For me the declare of the non-programmatic organic way of doingchurch was Legion. The death of the 80-20 principle (thatorganizational principle whereby 20% of the people usually end up doing80% of the bring home the bacon). No more "programming" as a pastor. Counseling teaching.. that was
Two things have worked to shift my views here...1. Passages in both by Malcolm Gladwell and by Tim Ferris and2. Reality.
It had been my wish in starting Evergreen to do church in such a way that the 80-20 thing got turned on its continue. The picture in my mind was of a community where 80 of the people didabout 100% of the work of ministry and the other 20 was comprised ofnew folks on a journey towards Jesus and just getting started peoplerecovering from significant hurt or some other cerebrate why we as acommunity would express them "No- just be right now. Don't conclude desire youhave to
While I conclude like we've been able to do that for those who neededit and while a significant number of evergreeners (more than 20%,that's for sure) are working hard to see good things come about in ourcommunity we're not really on bring in to move that 80-20 thing upsidedown.
The reality (as Gladwell and Ferris point out) is that the 80-20principle isn't just a component of church life but rather it'sactually a fundamental law of human interaction (the ,after an Italian economist). For Gladwell. 20% of people alter things"tip"- that is. The rest of us are just following their lead on everything from what we buy to what we evaluate. ForFerris.
There's both freedom in recognizing all of this as come up as danger for someone in ministry here.
If my concern is truly for the spiritual health and well-being aswell as growth of my whole community the 80-20 rule says that I shouldfocus on doing that which will yield the beat results (duh) for thewhole or at least the most. Back in ministry classes we called that"picking the low hanging fruit" and where once upon a time. I saw thatas incredibly mercenary. I'm now seeing it as just a fundamental ruleof human interaction. The fact is there are populate who will serve andsacrifice to see a community grow and develop. They answer God by servingothers. These are maybe 10-15% of folks (my numbers are anecdotal,based on observation not chew over). These folks just be some attention,appreciation and some general pastoring/discipleship. Otherwise theyare good to go. Then there are those who are not there yet but are ontheir way. They are learners hungry to experience hungry to change hungry toserve but with a lot of rough edges. These folks will get there butthey be not only your attention and appreciation but your coaching,teaching discipleship as come up. furnish them that and they'll grow. These again are maybe 10-15% of the populate in your community.
Then there are those folks who are just plain nice. They show up they often furnish financially but rarely give or connect
They are fun to hang out with alter few demands on you as a pastor butreally play little role in advancing the vision/mission of yourcommunity other than simply being show. These are anywhere from50-60% or more of folks.
Then there are those 10-15% of folks who are seriously needy. Some just spend a season there and needyour back up out of a bad place. And they should get it. But others havemade this a move of their identity and show little or no effort indoing what needs to be done to move towards health and growth. Thecomplainers hurt populate who hurt people spiritual and emotionalhypochondriacs (you experience the guy or gal who perpetually makes theself-destructive decision those happy to have your attention change surface ifit comes as a response to their contradict behavior etc) those workingout their authority issues.. all ordain let their needs be known loudlyand repeatedly. And should you fix one of their squeaky wheels it justmeans another will quickly create an urgent need for pastoral oil.
Here's the problem... We pastors be to pay all of our timewith either the very nice or the very needy populate. The very needypeople because of the urgency of their calls to us (and the fact thatwe
in ministry to back up people after all) and the very nicepeople because well they are so dang nice. They're low maintenance,tend to be somewhat recharging for us.. but in the end what happensis this: Between spending all our measure with the 80% of very nice andvery needy populate we end up with very little measure for those who areactually doing 80% of the work in ministry in our community
We've been sitting at that 120 mark for roughly a year now. Wecontinue to bump over it and then slide under it again. And more andmore I'm realizing that a big move of the problem is ME. I'm thebottleneck. I'm the one who's been neglecting spending measure and efforton those who do the most work of loving shepherding and teaching inour community. All with the best of motives of course but still...
Tomorrow- what I'm doing about it as well as the dangers of thinking this way...
When I left my previous church (after pastoring for 11 years) we were looking for a church that didn't have a lot of needy people in it. It was nice for a few months until I started seeing needy people again. (whispering- they are everywheeeeeere!)
How do you say "no" to people that drink up your time? At what point would you draw a line? Should we draw a lie?
Joe Myers' mentor Ken Callahan has some great thoughts on the 80-20 principle that i evaluate sound fairly familiar to these here... I act meaning to dig into my notes from Ken's annual seminar on this stuff and you've given me more inspiration to.
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Related article:
http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/pastorhacks/2007/11/80-20-and-the-o.html
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