Book by local clergyman details the power of mission-focused planning

Like it did for most people, the pandemic changed things for Barry Winders.

In the fall of 2019, Winders, a retired Methodist clergy, served on a task force examining the viability of dying churches. He started noticing patterns in each congregation and took notes, recognizing chapters for a potential book.

"And then COVID came and everything shut down on March 17, 2020," Winders said. "I was frightened, but I was energized by it."

A year and a half later, Winders released his book, "The Mission Filter: Raising Mission Consciousness Amid a Crisis."

In the book, Winders offers a path for churches and other organizations to intentionally apply their missions to every decision and core initiative.

Winders entered ministry at 17 years old. He retired July 1 from Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau.

In his 50 years of ministry and consulting churches, Winders noticed how easy it was for an organization to lose hold on its purpose and forget its "why."

Challenging the way a church does business may be a productive struggle when using a "mission filter," or the practice of questioning whether certain actions work in tangent with an organization's mission.

When tensions rise and ideas compete, Winders said, leaders could utilize a mission filter to redirect the attention of their group.

"All organizations have mission statements or visions, but it's so easy to get distracted amid a crisis," Winders said.

Each of the book's six chapters contains a set of questions for group discussions and exercises.

A foreword written by Robert Farr, bishop of the Missouri Area of The United Methodist Church, leads the book.

Though religion is a key theme in Winders' writing, he said any organization, regardless of religious affiliation, may find the techniques detailed in "The Mission Filter" useful.

"The Mission Filter: Raising Mission Consciousness Amid a Crisis" is available online at Amazon, Cokesbury and Barnes and Noble.