By The Rev. Dr. Carl Grosse
Back in my tech job, we had people called Architects. They were software people overseeing the design of our products (our products were bits and bytes, not actual things). Programmers and developers were in a pool, with some working on products and some working on system maintenance or upgrades. Because the business people had constant demands for new products or new features for existing products, the Architects struggled to prioritize the work assigned to the Programmers and Developers pool. I watched over the years as one of my Architect friends gradually lost his head of blond hair.
“We often struggle to find volunteers for our committees, and when we do manage to find volunteers, they are often the same folks who serve on every other committee! We are all managing busy schedules and so we have less time for church than years ago.” This quote came from a friend who pastors a church I served a while back. Even when I was there, people were spread thin.
Last week, I talked about the importance of giving time to build relationships so that you are better positioned to pursue ministry initiatives together. You’re able to hold up a larger weight if you all share the load. At some point, you’ll work through deciding what to pursue, what you’re willing to carry together. Even though you have generous funds and great people, neither resource is unlimited. You’ll have to prioritize.
The Eisenhower matrix has been around for decades, and looks something like this:
| Urgent and Important – top priority | Urgent and Not Important – priority 3, delegate |
| Not urgent and Important – priority 2, do later | Not urgent Nor Important – eliminate |
The story of Mary and Martha is a good case study for this matrix. For the 12 disciples, overthrowing the Romans and setting up Jesus as Emperor was both urgent and important, whereas Jesus put more priority on going to the cross and atoning for the sins of the world. Congregations that can come together on what’s important and urgent do better at deploying funds and volunteers.
Another prioritization tool is the Pareto Principle, which states generally that 80% of effects derive from 20% of causes (the split can vary). There’s a formula for it, and we used it in my tech company to help prioritize. Usually it meant focusing on the 20% of customers that drive 80% of revenue. Sometimes churches do a baptized version and focus on the 20% of members who give 80% of the money. In reality, this principle helps identify what’s important in the Eisenhower matrix. If Jesus says we should do something, it’s important (how often did He tell his followers to post on political issues?). If 10% of the members say they want to hand out gospel tracts to people at the Duck Pond, then that’s important for them but not the whole congregation.
The basic idea here is that, as you go forward, working together to recalibrate what you do will help you better carry out God’s plan for Fountain City Presbyterian Church.