Written by: Chris Ellis on September 19, 2013

Good to Great examines what makes the difference between a good company and a great company. While I do think the church is not first and foremost a business, I do think there are many points that Collins touches on that can greatly help churches not necessarily be great but be faithful. For we are not called to be great we are called to faithfulness.

Here are my major take-a-ways from Good to Great

–    Confront the Brutal Facts: The US Church is no longer at the center of culture. There isn’t a sense of ‘oughtness’ with regards to church attendance.  We shouldn’t do church the same way as our grandparents or parents did. With the rapid acceleration of technology, transportation and communication what worked 5 years ago might not even work today!  When we realize that change has happened, is happening and will happen again then we’re free to be faithful to what God is calling us to today. Our goal shouldn’t be to perpetuate an institution (though God might want that), but to be sensitive to the wind of the Spirit and be caught up into where the Spirit is blowing.

–    Get the Right People on the Bus: Collins advocates, that it doesn’t matter where you’re going if you don’t have the right people. You can have, all the vision and potential in the world, and if the right people aren’t involved you won’t get there. He advocates getting the right people first and then and only then do you search for a vision. For churches this can be a bit complicated, especially when some of the ‘wrong people’ might also be church members with deep connections to others in the church. Unlike a business whose goal is often the financial bottom line, the bottom line for churches is people. We want to be places of grace, redemption and second, third and forth chances. Connections between the people of a church and the staff are often deep and meaningful.  Firing someone isn’t as clean and neat as it is in the business world.

–    Hedgehog: Collins challenges businesses to figure out what’s at their core and then to focus absolutely on it.  So many churches try to do a 1,000 things and therefore don’t do any of them well. Churches need to learn this lesson from Collins. They need to find the particular thing that God has called that church to do and to focus its entire system on it.  It’s better to do two or three things really well and make a difference than do a 1,000 things poorly and make no impact all.

–    Technology: Collins argues that technology isn’t a silver bullet that makes a good company great. Great companies use carefully selected technology and take their time ensuring that they’ll be successful.  I liken this to churches that think all they need is a cool hash tag or Facebook page to bring in ‘young people.’ Yes, those things can be used and are important! But if there’s no substance or purpose or direction then technology can blind you to the real issues and problems that you have (like lack of those important things).

We need great churches, but we don’t need churches that seek greatness. We need churches that seek faithfulness. Following the advice from Collins can help a church be faithful, which means they’ve got a better chance of being a great church.

About the Author

Chris Ellis