Jesus on HD
Bobby Gruenewald is one my favorite thinkers in church world.
He is always pushing and moving in directions most churches will only dare go once he has tried.
He had this post on the Swerve blog a year ago that I use on an almost weekly basis in conversations I’m in with churches where “Excellence” is a core value.
I’ll let you go to swerve to read the entire article but I want to sit on this statement for a second…
While there are still many examples where there is not excellence in the American Church, I see a new problem emerging in some places: Too much excellence. You might ask how can you be too excellent? This graph will illustrate my point.”
The graph basically points out that excellence can be achieved quickly but after an initial push it gets more time consuming and expensive to achieve certain definitions of “excellence.
So you know, I believe everything we do should be done to our personal best.
I mean, that’s what my kids stick at the end of the pledge everyday at their elementary school.
But when we grow up it suddenly becomes…
I pledge to do everything at THEIR personal best.
I think that there needs to be a clear message sent out saying…
Excellence does not equal what Church A is doing.
What Church A is doing might be stupidity on Church B’s part.
Church B needs to do what they can with the talents and gifts they have been given.
I’ve seen lots of people come to Jesus without HD.
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
The question I have to ask myself a lot is what kind of excellence am I striving for…am I striving for personal excellence so I look good?
or
Am I striving for excellence to uplift the name of God?
Money can make you look good, but money does not make God any better. That is why grace is free.
Just be the best Kyle you can be.
I feel like you are recruiting me for the army
Love that last statement!
Thanks
Biblical common sense wins again!
Know your role and play it well.
(All the clichés apply here.)
brilliant
I think, unfortunately, that excellence gets replaced with perfectionism or comparison to other churches more often than not….not to mention our “excellence” is nothing more than filthy rags. I’m so thankful that, even in our constant striving, He is so much greater. Good news indeed.
In my experience, excellence flows from vision. Comparison and trying to replicate Church A is often evidence of a decided lack thereof.
Vision inspires. God-breathed vision inspires excellence that draws people to Him – not the church.
I’ve been on both sides of that fence.
Being on the side with no vision sucks.
This post hits home for me right now, just having left SM staff of a terrific (I’m not lying. It’s awesome) church that constantly strives for “Excellence”. Excellence in music, publications, visuals, technical… lacking abundantly in excellence with personal relationships from leadership & staff. It seems to have become just that- striving. The result IS time consuming and an economic drain. Will I support my leaders whose intent I believe to be sincere? Of course. When it begins to impact my teens who are hungry for making a difference where it matters (they have felt homelessness & hardship) well, it’s difficult. Jesus in HD is needed in this age (as I watch my movie in HD) BUT, I
have seen Jesus without HD and He is…magnificent!!
It’s very frustrating to little churches like mine to see folks choose a different church simply for the media experience. Or simply because their music is better. I don’t believe in “competition”, but some folks seem to think that if Church A can do it, Church B MUST do it, or else Church B should just close the doors and let everybody go to Church A, since, well, dadgum, Church A is BETTER!
When the focus becomes excellence, the focus is just entirely wrong. Entirely.
When the focus becomes keeping people at your church, the focus is entirely wrong. Entirely.
I love a quote from Charles Stanley, “God takes full responsibility for the life fully (or wholly) devoted to Him.” The same is true of a church fully devoted to Him. If people want to leave then let ‘em leave.
Your “little” church can offer far more than any mega-church in areas like community (which EVERYONE is desparately seeking). You may not be viewed by 1000’s via weekly Internet feeds but you can still make a real and lasting difference to those who are part of your church.
It’s time for the church to stop worrying about marketing and start figuring out how to make a difference in people’s lives! Impact people and the marketing will take care of itself.
*stepping off soapbox now*
Good word!
true story: i designed that graph for bobby so many moons ago.
and it was designed with excellence!
Just wanted to say thanks for all of the inspiring chaos that goes on here. I’ve been reading for a while and thoughts like this really hit home. Keep up the authenticity – love what you are doing with your Christ-led life!
yep that last statement says it all
It’s amazing how these conversations come along at the right time. We are facing these same struggles in our church – we are trying to do our best for the kingdom, using the resources that God has given us, and others within our denominational family can’t stand that we are big and they are small (size of our congregation).
When will the pettiness end and the real kingdom work begin?
Having lived in a developing world country for the last six years I have to say that this part of the American church is the part I have seen change the most and is also the part that frustrates me the most. I feel like the “excellence” has been taken so far as to make people forget about the world outside. People are so focused on the things happening inside the four walls, the media presentations, the cool stage set, etc and it’s at the cost of some really important things. I feel like churches are succumbing to pressure to impress sheep from other flocks, rather than sharing the gospel. The gospel doesn’t need anything but the Holy Spirit to change lives, but we feel like we have to dress it up?
A similar question is “How cool is cool enough?” I believe we should not so much strive to be relevant as much as we should make VERY sure that we are not irrelevant. The difference is motive. I know I’m never going to be as relevant as Jude Law but I can be sure I’m not like Jerry Falwell. Pride gets involved because our excellence/cool makes us look good too.
I believe we can foster a culture where we strive to remove obstacles to connecting with people and be as culturally normal as possible. Then we can be loving and authentic and relate to people without creating a Christian theme park out of our church. I mean, we all agree that more people might come to our church if we had a roller coaster, but do we really want to spend church resources on that? Can we honestly ask church volunteers to staff that for free?
Excellence, Cool, Relevance are all merciless task masters because they are never satisfied. It is up to us to decide how much is enough. I’m delighted that some admits there are other things that matter too. Thanks for the reality check.
HA! What I find funny is I have heard the “Excellence” spew mostly from people who want to spend more money on meaningless crap and from people who do nothing but get others to be “excellent” for them. I handle the administration side of things for the worship leader at our campus because he’s not a paperwork, schedule type guy, you know, a true musician
anyway I have found myself talking excellence in respects to team members who don’t want to practice but want to lead on Sunday, want to be in the band but don’t know their parts, stuff like that. To me excellence is simply knowing your part and doing it 100% not half a@#.
I try reaaalllyyy hard not to compare myself to others. To see me as He might see me and take it one day at a time. Struggling with letting what I do define who I am-mother,creative,wife. I’m just one of His babies waitin to hear “Well done good and faithful servant”. Lord make it so!
This is something that I’ve been thinking about for some time……have we lost the heart of the matter….