When great is the enemy of success

I was at a church planting conference recently where I was placed in a team of peers and given a task to perform. It was a practical exercise in teamwork and leadership. At one point, when we were struggling to move from planning to action, someone said, “Good is the enemy of great.” He was quoting the first sentence of Jim Collins' book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't. Many pastors, including me, have read this book.

Earlier that day we had been told that 80% of new church starts fail. With that fact in mind I had an epiphany, “Great is the enemy of success.”

Willow Creek and Saddleback stand as models for the “great” church. Many pastors and church starters want to get their churches to that level. In fact, megachurches and their pastors have much in common with great companies. However, megachurches are rare and pastors and church starters who are merely "good" become disappointed and give up.

Typically, a talented church planting team is placed in an area into which large numbers of young families are moving. In one particular case, it was expected that a new church start would attract close to 300 people on the launch date and double in three years, launching other church starts at that point. The church failed before the five-year mark even though they had $500,000 in outside funding, three full-time staff members (and their wives), and every modern gadget found in church today.

On the other hand, other new church starts in the same area survived the five-year mark. The difference (according to a study by the Center for Missional Research) might be expectations. Church starters who expect to be leading a large church within a certain amount of time tend to fail at a much higher rate than those who were committed to serve in a given location regardless of size or financing. Those who are satisfied with "good" succeed at a higher rate than those who expected "great."

Great is also the enemy of success when we over plan and fail to act. “Analysis Paralysis” is how one colleague liked to put it. Successful leaders have a bias toward action: “Ready, fire, aim.”

Some planning is needed but every question cannot be answered in advance. Plan what you want to do, and then take action. Be flexible enough to make adjustments as you go. Missional churches are able to take advantage of ministry opportunities as they arise and that requires a sense of urgency. Urgency that leads to action generates excitement in the congregation and the community and creates momentum.

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4 (NIV)

Turnover seems to be the norm for growing churches

Pastors are often dismayed and troubled when families to whom they have faithfully ministered leave the church. Some move away for work-related reasons, some leave in a huff over an offense (real or imagined) and a few confess that they need something different than what the current church has to offer. There’s the practical loss of a worker and financial contributor and the emotional loss of a member of your spiritual family followed by the nagging fear that others will follow and the church is about to crumble.

I have noticed however that growing churches seem to have a high turnover of members. After a three year absence from one church I served, I noticed that the church had doubled in size but many of the faces I remembered were gone. When I returned a year later the church continued to grow but more old timers were gone.

On the other hand I have noticed that stagnant and declining churches have a more stable membership. Few people come and go.

Gary McIntosh (One Size Doesnt Fit All) identifies three signs that a church is stagnated.
1. 50% or more of the congregation has been in the church for more than 12 years
2. 33% or more of the governing board are related to main families
3. 10% or less of members have joined in the last year

Every time my current church has broken through a growth barrier we have lost some key families. At first I mourned but then I realized that they preferred the church to be smaller. I have learned to let them go with a blessing and help them find another small church they can help grow.

Some people join a church because of the vision of what it can become; most join because they like what they are presently experiencing. As the church grows some will leave because the church has changed and newcomers will join because they like what they are presently experiencing.

People who like things the way they were and decide to stick around will fight hard to maintain control and bring the church back to its lower numbers. Often these individuals will become disgruntled and complain about many things without realizing that the root of their problem is that they don't want the church to grow. If they persist newcomers will leave and the church will stagnate.

While I’m not sure of the ecclesiological soundness of it, I am sure that this is the current reality in the American church. It helps me to view the church as being greater than my own local church. I am grateful for those individuals who have served alongside me and are now serving elsewhere. I am open to working with them again.

I recommend Gary McIntosh’s, One Size Doesnt Fit All, as a conversation starter for churches that are stagnated and want to know why. It is a good book for leaders to read together. The book is short and easy to read, describing the common characteristics of churches of similar size and what it takes to get to the next level.

Finding Jesus in another church

A wise man once told me not to judge other denominations by its worst examples because they could do the same for my denomination. As a young believer, I tended to buy into the proposal that people in mainline denominations, Roman Catholics and other non-Baptists did not believe the Bible and were not real Christians. I was always surprised when I met a non-Baptist on a mission trip or conference and found they believed in both Jesus and the Bible.

On the other hand, I was always made to feel uncomfortable by Fundamentalists and Charismatics. The latter would tell me I was a second-class Christian, the former that I was unsaved. There were also Calvinists, Dispensationalists and others who felt they had discovered the truth and loved arguing about it.

I must confess that I, too, tended to be a one-dimensional Christian. Evangelism is what gets me going. There was a time when I had reduced evangelism to an event where I make a presentation and press for a decision. Once the deal was closed, I moved on. There was no follow-up.

As my faith developed, I learned that there was a little more to evangelism than a polished presentation and an emotional appeal. I also learned that there was more to Christianity than recruiting members to my club.

I learned to appreciate what other Christians were teaching me. My Charismatic friends taught me to worship with enthusiasm and that God still works miracles in our lives. My Mainline friends taught me to minister to the needs of the poor. My friends from the African-American tradition taught me to fight for the rights of the oppressed.

I have not left my Baptist/Evangelical roots behind during my pilgrimage. I still believe that the Bible is the highest authority for faith and practice. I was saddened by the death of Jerry Falwell, who taught me that Christians need to be engaged in the political process. I am still evangelistic with a strong commitment to global missions but I’ve grown beyond the narrow views of my underdeveloped faith.

I continue to learn and grow in Christ. I work to build the Kingdom in cooperation with other churches. I read the Bible with the expectation that God teach me something new. I am open to both ancient traditions and contemporary adaptations in an effort to have a fuller understanding of God.

In today’s post-denominational environment I encounter a growing number of Christians who are setting aside traditions and denominational power trips to impact the world in Jesus’ name. I pray that the number continues to grow and that, one day, they will look back to our time and say the was the Third “Great Awakening.”