A new question has interrupted my theology (smile).  Can a church do everything with excellence?  I’ve grown up in the paradigm of church growth and multiplication – its always strongly suggested that “church” be done with excellence.  It’s the mindset you empower every aspect of your church toward quality from the vendors you use, staff you hire, and volunteers you train.  God is excellent and we do everything as if it is unto Him – so we too do church with excellence. 

Disclaimer: I completely agree a church should be mindful of chipped paint on the wall or the unevenly folded bulletin or the lack of directional signs. I want to discuss the cost of excellence and how effective it is in whole.

Maybe you can relate? I was thirteen and attending my first Bar Mitzvah.  The temple was beautiful and every detail addressed, of course I arrived with jeans and a button up shirt (huge no-no).  Lucky enough they had a box full of yarmulkes to borrow because I left mine at home (smile ~ maybe you can’t relate).  Here is the issue – everything was done with excellence and grandeur – maybe a little too much because at thirteen I didn’t feel adequate.  Everything was so clean and I was more messy.  I knew my friends at school and they were messy too.  The temple they attended was not authentic to who they were, and since it was my Jewish friend who introduce me to his dads porn, neither was it authentic to their family.  For me excellence comes to down to authenticity.

I think excellence is a great thing, because the Church for decades had grown lazy at excellence and we had old run-down, unclean buildings and programming and materials that were riddled with mistakes and errors. Many people had no desire to visit a church let alone leave their kids in those environments.  And this problem still challenges many churches, but can excellence go too far?  I think the emerging problem in some places is too much excellence.  Excellence is significant but not as important as effectiveness.

Maybe my view is squid because I’ve served in church plants for nine years.  But sometimes too much money or too many things cause people to feel like the church has abundance and needs less of their time and less of their money.  . “My church has a lot of money, so they don’t need me to give.” “My church has a lot of staff, so they don’t need me to serve.”

Too much excellence can cause people to feel out of place, inadequate, and inferior.  If everything looks and programs well people feel less needed and as a consequence, they may end up less engaged and committed.  This brings a whole new perspective; sometimes the quest for more excellence does not just have the potential to be more wasteful, but possibly less effective.

I want what I do to be excellent, but more than that…I want it to be effective.