Yesterday I caused some people to think and others to throw things. The idea that I would introduce competition among churches as an idea for Kingdom growth excites some people. Obviously the word excites can have positive and negative connotations. (Feel free to comment those thoughts for the general public. Don’t hold back. I love competing thoughts too!)
What if I made the idea more palatable by calling it variety? What if we offered more choices of churches, so that we bring more opportunity to engage the unchurched and lost people’s interests, and could thereby give more people an opportunity to hear the Gospel? Would that make it easier to accept? I still like the concept of competition; not in a competitive sense, but perhaps in a competitive spirit. Mainly though I was speaking in terms of volume of churches more than the concept of competing against one another; and definitely not in a this one wins and this one loses; since we are all trying to “win” the same prize; the glory and honor of God our Father.
As with any word there are numerous definitions to the word completion. One that’s closest to what I’m suggesting is: The act of seeking, or endeavoring to gain, what another is endeavoring to gain at the same time.
Ideally we are seeking cooperation, not competition, but the competitive spirit that drives our business world may sometimes be needed to drive our church world to greater success. We should always desire and push for excellence in all we do. We should strive to win a lost world to Christ. My church tries its methods. Your church tries theirs. Somehow through our different “competing” efforts we win some for Christ. You win some in your church and I win some in mine. (Obviously God’s Spirit wins people, but don’t be so technical. You get the idea.)
So, put your boxing gloves on…let the games begin… Just kidding…..Let’s do give it everything we have, however, so that Christ may be exalted!
After that event, I inquire the ticket centers together with my friends about the mayweather vs canelo tickets for November's boxing event.
So working on my Churcholympics idea haha, I think it could be very beneficial to get together with other churches and kind of DO a brag session on what works for each church… if nothing more, each church could learn something, or get a new perspective, perhaps on something they have been struggling with… for example, check in process for the kids church or making the parking situation flow more smoothly (not that we’ve had any problem with parking, I’m just grasping for something! haha). We’ve been to A LOT of churches in Clarksville (it’s sad, really) and it seems like in every church we’ve seen at least one thing where we left thinking, “Now THAT’S a good idea!” Of course our view is mostly through the eyes of parents with young children. We’ve also left many churches frustrated and stressed out because they make things more difficult than they need to be.
SO it would really be more like a Church fair than Olympics I guess, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting out what you have to offer, especially if it helps other churches, and then opening it up to EVERYONE to come, especially those who may be church hunting (my LEAST favorite sport). And hopefully those who have been thinking about coming back to church would take an opportunity to stop by too. Can you tell I have this all planned out in my head?! haha I have WAY too much time on my hands!
As far as planting NEW churches in Clarksville, I don’t know… there are SO many already in SO many different tastes from contemporary to traditional to WAY out there to everywhere in between. I say nourish the churches we have, help them in whatever areas that they need and get the unchurched Clarksville to take notice and find something to draw them in.
OK I’m going to stop babbling now. 🙂