The Church and Best Practices in Business: Ask the Right Questions

It is no secret that my favorite business gurus are John Kotter and Peter Drucker. Both have shared a wealth of insight on how organizations function effectively. The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization by Peter Drucker is one of the most insightful books on the subject of leadership. These five questions are important if someone desires to succeed in business. They are equally important for anyone who desires to succeed in ministry. Grasping issues related to change, leadership, and management are critical for leaders of any kind of organization. Every pastor and every minister, no matter what their area of responsibility, should ask these questions on a regular basis. Identifying the correct answers is critical if the church or ministry is to flourish. Consider these:

1. What is our mission? In other words, why do we exist? What are we trying to accomplish? After all the prayer and the  effort, what is it we want to see occur in our midst? The key, here, is that these need to be driven by Biblical imperatives. What does God want done here in this time and place? Another way to phrase the question is "what business are we in?" If the congregation's collective answer does not match the Biblical imperatives, and if the ministers' answers do not match the Biblical imperatives, the church or ministry has serious work to do, or it will necessarily face serious consequences.

2. Who is our customer? Drucker restates the question thusly: "who must be satisfied for the organization to achieve results?" In church life, this can be a touchy subject. I customarily would tell our church members that "we are the only organization in the world that exists for the sake of those who are not yet members." All the while, pulling against this was the mindset of many, "meet our needs!" Trying to balance these two sets of demands (polarities) is certainly not an easy task! By acquiescing to either one at the expense of the other can have detrimental effects in the church or ministry.

3. What do the customers value? This can only be answered by identifying who the customers are and by asking them questions that need to be answered. I tell my preaching students repeatedly, "don't preach sermons answering questions no one is asking." We need to ask both the church and the unchurched, insiders and outsiders, what matters to them. In the words of some, we are asking how can we create and add value to our customers? In the church, we should be asking, "what needs can we as a congregation meet?" "Where are people hurting?" That is the key.

4. What are our results? Drucker once said: "Success in any organization is simple. Find out how they keep score, and score." So, when all of our efforts are added up, what results can we show? It always astounds me when people who talk (or write) but have no results to speak of  in their labors are given additional responsibility. Did not Jesus himself say, "he who is faithful in that which is least, I will make ruler over much"( Luke 16:10)? When I read the book of Acts, I see a lot of emphasis on what occurred, on the results. In the ministries with which we have been entrusted, can we show any results? Another word for results in Scripture is "fruit."

5. What is our plan? In short, the plan is "a concise summation of the organization's purpose and future direction. The plan encompasses mission, vision, goals, objectives, action steps, a budget, and appraisals" (see Drucker p.65.) An old adage states, "for a plan to work, you must work the plan." It is of incredible importance in any organization and especially the church and Christian ministries to know and agree on the "plan." Of critical value is getting everyone in the organization to embrace the plan and then to execute the plan.

These five questions must be answered well if the church or Christian ministry is to flourish.

Are We Playing Church or Being the Church?

If you’ve found my blog, you may know that I’ve written two textbooks on Baptist history. The Baptist Reformation is the interpretive history of the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC. A Matter of Conviction is the history of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Baptist influence in helping to shape Western civilization.

I haven’t spent much time in recent years poring over Baptist historical texts, but in recent weeks I’ve been preparing to teach a course at Lenexa Baptist Church on "The Baptist March Through History: Who They Were and Why It Matters," so the history of the denomination has been on my mind.

While at Cross Church in Rogers, Arkansas last week, Dr. Ronnie Floyd asked me a salient question: "Who are we as a denomination and what are the critical issues that we must face?" I answered that we are a denomination in search of an "identity." Across the board, I am not convinced that we really know who we are, what we should be doing, or why it matters.

Peter Drucker, famous business thinker, is known for stating,"The first question is this: what business are you in?" I am not at all convinced that the vast majority of our 40,000+ churches and our 16 million+ members of the SBC know how to answer that question. Many might tell you that we should be fulfilling the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Great Contrast (being salt and light in a decaying culture). But the issue, however, is in what we DO; everything else is just religious talk. 

When everything is said and done, there is a lot more said than done. 

Until each local congregation determines what business it is in and aligns its actions with its answers, I see a continued drift.

If the goal of a local congregation is simply to keep the institution from going under, pay its bills, take care of itself, and perpetuate its old guard leadership structure, it is not even in its essence fulfilling the biblical definition of church. The first step in helping the denomination clarify its identity, is to help local churches clarify what business they are in.

If a local church is not thinking and acting strategically on how to:

-Win the lost to Christ

-Disciple those who are won

-Worship God authentically

-Minister to its people and community in which it resides

-Participate in the great task of world evangelism

-Engage in cultural renewal

it is not only falling short of its biblical mandate, it may be simply playing church without being the church. 

These things delineate the business we are in. So, how about your church? Are you being the church, or playing church? 

5 Books I Read Every Day

I am always curious about what people are reading. I've been asked recently to share with you some book recommendations so I thought I'd start with what I read on a daily basis. 

I am a firm believer in the need for a daily intake of the Word. But I have also grown to appreciate other standard devotional works like those of Oswald Chambers and Charles Spurgeon. These works provide essential insight into walking with God. I want to share with you some additional daily resources that I have grown to appreciate. Three would be considered "spiritual" in nature and an additional read which would be categorized as secular (although it would do most ministers and students a world of good to read it).

Before I write another word, I want to relate one of my biases. As one who has given much of his ministry focus to the study of history, I have grown to value primary sources. Primary sources are the materials that the great thinkers and leaders have written. It is John Calvin's Institutes, or Spener's Pia Desideria, or a Jonathan Edwards sermon for example. These are not works about them but what they actually wrote. Permit me to recommend some daily readers which consist primarily of primary source material. These I have found both profitable and helpful.

Not too long ago, I came across Day by Day with Saint Augustine compiled and written by Donald X. Burt. It consists of a paragraph taken from an Augustine selection accompanied by a brief devotional thought. Published in 2006 by Liturgical Press, this volume provides a wide introduction to Augustine's devotional thought contained in his Confessions, sermons, commentaries, correspondence, and a few other writings. Burt's work provides interesting insight into Augustine's passionate heart for God.

A second reader, this one "secular" is a collection of essentially business thoughts from the master thinker on management and leadership, Peter Drucker. It consists of daily selections "culled from his lifetime of writing." The dust jacket describes The Daily Drucker this way: "Drucker's ideas about innovation, leadership, effectiveness, and adaptation to change still stand as elegant classics of business wisdom." Published in 2004 by HarperCollins, this book will prove helpful to anyone who is responsible for getting the right things done.

While attending the Evangelical Theological Society meeting this year, I ran across several leather-bound devotional books published by Christian Focus Publications out of Scotland. Edited by Randall J. Peterson, the two volumes I purchased are Daily Readings. The first, is a compilation of thoughts from the life of George Whitefield taken principally from his sermons and journals. For anyone who has been blessed reading his Journals or his Dallimore biography, this is an excellent reminder of one man's quest to know and be used by the Lord.

A companion volume, and my favorite, is Daily Readings from The Puritans. Each month, Pederson selects a Puritan (Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Stephen Charnock are the first three), and provides a rich devotional thought out of their writings. I have been blessed by the depth of thought and spiritual insight provided by these great saints of history.

Each of these volumes are valuable in their own right and are profitable for our maturity. In many ways, we become what we read. These daily readers will help us become better and more mature. What comes in makes a difference! So tell me, what are your daily readings?