Churches often shy away from the idea of competition. Congregations do not like competing with one another. Several weeks ago, when I shared the Presbytery of Chicago statistics, I was concerned that some congregations would see themselves as better than others. At the same time, I wondered if some would feel like failures because they didn’t have a good statistical report. Competition can be healthy if the goal is not about competing with other churches but aligning with the vision and mission of your church.
On the podcast Manager Tools, the hosts share best practices for interviewing candidates for a job. The episode is titled Top Ten Hiring Mistakes- #9. I encourage every Pastor Nominating Committee to listen to it. The hosts emphasize that the goal is not to hire based on how the candidates compare to one another, but on how the candidate compares to the job. They use the example of a race where the goal is to beat a specific time, not the person next to you. The goal of a congregation is to cast a vision worth striving for and then try to achieve that vision.
In the book A Life of Meaning, James Hollis quotes Carl Jung, who said, “We all walk in shoes that are too small for us.” He is saying we limit our dreams. We set small goals that are reachable but unfulfilling. Some churches live a life that’s too small for them. What if we did not continue doing things the same way? What if worship, liturgy, and music looked different? What if we choose other people to sit around the table? What would happen if we stopped doing things that aren’t working (or only working for the same people who enjoy doing them) and instead pursued a robust vision of the church’s future?
Hollis later writes, “In the end, to have been here, to have shown up as best we could, to have wrestled with these larger questions, to have kept the mystery before us, and to have joyfully accepted being defeated by ever larger things is why we’re here.”
The Book of Order reads, “The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life” (F-1.0301).
Theology professor Bob Cathey asked the late Dirk Ficca (interfaith advocate and former Executive Director of the Parliament of World Religions) why he continued to organize to help refugees in Europe despite dire predictions about climate change, and Dirk said that he had an aphorism posted in his home office that said something like: “Each day may I fail at attempting great things.”
Do we have goals that are worth failing at? Are they worth dying for? Can we find purpose in being defeated by an ever-larger vision of the church, the presbytery, and life? Is the vision of your church large enough? Will the goals stretch you, or are they low-hanging fruit? Are we trying to paint a beautiful tomorrow that is worth the effort and even worth falling short?
May we, our church and institutions, do the work of showing up for our communities. Let us engage in larger issues while following Jesus Christ and dare to fail at something great. Amen.
