One of Willow Creek Community Church’s core values states, “We believe excellence honors God and inspires people.” I agree with that. This value has shaped Willow’s ministry through the decades. And, because Willow has embraced this value, many churches have followed their lead and claimed this value as well.
Of course, we need to acknowledge that excellence is not a distinctive anymore–it’s expected. There’s very likely a church down the street that shares this same value. If not, there’s a business that’s shaping the expectations of the people we are trying to reach.
If we pursue excellence as if it is perfection, we run the risk that we will get very good at what works today and miss the imperfect opportunities that will shape tomorrow. There needs to be room to make mistakes for a culture of creativity and innovation to take hold.
Excellence is very subjective. What works for one person will completely miss the mark for another. It’s impossible to hold people accountable for subjective standards. In other words, we need to clearly define expectations.
It’s possible to obsess about excellence–which is more about the execution–and completely ignore the outcomes. Churches, in particular, need to be more outcomes-minded. We need to make sure what we’re doing is actually having impact and getting results.
If we are going to embrace excellence, it should be defined by our context and not by what’s working in another church. What’s “excellent” in another church could be a complete disconnect in our setting.
If we’re trying to do too much, it’s impossible to be excellent at everything. From my vantage point, it appears that the healthiest organizations, including churches, focus on a few things that they do well.
To be honest, I’m currently more concerned about intentionality than I am excellence.
If it’s intentional, it’s directly connected to our mission and vision.
Intentionality requires us to think first about who we are trying to reach.
To be intentional, we have to plan ahead with others.
Because we have limited resources, intentionality requires us to be good stewards.
If we are intentional, we’re committed to why we’re doing it before we decide how to do it.
For it to be intentional, we have to focus on the results rather than just the execution.
Now, don’t misunderstand me–I still think Bill Hybels is right. Excellence does honor God and inspire people. I just think we need to have an appropriate perspective about excellence in the context of today’s culture and environment.
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