It was a large downtown church. And like other downtown churches, the majestic old building in which the congregation worshiped attracted some of the city’s less fortunate. Every weekday they loitered around the steps leading up to the large wooden doors through which worshipers passed each Sunday morning. But on weekdays, the doors were firmly locked and bolted. Sometimes they slept in some of the alcoves that distinguished the old church building.
From his first day at the church, the pastor wanted to help the down-and-outs of his city. He often preached about the compassion of God and how the church should emulate God’s compassion by caring for the hurting.
When a storefront building across the street from the church went up for sale, the pastor jumped at it. He committed to buy the building for use as a homeless shelter. Then he had to convince the church to pay for it. It took a few days, but the church agreed. How could they argue with the theology that the church was to model God’s compassion by caring for the hurting?
Nothing was said about the disrepair of current buildings or how to pay for the new building and provide operating funds for the shelter while the church struggled to finance its current program.
Another church printed its motto in big bold letters — “Into all the world. …” The motto was embossed on church stationery and highlighted in every other way members could imagine. It was a great motto, members agreed, a biblically based motto. After all, Jesus declared in the Great Commission that Christians should take the gospel into all the world (Matt. 28: 19–20).
Every activity of the church, every expenditure of the budget was judged against this purpose. As a result, the church had an active local evangelism program and a strong missions program centered on preaching and personal soulwinning.
The church also had what preachers call “a large back door.” That is, many people passed through the congregation. They joined and, after a while, moved on to other churches. Some people said it was because the church did not have any kind of discipleship program.
The church had decided against a formal discipleship program. Instead, they chose to follow the biblical mandate to go into all the world. After all, what better discipleship program was there than that, they reasoned.
In the pulpit of another church, the pastor could hardly constrain himself. During the past few weeks a vision had emerged in his mind of how the church should be structured and how the ministries should be done. He was convinced the Holy Spirit had given him this plan. When he stood before the church, the pastor had no qualms about declaring “God told me. …”
The language did not surprise the congregation. Their pastor was a spiritual man. He tried to be sensitive to God’s Spirit. In fact, he led the church to be sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit. During the past few years the church had made several decisions based on “God told me. …” How does one disagree with that? Only a few people questioned why it seemed that nothing ever got completed or why the church moved erractically from one project to another.
At still another church, the pastor sat alone with his head in his hands. He could not understand the decisions just made by the finance committee. Missions giving would remain at 30 percent in the coming year.
His pleas to fund local ministries had been flatly rejected. His salary would be the same, too, and he would have to pay the increase in medical insurance for himself and his family.
The finance committee chairman had voiced what other members seemed to feel. The church had always given 30 percent to missions. They were the leading missions giving church in the association. Frequently, they were recognized by the state convention for their high percentage. Members liked that. The finance committee was not about to break that tradition.
Four stories. Four different guiding principles. Four decisions based on partial criteria.
Obviously, every church wants its activities and programs to be consistent with its theology. Every Baptist church wants its decisions to reflect the priorities of the Bible, God’s holy Word. Every church wants its decisions to be consistent with the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Every church wants to be counseled by its traditions.
Each factor is vital to decision-making. However, there is a fifth factor that should also be considered — reliable information. Would information about the condition of existing buildings and the cost of starting a new program been helpful to the church before it bought the storefront? Would information about membership patterns have helped the church minister more effectively “into all the world?”
Would information about its penchant toward starting things but never finishing them have helped the church? Would information about the impact of upholding its tradition caused the church to re-examine that issue?
Too often churches make fateful decisions based on nonexistent realities. Decisions are made on yesterday’s circumstances or how the members want things to be rather than on how things really are today.
Using reliable information along with our theology, the Bible, God’s Holy Spirit and tradition help us map out how to get from where we really are to where we believe God wants us to be. If the map starts somewhere other than reality, it only guarantees the journey will not go as expected or end as desired.
Using reliable information in decision-making is important because reality matters.
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