Five Percent Better

Last month, Timberline Church held its annual Orphan Care Weekend.  During that weekend, Pastor John Mehl said something that, I believe, can transform any local church.  In talking about The Hope for the Journey Conference, he hopes his church can improve by 5%.  He doesn't keep coming each year and inviting more and more of his volunteers because he wants everything to change drastically and change immediately.  He said, "If we can just be 5% better this year than last year, that will make the biggest difference over time."    

The temptation is to look at what everyone else is doing and try to keep up with them.  Jesus did not go for perfection.  He did not expect his disciples to develop at the same pace.  Some got it faster than others, and one did not ever get it.  Jesus went with a strategy of slight improvement over time.  His disciples did not cast out all the demons and heal everyone on the first try.  They did not always say everything perfectly and represent him in the best way.  We see small improvements over time when we read through the Gospels and Acts.  Jesus built on those small improvements, and the world changed.   

Maybe you are looking at adding a ministry to your church.  Are you doing it because you believe God is leading you in that direction, or are you doing it because ABC Church down the street is doing it?  It is easy to fall into the competition game where our comparisons select winners.  That church has 3% of its members involved in foster care.  If we want to be able to say we are being successful, we need to be at least at 10%. This church has trained 30% of its children and youth volunteers and trauma-informed staff.  We need all of our volunteers and staff trained. When we get stuck in that cycle of thinking, we often become overwhelmed and don't do anything.  We don't feel like we can do the big thing, so we don't do anything at all.  

Here is an example of what 5% thinking looks like compared to "Big equals success" thinking.  Maybe 10% of your adults are connected to a small group.  Because you value small groups, you start with a goal like "85% of our adults will participate in a small group.  Yes, that is what we would love to see."  We know the groups are valuable and will help people grow in their discipleship journey.  The problem is how do you jump 75%.  When it doesn't happen, we start looking for problems, excuses, and scapegoats.  Is it the pastor in charge of small groups fault?  "Maybe we have the wrong curriculum.  ABC Church used XYZ's material, and its numbers skyrocketed." We start thinking, "This isn't working.  Maybe we need to change our focus and not worry about groups." 

Compare that to the 5% better focus.  Think about how different that scenario would be if we said, "We are happy that 10% of our adults are part of small groups.  That is a great starting point for us. Our goal this year is for 15% of adults to participate in a small group in a meaningful way."  There is a healthy recognition of where we currently are.  Our goal is independent of what anyone else is doing.  When we accomplish the goal, we are experiencing growth in that area and quality growth.  

Five percent improvement, repeated over time, will always bring about more positive change than doing a lot of the wrong thing or nothing.

By Brandon Alverson, FamiliesCare Manager in Weld County