In his book Unleashing the Word (Abingdon), pastor Adam Hamilton talks about how he uses preaching to help the congregation refocus on their purpose:
“At Church of the Resurrection, I regularly refer to our purpose in the midst of a wide variety of sermons, but at least three times a year I preach a sermon specifically focused on reminding people of our purpose. Offering compelling stories from the Bible and our own ministry rekindles the congregation’s passion around our purpose.
“The last time I preached a sermon on our purpose, one of our leaders came to me and said, ‘In my ministry area, we had become cranky with one another, and we were losing a bit of our joy-we had lost sight of why we were doing this. Your sermon rekindled our passion. I remember now why we’re doing these things. As a result of this one message, I feel ready to go back and get to work!’
“What this woman expressed is profound in that it describes what happens to your entire congregation in the midst of serving the Lord-people get tired and cranky and tend to forget why they’re doing what they’re doing. It is the job of the leader to remind the people of their purpose, their biblical mandate, and to inspire the people to pursue it. As the preaching pastor of your church, you are that leader.”