Harvard University was founded in 1636 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony for the purpose of training pastors to intelligently share the Christian faith. Its mission statement was, “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.” It aimed to champion the Christian cause by producing ministers with the necessary intellectual firepower to adequately represent the sacred work of the holy God they served. What started as an institution with noble aims and heavenly purposes gradually drifted down a path of slow compromise and secularization. At its 350th anniversary celebration, a notable individual remarked that “the bad news is the university has become godless.”1

In their book Mission Drift, authors Peter Greer and Chris Horst state that “without careful attention, faith-based organizations will inevitably drift from their founding mission” (page 20). They also point out that this is not just an organizational problem, but a human one. In other words, just as institutions can be founded on right principles and have the right goals but end up losing their way, we as individuals are in the same danger. No matter how strong, committed or faithful to Christ we are now, or may have been in the past, we tend to drift and lose focus. If we are not careful, we could lose sight of the true purpose for which God has called us.

In her classic book “Acts of the Apostles,” Ellen White writes, “the church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world” (page 9). As members of the church, our mission is to “carry the gospel to the world,” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). There remain thousands of people groups that do not know Jesus. In “Testimonies to the Church Vol. 9,” White writes, “From all countries the Macedonian cry is sounding: ‘Come over, . . . and help us.’ God has opened fields before us, and if human agencies would but co-operate with divine agencies, many, many souls would be won to the truth. But the Lord’s professing people have been sleeping over their allotted work, and in many places it remains comparatively untouched” (page 46).

Have we been drifting? Have you been drifting? Would you like to make a course correction? Do you desire to come back into line with God’s purpose? Have you considered the possibility of giving your life (or even a portion of your life) to serve an unreached people group? If so, please contact us today at 800-937-4236 or recruiter@afmonline.org.

1See Mission Drift: The Unspoked Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, p. 24

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