Question for the Future. . .

Jim Collins has authored several books including "Good to Great, How the Mighty Fall, and Good to Great and the Social Sectors. The first two are about businesses the third one is about volunteer organizations including churches and why business thinking is not the answer.

One of his points of differences is in business; money is both an input (a resource for achieving greatness) and an output (a measure of greatness). In the social sectors money is only an input, and not a measure of greatness.

Collins writes that a great organization is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time. For a business, financial returns are a perfectly legitimate measure of performance. For a social sector organization, performance must be assessed relative to mission, not financial returns. In the social sectors, the critical question is not, "How much money do we make per dollar of invested capital?" but "How effectively do we deliver on our mission and make a distinctive impact, relative to our resources?"

He asks the question "What if your outputs are inherently not measurable?"

He uses as an example when Tom Morris became executive director of The Cleveland Orchestra in 1987. Prior to taking the position Morris asked "What do you want me to do if I come here?" Their answer: make an already great orchestra even greater, defined by artistic excellence. Artistic excellence cannot be measured precisely but that does not change the fact that artistic excellence is the primary definition of performance for The Cleveland Orchestra.

To throw our hands up and say, "But we cannot measure performance in the social sectors the way you can in business" is simply lack of discipline. All indicators are flawed whether qualitative or quantitative. What matters is not finding the perfect indicator but settling upon a consistent and intelligent method of assessing output results, and then tracking your trajectory with rigor. What do you mean by great performance? Have you established a baseline? Are you improving? If not, why not? How can you improve even faster toward your goals?

Any journey from good to great requires relentlessly adhering to rigorous tracking your trajectory on the output variables, and then driving to even higher levels of performance and impact. No matter how much you have achieved, you will always be merely good relative to what you can become. Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide to mediocrity will have already begun.

If you ask typical church members why their church exists, you'll get a wide variety of answers. Most churches do not have a clear consensus on this issue. Win Arn, a consultant to churches surveyed members of nearly a thousand churches asking the question "Why does the church exist?" the results? Of the church members surveyed, 89 percent said "The church's purpose is to take care of my family's and my needs." For many, the role of the (preacher) is simply to keep the sheep who are already in the "pen" happy and not lose too many of them. Only 11 percent said, "The purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus Christ."

Then, the (preachers) of the same churches were asked why the church exists. Amazingly the results were exactly opposite. Of the (preachers) surveyed, 90 percent said the purpose of the church was to win the world and 10 percent said it was to care for the needs of the members. Is it any wonder why we have conflict, confusion, and stagnation in many churches today? If the (preacher) and congregation can't even agree on why the church exists, conflict and disagreement on everything else is inevitable.

Unless the driving force behind a church is biblical, the health and growth of the church will never be what God intended.

You are probably asking what does this have to do with Great Smoky Mountains Church of Christ. As we complete the construction of a new building and look to the future, why does Great Smoky Mountains Church of Christ exist? I suggest our answers should be found in the Bible and I do not find anywhere in the bible where allowing others to assemble with us is a goal of the New Testament church. Are we a good congregation of the church established on Pentecost? Are we a great congregation? Are we a relevant congregation? Are we having an impact? Is the Lord's church universal better because we exist? Are we doing what Jesus wants us to do? How do you know? Why do you know?