Hey, Bob, if you’re still out there, I’d love to pursue a conversation with you on the topic of “excellence.” I know it’s en vogue these days to downplay the value of excellence in ministry. I’m not buying it, though, and I’m hoping you might help me understand the thinking behind it. These questions popped to mind in reaction to your recent comment.
- First of all, what’s a “transformational mindset?” Please have patience. I know I’m not the brightest crayon in the box.
- Are you saying we should embrace less-than-excellent Bible teaching? Is it OK for us to just give 75% effort in serving others?
- If the business world has abandoned excellence, why did Starbucks recently close all their stores to train all their baristas to make a better espresso?
- Do you think God wants us to embrace “average” or “mediocre” instead of excellent? If not, help me better understand your position.
Just in case you’re wondering, I do think there are times when holding too tightly to excellence can be a detriment to churches. For example:
- It’s a problem when we pursue excellence at the expense of action. Sometimes we need to be more willing to launch the beta version even though it has flaws.
- It’s a problem if we let our expectations for excellence turn into an expectation for perfection.
- It’s a problem when we let excellence become an excuse for not delegating or empowering others.
- It’s a problem when we let excellence get in the way of doing what God has called us to do.
That said, are you willing to share your thoughts on this topic and hopefully teach me something new in the process?
I think God expects us to try our best. But sometimes we (the church) have confused “excellence” with a package that has no room for variation. I’m not talking about your church because I’ve never been there. But I’ve been to churches who have multiple services that are scripted to the second with no variation. I went to back-to-back services at a church once where the service was 100% identical, down to the pastor crying at the same part of the sermon. It was eerie how little the Spirit was able to move. I’m all for excellence. We need more of it, but not at the expense of authenticity and not when it looks like we’re just acting in the community play.
The one word Bob used that resonated with me is “performance.” Excellence is great, but we need to take care it doesn’t overshadow the message. In other words, excellent sermons are great unless the congregation can’t get past the performance to hear the message. Excellent praise sing is awesome unless it becomes a concert and the congregation never participates in praising (the Lord, that is).
And I can hear you getting ready to respond, “Well then those wouldn’t be excellent sermons or praise sings.” ;-)
Thanks for engaging on this, Tony.
First, let me ground what I suggesting in some shared definitions:
excel: to surpass; be superior to; outdo; being better than others or being superior in achievement
transform: to change in condition, nature, or character; convert
From my own experience, churchianity gave itself over to an excellence mindset, to a sense that we need to be superior in our achievement. We’ve spent most of our leadership energies on how to excel, how to surpass, how to set ourselves above. The irony is that this often comes from our theology (be it lib or conservative, evangelical or Catholic) – a modern absolutism, what has been called by many an “excessive confidence” by European, mostly white males.
For me, faith communities are places where change takes place, where grace & conviction break out regardless of our order of worship or our tightly planned sermon or program. When I engage with Pentecostals from Africa, with renegade Benedictine nuns, with activists on the ground striving for the mercy that Jesus calls us to – what I sense is a profound sense of transformation – literally changing form. It is typically NOT excellent – it is messy & hard to manage, unpredictable, even disruptive.
Hope that gets at the contrast that I see.
In terms of your questions:
* embrace less-than-excellent Bible teaching? Is it OK for us to just give 75% effort in serving others?
Bible teaching is almost always a messy thing – God’s word is something we stretch to hold, but never quite grasp. I suspect that meaningful study – like meaningful prayer or action – is not a direct result of the effort, but instead a function of the body of Christ working in concert.
* If the business world has abandoned excellence, why did Starbucks recently close all their stores to train all their baristas to make a better espresso?
Starbucks sells a commodity – water brewed with coffee grinds. The only way they can differentiate is by the experience, by or belief that our barrista is making us something better, more superior than the barrista at Dunkins or Peets.
Faith communities are many things, but they are not efficient businesses trafficing in commodity products. Sadly, we’ve aped so many practices from the business world – often a world that is 30 years old. Business pundits of today are NOT tracking excellence – instead they look for engagement, for the beuaty of how each individual is constructed, how groups of people can rise above the performance of any one individual. Take a look at Tom Davenport’s Annual Guru Analysis to get a sense of this:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120994594229666315.html?mod=blog
* Do you think God wants us to embrace “average” or “mediocre” instead of excellent?
This question fascinates me the most. We are created in the image of God, down to our cells, called to be co-creators of the universe we move in. I do NOT think God wants or best or our worst – I think God calls us to be all in, to hold nothing back, to stretch for a sense of being & doing that transcends all understanding. In that transcendence, it means more sometimes to fail & grow, to not view being a Christian as a performance, but as a way of being.
A lot of my own sense of Christian leadership pre-dates our own time of business or churchianity. Folks like the monastics, the AnaBaptists and the German church during Hitler’s dark reign – they all were messy, glorious collectives that thrived, rather than excelled.
I do not think this semantic, but instead foundational to who we are & what we are about.
[...] post “Should I pursue unexcellent?” got my mind going. The key here is that excellence does not equal perfection. If we expect [...]
Good thoughts Bob. I would have to agree that I prefer messy, passionate authenticity over sterile, scripted excellence now. This has been a transformation for me in the past couple years. I think I just got tired of the all the fancy voice over powerpoint presentations…just like I got tired of 80’s hair band ballads. Cheers.
Many may have already seen this, but Dan Schantz has an
"excellent"
article on this subject.
I agree that God deserves our best, but the “best” of the rich and the “best” of the poor may not be the same. Or as Bob put it…”I do NOT think God wants our best or our worst -I think God calls us to be all in…” It’s not about the “best” praise band or “best” building or “best” preacher.
It’s about surrender in every area of our lives. That’s not excellence. That’s obedience.
Hi Tony/Bob
I appreciate both your perspectives. My question is this…
AREN’T WE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION?
Shouldn’t we be asking ‘HOW CAN WE MAKE MORE DISCIPLES?’ How can we reach more unbelievers and lead them to become sold-out missionaries of Jesus Christ?
If the answer is ‘Do things more excellently’. Then do it. If its ‘Do more things but don’t worry about excellence’, then do it.
I think it all depends on context.
A large church will no doubt use excellence because it is a key part of their strategy. But the missionary in Africa may not.
I think the same can be said of things like innovation, pop-culture, technology, organisation, buildings, etc. These things are nothing more than tools in the hands of missionaries trying to reach people who are perishing. If they are helpful – use them. If not, then don’t worry about it.
Paul said ‘by all possible means’. I think we do whatever is helpful.
Mark
I’m just a Caveman. Your big words frighten me. Please. Must keep simple. Me think excellent no choice for Human Christian. It “lamb without spot”? It “running to win” 1 Cor. 19:22-25? Me think Talent not just money Matt. 25:20-21. God like best. Not like less. Paul say be consume with excellent. all time. Phil. 4:8.
Bible model 1st. Early church get. Then maybe Church no get because become business. Today, business get. Church maybe begin to get again.
Me hope this right. Me don’t want to re-think what excellent mean only what excellent look like. Me head hurt from big words.
I’m sorry this will be little long, but I posted this on my blog last week, and it sums up my feelings on the matter.
O.K., so shoot me now! I know that I apologized beforehand for some of this weeks posts….this being one of them. First of all let me say that it is my belief that we should do everything that we do to the best of our God-given abilities. We should strive to do the best with what God has gifted us with. But, where in the Bible does it say that God expects excellence from us in the Church? It may be in there, I’m not sure, but I believe that God is more interested in our hearts and our motives and that we’ve done all that we do to His glory and to the best of our abilities. But what if our very best isn’t excellent? What if all we have to give just doesn’t measure up to some preconceived notion of what excellence is? We as the Church in America have really gone off the deep end sometimes with this excellence thing. Can God use something that isn’t excellent? I think He used Moses even though he was slow of speech and probably had a stutter. I believe the Bible says that God is into using the weak, the foolish things of this world to show His power. I’ll tell you right now, I’m foolish, I’m weak! How about you? Don’t get me wrong, I believe that we should strive for excellence…it can send a good message to outsiders, but I believe a greater thing to strive for is authenticity, to be real.
I think there is a danger in placing so much emphasis on our excellence. It can get to the point where we don’t feel we need God to show up anymore. I know, I’ve been there. may we never have it together so much that we feel we don’t need God to show up.
The most effective sermon I ever preached was on a missions trip to rural Mississippi. I was tired, ill-prepared (I was given about 3 hours notice that I would be preaching) and nervous. I fumbled through the entire message, forgetting points and a few of the great stories that were there to make it interesting. When I sat down, I was sure that I’d failed as a pastor. I wasn’t excellent like Andy Stanley or Francis Chan. I didn’t “bring it” like Craig Groeschel or T.D. Jakes. I didn’t deliver the goods like Rick Warren or Bill Hybels. Heck….I wasn’t even nice like Joel Osteen. I was shocked when the altar filled with dozens (and I mean several dozen) people who wanted to give their lives to Christ. Excellent? No. Usable? You betcha. I guess the old adage is true. God is more interested in availability than ability.
i realised that I never answered your title question:
Should I pursue unexcellent?
It is a bit rhetorical to ask that. But my answer would be
yes
pursue unexcellent, celebrate unexcellent, recognize unexcellent
what would happen ?
god shows up
I think this conversation is mostly about weekly services (though the principles extend beyond that). And doing weekly services is hard. The response to how difficult it is to do weekly services in so many churches has been to slip into mindless formula… 3 songs, collect offering, special music, sermon, 1 song, blah blah blah. Lifeless. Completely unengaging zombie services. And obviously less than what God intends for us, less than what he deserves from us.
I think the over-reaction to that is the perfection seeking church… meaning well, but trying so desperately to not have a zombie service that their pendulum swings as far away from that as possible. And some would say they only achieve a different type of lifelessness.
The measure of being “all in” holds plenty of dangers as well. Some, because of how they are wired, will be “all in” on the music, and want a really tight band. Others will be all in on the preaching and want heavy theological exegesis. Etc, etc. The expression of all in-ness will be different from person to person, because God made each of us unique.
I figure, do your best – don’t be satisfied with the easy route. God is passionate and inspirational – we should be too. Make the best plans you possibly can. But hold onto them loosely. Be authentic and honest. And when God takes you somewhere other than where you thought you were going, hop on board and go with Him. But keep in mind that God can speak to us during planning for a worship event just as well as he can at the time of the worship event. Transformation of the mind isn’t relegated to the spur of the moment or to the messy. Plan for doing things really well, but be ready for a complete change of direction in the moment. At least that’s what seems to work for the way I’m wired.
Overall I agree with Bob.
I think the pursuit of excellence can very easily (and quickly) get in the way of the pursuit of GOD.
I don’t think doing your best is a problem at all. But it’s quite a different thing that pursuing holiness, righteousness, and love. Which don’t come from me doing my best (which is the implication of “excellence”), they come from the power of the Spirit alone.
[...] Tony Morgan has some good thoughts on this subject this week. Check out Should I Pursue Unexcellent? [...]
Tony,
Thanks for asking these questions and for engaging a dialogue. I have a couple untested thoughts that I’ll throw into the conversation. I welcome anyone’s disagreement or suggestions for clarification.
First is this: I don’t think excellence of any particular type is a specific command of the Bible. This is similar to what Travis wrote: “The ‘best’ of the rich and the ‘best’ of the poor may not be the same.” I would also go so far to say that excellence is not explicitly commanded anywhere (however, I haven’t memorized the Bible, so I am open to adjustment here).
However, the Bible does expect and call us to faithfulness. And there are at least a couple passages that define human faithfulness when it comes to evangelism and the gospel: in Colossians 4:4 Paul prays that he would make the gospel clear and in Matthew 10:27 Jesus commands his disciples shout the message from the housetops.
From this I conclude that there are at least two effects that human effort can have on the gospel message: clarity and reach. If we are to be faithful to God’s call on us, we should strive to be clear in our gospel message and to preach that clear message to as many as possible.
I would argue that certain types of excellence can support clarity and reach. And some types of excellence can actually muddy the message or shrink the audience. We should pursue the excellence that supports faithfulness in gospel proclamation and pass on anything – however excellent – that would not lead to those ends.
Second thought: We need to differentiate between what God calls us to do and what God does himself.
Some in this conversation have shared stories of how God has used their less-than-excellent work to change lives. Praise God! We should not surprised that this happens because He is in the business of changing lives and has graciously allowed weak and fallible men like me to participate with him. He is faithful to work in the hearts of those he loves, no matter how poor the messenger.
However, this does not mean that we should pursue unexcellence, and it does not mean that we should be satisfied with unexcellence. That would be unfaithfulness. We are called to be clear and to reach as many as possible. Let’s do that with as much excellence as our weakness allows. Then, let’s praise God when people respond to either the good or the bad, because that’s His faithfulness!
Thoughts?
Very engaging stuff folks. This is my first venture into commenting on a blog. I’m employed by the creative department of a church, and so I’m face to face with this question each day.
I’m particularly sensitive to Chuck’s comments, “The response to how difficult it is to do weekly services in so many churches has been to slip into mindless formula… 3 songs, collect offering, special music, sermon, 1 song, blah blah blah. Lifeless. Completely engaging zombie services.”
I agree wholeheartedly. As I’ve spent time thinking about it, I’ve come to conclude that the weekend service model is a bit flawed. It’s lifeless because it’s aimed at the masses, not at individuals. Scripture seems to point toward mass communication as a great way to preach the gospel to those who have not come to know Jesus, but Jesus’ model was quite different for those who were all ready following.
In an effort to homogenize the ministry on the weekend so that everyone is equally comfortable and able to benefit from it, we’ve failed to recognize that people’s needs are different at different stages of life. The result is an effort to strategize comfort and to create benefit for a large group of people.
Our church has addressed this with a focus on small groups, but the reality is that in this day and age the vast majority of people are too busy to prioritize two visits to “church things” a week. Oh yeah, and we want them to volunteer, and do outreach also. My, my my. The culture still points, however, to the weekend service being of primary importance.
The subject of excellence is a funny one. To me it begs the question, “Excellent compared to what?” In my opinion, the music at our church is very, very good. Better in terms of musicianship (again IMHO) than Willow Creek, Northpointe, Saddleback, Fellowship Church, Granger (a few big ones that I’ve seen). But is it excellent? I grew up in Nashville, and my contact list is riddled with players that are way better than the players at our church. So who’s excellent really?
It’s a slippery slope. What if we define the “good” kind of excellence as our best effort to worship God in our work, or our art, or our play, or our families. Maybe we can stop evaluating the work of others, and instead appreciate it as their worship.
I guess at some point the realist in me says that at some point you have to qualify talent, but I just think we do it a little too quickly, and without concern for the individual.
My prayer is that we can continue to be innovative, and not settle for “what has worked at other churches”. Passion for seeing the individual passionate about God is in my mind the role of the church, and I’d love the opportunity to take a fresh look at how to do that with excellence, but until then, I’m off to produce some compelling creative content :)