May 29, 2014
Seems to be Working
A few years ago my former
church eliminated regular youth activities and opted for “family activities”
only. Not surprisingly, the church experienced loss of membership when parents
went to other congregations to fill the void left in their children. Last week
I visited with some folks new to the community who attend the church. When they
first started attending they were surprised by the lack of emphasis on youth
programs, but after learning the thought process she said, “It seems to be
working for them.” Her observation was interesting
and her words thought provoking; not quite a resounding declaration of success.
Sadly, many of us evaluate church activities, programs and outreach in a
similar manner. I can only imagine Apostle’s reaction if the disciples of the
early church reported back such a detached view of the spreading Gospel. “Then
the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It
was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living
in the fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I think the key to understanding the problem lies somewhere in your statement, “…many of us evaluate church activities, programs, and outreach in a similar manner.” “It seems…” is strongly indicative of a guess to which that “similar manner” refers. Surely not all guesses are made devoid of information. This guess wasn’t either. You reveal that before she knew anything else, this new person was “…surprised by the lack of emphasis on youth programs.” “But after learning the thought process…” her surprise changed, and she evaluated the effort as seemingly effective.
-----The thought process of anything is nothing more than the rationale and plans and goals of it. It is not even the functioning of it, but rather a mere description of how it should function. Evaluating a program's effectiveness by its thought process is like evaluating the neighbor's car for sale by his description of how it works: turn the key until you hear the engine roar, step on the brake, move the shift lever to “D”, and gently press the accelerator pedal. “Good! It seems the car works! I‘ll buy it!” This evaluation process will make the neighbor quite happy to sell you something motorless.
-----Many of us do evaluate things in a similar manner. That we wind up guessing is the symptom. That we do not know the elements of evaluation is the cause. That we wind up pasting a slogan to our mind and calling it “thought” is the process. That our resulting evaluation is completely devoid of reality is the effect.
-----The elements of evaluation are simple. Compare an actuality to its ideal. Its congruities are “atta-boys”, its incongruities are “dorks”. Then fix the dorks. In this case, the ideal is spiritually healthy children growing in their level of knowledge of the Lord and living new life commensurate with their intellectual and emotional abilities. The actuality is what the kids around the church know, how they act, and the decisions they make about challenges and temptations. I think we can all see how “learning the thought process” of a program will not show whether little Johnny knows beans about faithful living.
-----”Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour.” (I Pet 5:8) “The Destroyer” is another Biblical title for Satan, as is “The Deceiver”. Sobriety and watchfulness are about avoiding deceit. Ponder it just a bit; deceit is precursory to destruction. Knowledge ties us to reality so we can act and react in ways that maintain situations and things and their proprieties. But deceit unfetters our actions and reactions from reality. What is needed to properly maintain situations and things gets lost. Situations and things then fall apart and break down, somewhat like the gazelle on the lion’s breath.
-----Barrack Obama was evaluated as an atta-boy for just saying “hope and change”. Now America is quickly becoming a mere scent on his breath for having not even looked at reality. See how that works? Look at the church kids. How are they doing? The answer to that question will indicate more than just knowing a program’s thought process.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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