Preventing Mission Drift
- Dr. Cy Smith
- 22 minutes ago
- 3 min read
A Call for Christian Businesses and Schools to Stay True to their Convictions
Mission drift never announces itself. It doesn’t walk into your organization waving a flag. It slips in quietly when no one is looking, during seasons of growth, leadership transitions, cultural pressure, or simple fatigue. And while every Christian organization begins with clarity, conviction, and purpose, few remain anchored without intentional, ongoing effort.
The recent Clearly Christian with Dr. Cy Smith podcast episode, Preventing Mission Drift: A Conversation with Dr. Jay McCurry, raised a truth many leaders already sense: in today’s culture, drift is predictable. And it should be expected if we aren’t vigilant. But knowing why drift happens gives us the insight we need to stop it.
Dr. Jay McCurry, Provost and Chief Academic Officer with Randall University, knows the pressure of mission drift in businesses of all kinds, especially in his Christian institution. Christian businesses and Christian schools share the same challenge. They were built on deep convictions, but over time, the gravitational pull of culture, convenience, and compromise can bend them away from the very identity that once defined them.
Drift doesn’t happen because leaders stop caring. It happens because they stop noticing.
Christian organizations begin drifting the moment they start assuming everyone still knows who they are and what they stand for. New staff arrive with different backgrounds and expectations. Younger employees often haven’t been taught how to integrate their faith into daily work, and without guidance, they default to the secular models they have always known.
As Dr. Smith has said, “If your work looks no different than what could be done down the street in any other organization, you’ve already lost your distinctiveness.”
That quiet divide where a mission is still believed but no longer practiced creates the first cracks in the foundation.
Dr. McCurry says business owners must be clear of their expectations and direction. “Mixed messages erode credibility”, he says. “Clarity isn’t harsh. Clarity is kindness.” When leaders avoid speaking plainly about beliefs, values, expectations, or boundaries, they may feel polite or flexible, but in reality, they’re removing the very guardrails that keep the mission intact. People cannot align with what has not been articulated.
And while clarity matters, repetition is what turns clarity into culture. A mission that is only stated in an employee handbook or recited at orientation is a mission that will be forgotten. Dr. McCurry says, “Repetition builds culture,” and he’s right. What is repeated becomes normal. What is assumed becomes lost.
This is especially true in Christian schools, where students learn far more from the lives of their teachers than from the curriculum they teach—and in Christian businesses where employees study not just what leaders say, but how they behave. If leaders live the mission consistently, the culture absorbs it. If leaders drift, everyone drifts with them.
And if your organization has drifted, you’re not alone. Many have. Drift is not failure. Drift is simply a sign that it’s time to return.
Renew your clarity. Rebuild your culture. Teach the mission again. Speak it out loud. Live it where people can see it.
You don’t need a rebrand; you need a recalibration.
Mission drift is subtle. Mission faithfulness is intentional.And now is the time for leaders to choose which direction they will allow their organizations to move, and if they are Christian, which worldview they will fight to maintain.
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