We have a “Butts and Bucks”
problem: our B and B anxiety often
leads us to a B and B theology, which
devolves into a B and B idolatry. Too
often we worship at the altar of big dollars, filled pews, and the alleged
security these things bring.
I can almost hear some of the
internal debates swirling around the presbytery as these words are read: “Yes,
didn’t Jesus say, ‘Where two or three are gathered, there I am present also’?”
“What are you talking about, Brad? In Acts, God ‘added to their number daily
those who were being saved.’”
This past week, in the midst of
the swirl of the national news frenzy (I’m still against white supremacy, by
the way) and the swirl of hurricane images heading for Texas (I’m still concerned
about my son, in-laws and all other Texans, by the way), I have been blessed to
encounter Camille Josey of the Presbyterian Outreach Foundation. Camille
organizes the POF Small Church Initiative and got me to join POF’s Small Church
Initiative Facebook page. What a blessing!
On the Outreach Foundation Small
Church Initiative Facebook page (you can join, too, by the way), I read stories
of small churches making big impacts in their communities. I read stories of
one church creating a brew pub that invites patrons to fund community ministry
(now that’s a church I want to
attend), another church replacing Christmas poinsettias with a butterfly
garden, and still another church creating a public park. In my own travels, I
have noticed the far more intimate expressions of connection that occur in
small church worship versus large church worship.
In Gil Rendle’s book, Doing the Math of Mission, he talks
about helpful and unhelpful ways churches monitor metrics. As noted above, our
prevailing anxiety leads toward the metrics of Butts and Bucks. But is there
another way? Rendle believes there is. He suggests a distinction between
metrics that matter and metrics that don’t. Metrics that we measure don’t tend
to tell us much: inputs (the
resources we put in: money, staff time, etc.), throughputs (the things we do: worship, Bible study, mission
project), and outputs (the numbers:
people who attend). The metric that matters is outcomes: what change is affected by our inputs, throughputs, and
outputs? How are our people different? What impact is made on the community?
I will talk more next week about
the distinctions between these different metrics, but for this missive it
strikes me that the outcomes in
small churches suggest a prophetic challenge to our prevailing B and B anxiety.
There is a place for the kind of fellowship where one cannot hide in anonymity,
where “anonymous Christian” is the oxymoron it is. There is a place for the
kind of church where “everyone knows your name,” where care is extended in
personal and relational ways. There is a place for the kind of Christian faith
nurtured by communities where accountability is not really optional.
Some of you from
larger churches who are reading this missive may be thinking to yourselves,
“But, Brad, large churches can create small group opportunities, too, you
know!” Point taken. But what all y’all from larger churches have to create,
small churches already are: let’s honor, affirm, and celebrate them for all
they do for the sake of Jesus and the people Jesus’ loves.
Not being ornery, just sayin’,
Brad Munroe
