Throughout the fall, it was mandatory that sermons contain at least one football illustration. I was amazed at how often the lectionary pointed to the Steelers. In the bleak February that followed, I reflected on how seductively sports have redefined success. People are fond of quoting Vince Lombardi’s epigram, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” Church leaders long for such motivational drivel like the deer pants for cool streams of water.  Pastors need to realize that being motivational isn’t everything. Games like football, the stock market, as well as, most commercial enterprises, are competitive zero-sum-games. Winning and losing are painted as moral opposites, like good and evil. The church plays in a different arena. We seek to bring healing, save souls, transform neighborhoods, and help people to live in the world as effective disciples of Jesus. A rural church may do all these things well and not grow. We can be faithful without being winners.

  In my first church I had a member who owned an antique store. She rejoiced when a second store opened up in town. Why? “Nobody stops when there is only one of us on the highway,” she answered. This is “win-win” thinking and it is rare in the church. How often have you heard members complain about the new growing non-denominational church in town? Why can’t we explore ways to coordinate with them in local outreach? What if we were to restructure our approach to membership to recognize the fact that for some, participation in multiple churches helps them to become more effective Christians? Unfortunately, many of the financially gifted people that we place on church committees view both the statistical report and the local church budget as a “zero-sum-game”. For them, every dollar spent on mission or sent to the conference is one less for us. The church isn’t about maximizing shareholder value, it’s about sacrificial love and transformative action. Our members are not the home team; we root for the people outside our walls. In the postmodern world, nobody one wants to support a charity that fails to do good. Every dollar that we wrongly withhold from our mission costs us ten in future contributions and community perception. We should seek, not run from, shared ministry.

  How then should we define success, if it’s not about winning? The most successful church of history was the one that appeared in Acts 2:41-47. Authenticity was the benchmark of the early church’s success. For the next three centuries, she oscillated between winning and losing, but authenticity was her trademark. In order to be authentic, a church must occupy three dimensions: It needs height or spiritual passion, breadth or an outwardly directed involvement in mission, and depth, that is, the ability to propagate a genuine community of love. Another way to say this is to speak about congregational health. A church isn’t healthy unless it has passionate faith, active outreach, and a winsome fellowship. Outsiders can tell when a church looks flat, or narrow, or shallow. Healthy or authentic churches do well even when their denominations or neighborhoods are in decline.

For more, see  Church Change