Below is an article written a few months ago by Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. This is the second part of a two part series regarding the topic of excellence in the church.
There’s an old adage in the corporate world that says that you can be so busy working in your business that you never work on your business. You can be so focused on simply doing what needs to get done that you never take time to really critique the merit of what’s being done.
Is this the best model for our ministry or business?
Do we have the best systems and processes in place?
Are the best people at the table to do what needs to be done?
Elevation isn’t immune to this tendency of working in vs. working on. That’s why over the past two days at our annual Staff Advance (the Church never retreats), we’ve been doing the arduous task of auditing everything we do as a church. We filtered our critique through one question: Is this the best we can do?
At live production. Volunteer teams. Small groups. Videos. Branding. Children’s ministry. Web presence. And everything else under the sun.
If not, what are the next steps to becoming the best in these areas? Who in the church world or the business world is doing it better and what can we learn from them and implement?
It definitely wasn’t an exercise in pride-building. There are some things we need to work on. But it also wasn’t an exercise in false humility. There are some areas where we’re really doing great and we just need to take some of the best practices of other organizations and become even better.
Let me assure you: there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be the absolute best you can be so you can do all that God has called you to do. I fear that churches too often take on the perspective that since God is our standard, we can put out crap compared to the rest of the world and it’s OK. Well, it’s not. Our perspective should be, God is our standard, so we should be the best in the world because we have the only thing in the world worth being the best for.
So whether you’re a pastor or district manager, I’d suggest you get in front of your team, read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and 2 Timothy 2:15 for foundation, and have this discussion: Is what we’re doing right now the best we can do? What needs to be cut? What or who needs to be added? Who in our industry is the best? What can we learn from them and implement?
The Elevation staff pushed itself harder than it ever has the past two days, and God is making us better than we’ve ever been. Do the same for yourself, and God will do the same for you.
Is this the best model for our ministry or business?
Do we have the best systems and processes in place?
Are the best people at the table to do what needs to be done?
Elevation isn’t immune to this tendency of working in vs. working on. That’s why over the past two days at our annual Staff Advance (the Church never retreats), we’ve been doing the arduous task of auditing everything we do as a church. We filtered our critique through one question: Is this the best we can do?
At live production. Volunteer teams. Small groups. Videos. Branding. Children’s ministry. Web presence. And everything else under the sun.
If not, what are the next steps to becoming the best in these areas? Who in the church world or the business world is doing it better and what can we learn from them and implement?
It definitely wasn’t an exercise in pride-building. There are some things we need to work on. But it also wasn’t an exercise in false humility. There are some areas where we’re really doing great and we just need to take some of the best practices of other organizations and become even better.
Let me assure you: there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be the absolute best you can be so you can do all that God has called you to do. I fear that churches too often take on the perspective that since God is our standard, we can put out crap compared to the rest of the world and it’s OK. Well, it’s not. Our perspective should be, God is our standard, so we should be the best in the world because we have the only thing in the world worth being the best for.
So whether you’re a pastor or district manager, I’d suggest you get in front of your team, read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and 2 Timothy 2:15 for foundation, and have this discussion: Is what we’re doing right now the best we can do? What needs to be cut? What or who needs to be added? Who in our industry is the best? What can we learn from them and implement?
The Elevation staff pushed itself harder than it ever has the past two days, and God is making us better than we’ve ever been. Do the same for yourself, and God will do the same for you.
1 comment:
Totally agree with the idea of excellence...as long as a person's heart is also measured along with that (i.e., there is a balance). I do, though, have concerns with running a church like a business. Based on elder comments, I'm sure that's a huge part of the reason for issues at our church now - that somehow things in the office crossed the line from shared ministry to business (in the worst sense of that word, IMO). Still breakin' my heart... :^(
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