Core Competency

There's a business theory out there that says that a company should never lose sight of their core competency. The core values, products and services that help a company become successful should never be diluted or changed regardless of how big or varied the company becomes. If that happens, the business will flounder and struggle.

So if your company is an innovative machine like 3M, you should make sure that you're investing in R&D (research and development) so that you can keep being innovative. If you're a company that provides personal attendants to people with disabilities, you should make sure that the consumers feel like they have a voice and that they feel like someone cares.

You can read more about this on wikipedia. Or more interestingly (?), you can look at Jim Collins website for The Hedgehog Concept. I love Jim Collins books, like Good to Great, and the website has tons of great ideas and explanations.

As I often like to do, I look at how these business concepts apply to our other business model, the local corporate church. Like companies, many churches start quite small. Meetings are often held in a house or in one room in a building somewhere. There may be no official pastor or financial donations at first, but there may be one strong leader and the atmosphere tends to be rather familial.

I recently discussed the growth process of small churches, suggesting that small churches usually assume that they have to grow bigger but the alternative is to multiply the small.

In either case, one important question is: What is our core competency?

There are many other questions and paths to take during the growth phase of a church, of course. Praying for God's timing, looking for the right location to a bigger church, seeking a vision for the church, applying to become an official charity, reviewing our motivations, etc. Some questions are more practical, some sound more spiritual, and various people are gifted in various aspects. For now, though, I'm just asking this one question.

A small church can be good at many things. For example:

• Close, intimate friendships.
• Practical care for the community.
• Strong Biblical teaching.
• Freedom in music and worship.
• Focus on mentoring and personal growth.
• Prayer and intercession.

The list can go on and on, depending on the strengths of this small Christian group. And the danger comes when we assume that we will maintain these traits after the church changes or grows. Wishes and good intentions do not make it so.

Pretend that church members are heavily in their immediate community, like New Song Church in Windsor. There may come a time when the building is insufficient for the number of people involved. However, building a new building might take away resources from the very people they're helping. Buying a new building elsewhere would take them out of that community entirely. There may be a real need to support more people, but bigger and better might defeat that very purpose.

Similarly, the strength of a small church might be how close everyone is. Friendships are built by the fact that people are invited into each other's homes. Conversations over dinner are highlights of the week. It might not be an official charity and there may be no tax receipts but friends know the needs and they take care of their own without a lot of planning or fanfare. If you take that group and ask them to support a larger church building with forty people, the small dinners might become less frequent. The rent for the new building might take away from the financial resources that used to go to friends in need. The very thing that everyone loved most is lost, and while the original group might remain close, new people that come in might struggle to catch that core value.

Those are two semi-fictional situations. On the other hand, excellent Biblical teaching might only be enhanced by growth because more people can have access to it. One person might be able to move from his professional career and can get paid as a pastor, giving them the option of more preparation for sermons or more time for counseling. Likewise, the church might be able to minister to more people if there was a location and resources devoted to this. Effective evangelism might naturally lead to a bigger group.

Looking at the core competency does not necessarily dictate a size, either large or small. However, we need to make sure that we do not lose the very things that we cherish and do so well just because we decide to get bigger. I've heard stories where that happens. I've also seen churches have always emphasized certain key things, like prayer, but then I notice that only ten percent of the people pray together regularly. The values can become diluted and the church can lose its way.

Core competency isn't a ruling principle. Heck, it comes well behind "love" in terms of importance. However, it can be a valuable question that helps us remain devoted to the things that God has called us to and the things that we do best.