Originally published on TonyMorganLive.com
Did you know that Starbucks has provided clean water to Africa, organized local service projects, and even helped celebrate Christmas? For the next 5 minutes, letās set aside any controversy and learn from an organization that engages many of the same causes as your church.
When Howard Schultz returned as CEO of Starbucks in 2008, he found a company that had outgrown its success. Rapid expansion with a desire to reach the masses led to a company devoid of its āsoul.ā Reflecting on this, Schultz wrote:
āSuccess is not sustainable if itās defined by how big you become. Large numbers that once captivated meā¦are not what matter. The only number that matters is āone.ā One cup. One customer. One partner. One experience at a time. We had to get back to what mattered most.ā (Onward, 156)
What does this have to do with your church?
Itās easier than ever for church leaders to become consumed by growth. The rise of the megachurch, social media comparison, and fastest growing churches lists make it feel like growth is the goal. Worse, itās easy to disguise our obsession with ābiggerā as mission-mindedness. After all, getting bigger means more people meeting Jesus and growing spiritually. Right?
Is it possible that our passion for reaching more people actually gets in the way of our ability to make a difference in their lives?
Thereās a big difference between getting 1,000 people in your church and spiritually leading 1,000 individuals.
Hereās what Schultz had to say about leading large crowds: āA store managerās job is not to oversee millions of customer transactions a week, but one transaction millions of times a week.ā (Onward, 201)
As your church experiences larger crowds around Christmas and the New Year, are your leaders prepared to handle more experiences of āone?ā Here are a few ways to make it personal: