QUALITY VS GROWTH – TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER

When I’ve asked Christian leaders, What is your priority, growth or quality? They invariably answer,  We seek to do both.  We don’t see them as mutually exclusive.  But if we look with our eyes and hear with our ears, as Jesus exhorts us to do, we know them by their fruits. Reality is growth comes first, then quality.

In your mind, consider several different mission organizations that you are familiar with.  Each organization has departments that provide oversight for; member care, mobilization, I.T., field leadership, and short-term missions.  Now, if you’re from one of these organizations—I’m not going to pick on any one agency although I’m tempted to—which of these organizations has the best member care?  Which agency has the best mobilization?  Can you name an organization that is absolutely the best mobilizer out of all the scores of mission organizations that do mobilization?

Who’s the best?  You don’t know, do you?  I can go down the list—40+ services we’ve identified that most major mission organizations offer their people.  In all but a few areas, nobody knows which mission organization/agency offers the best service in each area.

And if a mission agency’s service in any one area is not the best, how does that agency justify offering in Jesus’s name, anything that is not the very best?  If one mission agency is providing a service that is better than another mission agency shouldn’t we be outsourcing our mediocre service to the one who provides excellent service?  From a Biblical perspective of being “good stewards” and being “fruitful and productive”, each mission organization should focus on doing what God has assigned them to do and doing that better than anybody else. Then they should outsource other services they need to those who specialize in those areas.

This thinking leads to 2 questions;

1. Why is each mission agency providing so many services at average quality, when we could come alongside and work together focusing on utilizing one another’s God given strengths?  In other words, Why don’t mission agencies outsource to one another those services they are not strong in?
2. How do we determine which mission organizations services are the best, when currently there is no way to compare one agency’s services with another?

For example.  BAM/B4T is a relatively new service which more and more organizations are adding to their list of services.  Yet why start a BAM/B4T department when there are already a couple of groups specializing in that?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these questions.

PATRICK LAI and his family have worked in SE Asia for over 37 years. His experience in doing business with Jesus has brought him to understand the meaning of work and worship in the marketplace. He started 14 businesses in four countries, six of which are still operating. Patrick and his wife, May, mentor and coach businesspeople working where there are few or no Christians. Check out Patrick’s latest book, Workship, now available in paperback and e-book.