big or small, it didn't matter
i remember when the church i was in hit 200. we had been doing a binder called "breaking the 200 barrier" which, when melted down, basically proposed the concept that the pastor of a church over 200 has to learn how to be a c.e.o. he (or she) had to let go of the value of knowing everyone, larger churches delegate - pastors work with leaders who in turn disseminate the information. if you wanted to break the 200 barrier, you had to learn to do business.
i remember when the church i was in hit 400. we had been doing a binder called "breaking the 400 barrier" which, when melted down, basically proposed the concept that the pastor of the church over 400 had to be more ruthless with delegation than the pastor of a church of 200. if you wanted to break the 400 barrier, you had to learn to dominate business.
i volunteer at club now. we're not even sure it's a church, and frankly we don't care. we don't have a flyer describing ourselves as "missional" ( i hate that term) or post-modern. for that matter, we don't have any flyers. there is no sunday school, no boards or committees; although the place we meet is licensed and the nachos rock. we have no growth barriers to overcome, the place only seats about 60. we had close to 60 our first week. we've met our growth goals for the year...
by canadian standards i have served in a successful church or two. for one brief window we were the fastest growing church around. we had national publicity, there were accolades, but it was passing. one monday i woke up to the realization that i needed a new binder, 'breaking the 1000 barrier'.
but i wasn't any happier.
for some reason i didn't feel successful - i simply started comparing myself to bigger churches. we had outgrown the mother church, it was time to take on the saskatoon church. all our goals became growth goals. i tried to be an executive and justified incredible church envy as a noble, godly enterprise. it drove me nuts that we weren't more famous, i coveted the success of other pastors and was quick to point out how easy they had it; they started on a college campus, they were in the inner city, they were in the suburbs, they were in the country. they were compromising, they didn't care about the poor, they didn't reach real non-christians, they had transfer growth, they were pretty-boy sellouts. they had more money.
i love the club. we have no money, no real sound system. no publicity. no denomination looking in. there are no articles and no accolades. no one is going to stop by to congratulate us. i won't be speaking at any church growth conferences. we don't care about numerical growth. there are no external goals to attain, no financial or egotistical benchmarks. i love the people who are there.
it's heaven.
i remember when the church i was in hit 200. we had been doing a binder called "breaking the 200 barrier" which, when melted down, basically proposed the concept that the pastor of a church over 200 has to learn how to be a c.e.o. he (or she) had to let go of the value of knowing everyone, larger churches delegate - pastors work with leaders who in turn disseminate the information. if you wanted to break the 200 barrier, you had to learn to do business.
i remember when the church i was in hit 400. we had been doing a binder called "breaking the 400 barrier" which, when melted down, basically proposed the concept that the pastor of the church over 400 had to be more ruthless with delegation than the pastor of a church of 200. if you wanted to break the 400 barrier, you had to learn to dominate business.
i volunteer at club now. we're not even sure it's a church, and frankly we don't care. we don't have a flyer describing ourselves as "missional" ( i hate that term) or post-modern. for that matter, we don't have any flyers. there is no sunday school, no boards or committees; although the place we meet is licensed and the nachos rock. we have no growth barriers to overcome, the place only seats about 60. we had close to 60 our first week. we've met our growth goals for the year...
by canadian standards i have served in a successful church or two. for one brief window we were the fastest growing church around. we had national publicity, there were accolades, but it was passing. one monday i woke up to the realization that i needed a new binder, 'breaking the 1000 barrier'.
but i wasn't any happier.
for some reason i didn't feel successful - i simply started comparing myself to bigger churches. we had outgrown the mother church, it was time to take on the saskatoon church. all our goals became growth goals. i tried to be an executive and justified incredible church envy as a noble, godly enterprise. it drove me nuts that we weren't more famous, i coveted the success of other pastors and was quick to point out how easy they had it; they started on a college campus, they were in the inner city, they were in the suburbs, they were in the country. they were compromising, they didn't care about the poor, they didn't reach real non-christians, they had transfer growth, they were pretty-boy sellouts. they had more money.
i love the club. we have no money, no real sound system. no publicity. no denomination looking in. there are no articles and no accolades. no one is going to stop by to congratulate us. i won't be speaking at any church growth conferences. we don't care about numerical growth. there are no external goals to attain, no financial or egotistical benchmarks. i love the people who are there.
it's heaven.
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