I was reading Seth Godin's blog this morning catching up on some of his past posts. All his posts are short, to the point and give fantastic insight that can be applied to most organizations.
This was his question in a post called "Once in a Lifetime" (read the entire blog here).
"Should your product or service be very good, meet spec and be above reproach or should it be remarkable, memorable, over the top, a tell your friends event?"
He says you can't be both, you have to be one or the other. So here is my question: "Which goal would be better for the church?"
At first glance I thought it is best to be remarkable, memorable, over the top, a tell your friends event. Then I thought this is to much of an attractional attitude. Jesus had events that were all of this and people just wanted more. There were people who wanted to come and see what Jesus would do next. The feeding of the five thousand comes to mind. They knew of him, but did not really know him.
Then I started to think about it. A church that is very good at what it does, meets the spec of being like Jesus and is above reproach carries with it a sense of authenticity. It is not as concerned with just having a lot of people, it is concerned with seeing lives changed.
Jesus accomplished more with eleven changed lives than five thousand men he fed with two fish and five loaves of bread.
What are your thoughts?
2 comments:
I THINK WE NEED TO BE THE BEST WE CAN BE AT BEING AUTHENTIC. THAT DOESN'T MEAN HOWEVER THAT WE SHOULD NOT ALWAYS STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE AT WHAT WE DO.
Anonymous
Thanks for your comment but,
this has nothing to do with being excellent that is the worng question that we need to ask. If you are doing the wrong thing with excellence, is it really being excellent?
In the "Blues Brothers," a movie with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd they are trying to get the band back together. Of course their style of music was blues. They went and played at a country bar to earn some money. The music was excellent, but it did not work in the culture they were in.
The same is true with American Idol contestants. They can be great singers, but not connect with people enough to be the American Idol. A lot of times the best singer does not win or even make it big.
So again, just pursuing excellence does not necessarily mean succes. The pursuit for excellence needs to be in the context of doing the right thing.
And in the church we can be excellent at what we do, but without authenticity (living like Jesus and living above reproach)many churches are failing at connecting lost people to Jesus.
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