We’ve talked about Jim Collins’ Good to Great before, but a Leadership Journal article (admittedly from 2003, but relevant for today) explores churches that are moving from great to good.
The article notes that many companies, people and churches have sought after success, doing all they can to be great. But there comes a point when success is no longer fulfilling and those companies, people and churches turn to doing something significant (it’s the opposite of the stereotypical mid-life crisis: instead of buying a red convertible, the 50-year-old becomes a missionary).
Instead of focusing on being great, these churches are focusing on doing good, following the model Jesus set (Acts 10:28: “he went around doing good”). Whether it’s helping the homeless or teaching people to read, these churches are doing good instead of being great, and the good news goes with them.
The world could use some good today.
Todd
April 30, 2009
While I understand the basic premise (not getting bogged down in extraneous things that would dull their focus), shouldn’t that read more accuratetly, “Instead of focusing on being great, these churches are focusing on doing good, as Peter describes Jesus’ ministry.”
If we are going to claim to follow the model that Jesus set, then we are going to have build ministry around healing, casting out demons, and challenging the religious status quo.
Stan
May 1, 2009
Shouldn’t the church be doing good things in a great way? It seems to me that in the church world, these don’t have to be separated. We can either do good and just be good at it. Or we can strive for greatness, corporate success, in great ways. Or we can strive to do good in our world in great ways. Can’t the church do both?
And if our focus is the ministry of Jesus, then our focus should be on the development of people into fully transformed followers of Christ. We should be focusing on discipleship at the “great” level so that they will in turn accomplish the “good” in the world. Okay, this all makes sense in my head. :D
djchuang
May 3, 2009
Since that CT article was published in 2003, there are seemingly more churches actively serving the needs of the community, with no strings attached. In one recent campaign, 245 churches participated with Servolution http://servolution.org , a revolution of churches mobilizing their people to show God’s love through acts of kindness.