Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches

by Peter Greer, Chris Horst, Anna Haggard (With), Andy Crouch (Foreword by)

Overview

Without careful attention, faith-based organizations drift from their founding mission. It's that simple. It will happen.

Why do so many organizations wander from their mission, while others remain Mission True? Can drift be prevented?

In Mission Drift, HOPE International executives Peter Greer and Chris Horst share the results of their research into Mission True and Mission Untrue organizations and show you how to:

● determine whether your organization is in danger of drift
● get back on track and protect what matters most
● inoculate yourself against drift now and build safeguards against it
● find clarity about your mission, cultural tone, and core tenets
● fully understand your priorities and metrics for success

Drift often happens in small and subtle ways. But with intentionality, courage, and resolve, you can follow a path of faithfulness.

Includes review questions and additional reading recommendations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441263438
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/10/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Peter Greer (www.peterkgreer.com) is president and CEO of HOPE International, a global nonprofit focused on addressing both physical and spiritual poverty through microfinance. He has a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School. Peter speaks regularly to large audiences, including at conferences like Catalyst and Passion. Peter lives with his wife and three children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Chris Horst is the director of development at HOPE International, where he works and writes at the intersection of entrepreneurship, work, and the Gospel. Chris has been published regularly in Christianity Today and has a forthcoming book on entrepreneurship and human flourishing. He serves on the boards of the Denver Institute for Faith & Work and the Colorado Microfinance Alliance. Chris graduated from Taylor University with a business degree and has his MBA from Bakke Graduate University. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Alli, and son, Desmond. Chris blogs at www.smorgasblurb.com.

Anna Haggard is the executive writing assistant at HOPE International, where she collaborates with the president and CEO and the marketing department to share HOPE's message through print and social media and coauthored The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good. Anna is a graduate of Asbury University and lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Peter Greer (www.peterkgreer.com) is the president and CEO of HOPE International, a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining HOPE, Peter worked internationally as a microfinance adviser in Cambodia and Zimbabwe and as managing director for Urwego Bank in Rwanda. He received a BS in international business from Messiah University and an MPP in political and economic development from Harvard's Kennedy School. Peter's favorite part of his job is spending time with the entrepreneurs HOPE serves--whether harvesting coffee with farmers in Rwanda, dancing alongside savings groups in Haiti, or visiting the greenhouses of entrepreneurs in Ukraine.

As an advocate for the Church's role in missions and alleviating extreme poverty, Peter has coauthored fourteen books, including Mission Drift (selected as a 2015 Book Award Winner from Christianity Today), Rooting for Rivals (selected as a 2019 Leadership Resource of the Year in Outreach magazine), The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good (selected as one of the Top 40 books on poverty by World magazine), and Created to Flourish (which his mom reviewed with five stars and a smiley face emoji).

More important than his role at HOPE is his role as husband to Laurel and dad to Keith, Liliana, Myles, and London. While his sports loyalties remain in New England, Peter and his family live in Lancaster, PA. Learn more at peterkgreer.com.
Chris Horst (www.chris-horst.com) is the chief advancement officer at HOPE International, where he employs his passion for advancing initiatives at the intersection of faith and work. In addition to his role at HOPE, Chris spends an alarming percentage of his free time tending to his yard with all the loving care normally afforded to newborn children. He and his wife, Alli, have four human children of whom they are even prouder than their lawn--Desmond, Abe, Juni, and Mack. As a dad to four kiddos, Chris has recently undergone a radical transformation from self-proclaimed foodie to a man who prepares far more trays of chicken nuggets than avocado toast. He wouldn't change it.

Chris serves on the board of the Mile High WorkShop; has been published in The Denver Post and Christianity Today; and has coauthored the books Mission Drift, Entrepreneurship for Human Flourishing, and Rooting for Rivals with Peter Greer. Christianity Today, World magazine, and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association named Mission Drift a Book of the Year in 2015. Chris was a very average student, but he did graduate with both a bachelor's degree from Taylor University and an MBA from Bakke Graduate University.
Anna Haggard is the executive writing assistant at HOPE International, where she collaborates with the president and CEO and the marketing department to share HOPE's message through print and social media. She coauthored The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good with Peter Greer. Anna is a graduate of Asbury University and lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Foreword Andy Crouch 11

1 The Unspoken Crisis 15

Mission Drift is a crisis facing all faith-based organizations

2 The Tale of Two Presbyterian Ministers 23

Mission Drift is pervasive, but it is not inevitable

3 Functional Atheism 33

Mission True organizations believe the Gospel is their most precious asset

4 Death by Minnows 44

Mission True organizations make hard decisions to protect and propel their mission

5 The Secret Recipe to Quaker Oats 56

Mission True leaders assume they will face drift and build safeguards against it

6 You Know Why You Exist 67

Mission True organizations have clarity about their mission

7 Guardians of the Mission 78

Mission True board members understand their top priority

8 True Leadership 89

Mission True leaders set the cultural tone for the organization

9 Impressive Credentials Are Not Enough 98

Mission True organizations hire first and foremost for heart and character

10 Follow the Money 110

Mission True organizations partner with donors who believe in their full mission

11 Measuring What Matters 124

Mission True organizations track, metrics reflective of their full mission

12 Etched in Excellence 137

Mission True organizations understand the Gospel demands excellence in their work

13 Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast 148

Mission True organizations are fanatics about rituals and practices

14 The Language of the Chameleon Club 160

Mission True organizations boldly proclaim their core tenets to protect themselves from drift

15 Save the Church 167

Mission True organizations recognize that the local church is the anchor to a thriving mission

Conclusion 179

Review Questions 182

Acknowledgments 189

Appendix 1 Board of Directors Prospective Board Member Nomination Form 192

Appendix 2 Primacy of Proclamation Board Resolution 196

Appendix 3 Family Giving Charter 197

Methodology for Mission Drift Research 199

Notes 200

Further Reading on the Topic of Mission Drift 216