I am reading "7 Practices of effective ministry" by Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner & Lane Jones. Thus far I have read the narrative overview of all 7 practices and the extensive description of the first practice, of which I am very intrigued: Clarify the Win.
Stanley et al use baseball imagery and metaphor throughout the book to help make the concepts easier to understand (at least for those who are familiar with the world of baseball). Stanley states that the first practice of the effective ministry is to clearly define what success looks like for a certain ministry. He explains that every church should understand what it means for them to be successful and what success means when it comes to the world and work in which we engage. He discusses and acknowledges that defining a victory in the church is much more difficult than doing so in baseball. (Although, from my experiences in athletics, I know that even though one may fail to win an individual game, it may still be a success because of experience gained and skills improved that better position one to be victorious in upcoming opportunities.)
This is difficult for me as I struggle to understand what victories might look like. Obviously baptizing someone into the faith would be a victory, having people make a commitment to the membership of this church would be a victory, but what are other victories? Those are victories that don't happen every week and can only happen for someone once (at least in UM theology). But what are the victories that can occur from work with those who are already a part of this congregation? What are the victories that occur from those who have been a part of the church since Jesus was a little boy? (I give my father credit for this phrase, as it is one intended to mean folks who have been around for quite sometime and are very schooled in the ways of the church.) So, I guess the question I am asking and struggling to find an answer to is, what is a victory for a church that has existed for more than 150 years and been in a state of plateau or decline for the past 20 or so years? What victories can we achieve or expect that will be enough to create the momentum we need to break out of the patterns of the past 20 or more years?
Another of the concepts he introduces is the need for church to, once they have clarified the win, celebrate the wins and keep a scoreboard. If your team has been losing for the past 20 years, do you really want to put up a scoreboard so everyone can see how miserable you have been? When a victory is achieved, especially when it is a rare occasion, you better believe we celebrate it in grand style, but the problem is, how do you keep up morale when the victories are few and far between? Perhaps this is more reason to clarify the win and perhaps even create a few more opportunities for wins by creating new categories.
I hope this has been food for thought for you, as this reading will certainly stimulate my thoughts for quite a while.
Seeking the best for His Kingdom,
Chris
