Shoot for Mediocrity ?

Excellence.

It is a word that you hear frequently in the church world. We must do everything that we do with excellence. Sometimes, it comes in the following way: we are going to "eliminate" some of our programs and ministries, so that we are only doing a few things and we will do them with "excellence".

I have to be honest. I cringe at the word excellence when it comes to the church world. I do not think that it has to do with me not thinking that I can produce 'excellence". Rather it comes with my hesitation if that is what we should be aiming for and I am not sure if that is what god intended or Jesus aimed for in HIS ministry.

If we are going to shoot for excellence, that means that we are going to have to eliminate many people from ministry. Here are a few examples:

Jenny, I know that you love to sing but we just cannot have you in the praise team.
Jon, we have to move you off the AV, the sound is just "not right"
Alex, your "theatrics" are over the top; we will use someone else for the skit

We create an A-team, so we can put the best performers on the stage and ministry venue so we can create "excellence" and folks will go away impressed with how we execute and be encouraged to invite new people for this unbelievable experience.

This past Sunday, I went to a "downtown" church and they had a VBS kick-off. They may have had 10 kids. They had has many adults there grilling hot dogs, doing tattoos and a Tye-die project and playing the parachute game. It was so simple.  Yet individuals there were loving their time WITH ONE ANOTHER and everyone felt that they belonged. Any talent-scout or head-hunters would have quickly exited, I am sure -- not finding what they were looking for. However, it was beautiful.

I have a very loose connection with Karl. I have never met him. I have never talked to him. But, i am aware of his church community and love (from a distance) what they are doing. He did an article recently on striving for mediocrity not excellence and it got me pondering and thinking. The article is linked below:

Mediocrity is the Goal