count many situations in the past where conflicts,
misunderstandings or differences of approach have been dealt with quite
inadequately, resulting in the loss of some of our most wonderful leaders.
Speaking with Dale about this, I understand forgiveness has been extended, but
a certain protective distance has been established to prevent further
disappointment and hurts. There is a real desire to see a restoration of trust.
The challenge for us is to communicate not only who we have been in the past,
but also who we are now and where we are heading.
I have also sensed some
responsibilities on the KKI side, although I haven’t been able to get official
confirmation. Unequivocally, I always get the same answer from YWAM leaders:
“We love KKI, it’s a great ministry.” Saying this, they often speak about a
certain image they have of KKI, and not necessarily of what KKI is meant to be.
Speaking with Alejandro Rodriguez,[8]
YWAM leader in Argentina, he confirmed a feeling of “polite distance” or even
indifference from the YWAM community. Actually, a lot of people in the new
generation of YWAMers don’t even know about KKI.
KKI is no longer championed by the
rest of YWAM as it was back in the eighties, and there may be several factors
for that – multiplication of transnational ministries, tendency to highlight
the new things… but there maybe also a feeling that KKI is part of the past. We
tell the stories of the glorious old days… We need a new generation with fresh
stories to fire the imagination of leaders of today. Otherwise, it gives the
impression we are just maintaining an old ministry having lost its anointing,
giving some palliative care before unavoidable death.
This feeling is not worldwide. It
reflects some regions or nations in North America, Europe and Africa mainly.
Many of our leaders in South America, in Asia or in the Pacific don’t
distinguish KKI from YWAM. But still, I think there is a breach that needs to
be recognized and closed. In the same time, YWAM regional leaders in Africa
have clearly expressed this last year their need of KKI and their desire to
build together. If there is drift, it is not yet too wide. And in many places,
it has started to be addressed and corrected.
-
Blurred identity: This comes from different angles. In some places, KKI has developed a
strong partnership with local churches and other organizations, launching new
initiatives together. These new corporate initiatives may sometimes take a lot
of time and visibility at the expense of KKI itself. People can become unsure
whether this is KKI or not.
In other
places, it’s the name King’s Kids that poses problems as it gives the
impression this is a children’s ministry and it does turn off teenagers that
otherwise may have been interested to join. The question regularly comes back
on the table during our leadership gatherings, especially from English speaking
countries. Would a change of name contribute to drift? Would it affect our
calling and anointing? Or would it correct some of the drift?
Joining
global movements like 4/14 or others may also be tricky and have some dangers,
especially if we become so involved that it becomes more important than our own
ministry. To illustrate, it’s like a father neglecting his own children and
family because he becomes so passionate about something of his own interest.
Are we
proud of who we are (in the good sense of the term)? Is our way of doing
ministry contributing to its health and growth?
As I was pondering on this last year, I got a
picture from the Lord. It was a barrel made up with staves joined together. The
problem was that the staves were not all the same length. The barrel could be
filled only up to the level of the lowest stave. It represents KKI around the
world. The staves represent the values. To get the full KKI anointing, we need
to make sure we live out the values the Lord has given us and don’t neglect
some of them because they are less appealing or relevant for our vision. Are we
in the second generation where it’s already a matter of preferences?
E. How to prevent that and come back to our original mission and DNA? What
could be some practical steps?
God has
started to speak to us several years ago already about this, through a
Scripture in Revelation 3:1-3:
I
know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but
you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is
almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.
3 Go back to what you
heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If
you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
So we’ve been working on that for a few years
already. Realignment is already in process. At the point where we are, I think
there are several ways to move on. In the next few months, we can:
-
Communicate
clearly to our KKI leaders around the world what we sense and exhort them to
check out these drift factors in their own ministries and to take action to
correct anything that is going in the wrong direction. Communication should be
done extensively through e-mails, Skype calls, Facebook, our new website and
blog, personal discussion, videos, teachings in national and regional
conferences, in our PCYMs, …
-
Provide
questions to be processed and prayed as a team for our ministries around the world.
- Continue to encourage alignment in the personal
lives of our staff. Are we really living our values in a daily basis?
We intend to take several practical steps in the
next few years to bring life and correct any drift tendency. Most of all we
need the grace of God and His Spirit of resurrection, and I believe we also
needs the prayers and support of the wider YWAM community as we obey the Lord
and make our part to move in the right direction. In the next few months:
-
As a family,
we will be taking a few years to travel around the world, live close to our KKI
leaders, including our founders, model the DNA with them, mentor them and renew
their vision… We will start with the Pacific, then it seems it will be Africa,
then we’ll see where He will lead us (of course, the Lord willing…). The goal
is to bring “oxygen in the body”... Other initiatives of this kind are
happening around the world.
-
We want to
organize a KKI leadership workshop in 2016 where we could gather some of our KKI founders and leaders that want to
invest in this process and develop a common understanding and strategy of where
the Lord wants to lead us in this coming season. Thus we want to develop a
cohort that carries this move together. Let me quote Loren Cunningham, himself
quoting Tom Marshall, in a letter written in 1993 about necessary changes to
avoid drift:
In an organization like YWAM, with over three decades
of existence, he said we are clearly not just dealing with structure but with
culture, i.e. a YWAM culture. Therefore we must see a change in our cultural
ways of doing things in order to see structural change come.
He went on to say that there must be a core of influencers
in the mission who will act as motivators for change. They must buy in
first, and they must become a movement through which change comes. With
a group the size and age of YWAM, everyone is totally immersed in “the
culture”.
To have change, it must be deliberate, intentional,
and radical or the natural “drift factor” will bring us back to where we
are now, even though people embrace new concepts in their heads and hearts. The
core group must be totally committed to this change and willing to slug it out
and pay the price to see it come. There are, of course, some scriptural guidelines
and boundaries that we must not cross.[9]
I
underline the aspect of a core group of influencers who will act as motivators
for change in a deliberate, intentional and radical way.
- We will have our KKI international Leadership
Assembly where we expect several hundreds of people in Ivory Coast, in
September 2016. This will be a key time to speak out some of these things and
concretely and prophetically take a stand.
- Dale Kauffman is working on his book with a
clear presentation of the history and the values of KKI. Carol Kauffman is also
writing a book with early KKI stories illustrating our values. These will be
invaluable tools to affirm the foundations and the identity of KKI and correct
the drift tendency.
F. Conclusion
If we do not come back to our roots, we will
lose our anointing. And if we lose our anointing, we lose our purpose, our
raison d’être. If we want to see a new season of multiplication we need to
realign with our original purpose and strengthen our fundamental values and
principles. If we let the Lord scan our hearts and our ministries, He will show
us whatever needs to be strengthened, changed or even cut off. And as we humbly
and radically obey, take difficult decisions and receive His correction, I
believe his favor and anointing will be renewed and the best is yet to come.
[1] Peter Greer and Chris Horst, Mission
Drift, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 27.
[2] Peter Greer and
Chris Horst, Mission Drift, Minneapolis,
MN: Bethany House Publishers, 27.
[3] See on www.kkint.net.
[4] Psalms 133
[5] Ibid., 107.
[6] Loren
Cunningham, YWAM UofN Growth, pdf
document of a Power Point Presentation brought during the YWAM Singapore
Gathering, September 2014.
[7] How to start a
missions movement (Short section), extract of a Power Point Presentation sent
by David Hamilton during the Executive Master in Leadership third intensive in
San Antonio del Mar, February 2015.
[8] Skype discussion with Dale Kauffman and the author in January 2015,
following a personal discussion of the author with Alejandro in Buenos Aires in
December 2014.
[9] Darlene Cunningham, History of YWAM
Governance, December 2011, working document given to the participants of
the Executive Master in leadership of the University of the Nations, San
Antonio del Mar, February 2015.
Très riche et profond. Ca m'interpelle vraiment.
RépondreSupprimerMerci. Isabelle