The Importance of a MacGuffin in Gospel Planting

A MacGuffin is a term that was created by Alfred Hitchcock. It is essentially a device that moves the plot forward ~ it is the pull of the story. For example, part of the reason it took so long to produce a fourth Indiana Jones movie was that Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg couldn’t agree on a MacGuffin. Eventually they all settled on the Crystal Skull. (For better or worse!) Of course, the Crystal Skulls had little to do with the actual action and character development in the movie, but it was the MacGuffin that drove the plot. MacGuffin’s are in almost every thriller and suspense movie. They are seldom in romantic comedies. It is why the latter is to be avoided.

It is essential that any new church, ministry or gospel plant have a MacGuffin. This goes beyond the traditional vision or purposes that we dream up. It is the one thing that will set you apart, that makes you distinct. It is what all your people are pulling towards and what the people around you will say you are about. It might even be hard to quantify or measure, but it is undoubtedly who you are or are becoming.

Too often we determine who we are but what someone else is. We admire the size of another church, and decide that God might bless us if we become Purpose Driven or just like Willow Creek too. We read a book from an author who calls himself ‘Emergent’ and figure we’ll do everything that way. Or, in our unholy reactions, we look at these other places, read their books and decide that it is more spiritual to do the opposite of them.

I believe that God wants every church to find their own MacGuffin. Not from someone else, but from Him. I believe that He wants to give each new work a specific calling, a unique pull, something that the group of people attracted to the plant will begin to tug towards. In the story of your plant, God will tell you what unique characteristic will drive your plot.

The church I pastor has five words that drives the culture of all that we do. It is our missional lens. Long after I leave, it will still be the MacGuffin, because it isn’t my MacGuffin, nor is it one that I took from someone, nor reacted against something else. It is a MacGuffin that God has placed on the hearts of a group of people 5 years ago, and we end each gathering of our service with. They are our words. It is what we are collectively pulling towards.

As you look to plant the Gospel, have you asked God for your MacGuffin?

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