"...things that are cool are ephemeral. What’s fashionable is, by the necessity of the rules of fashion, quickly obsolete. This is one of many reasons why chasing cool is a fool’s errand for churches and pastors, as I argue in my book Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide." - TGC
"Another sentence that is never far from my mind came from Francis Schaeffer in No Little People: 'We must do the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way' (74). I believe this is the defining issue in our generation, and in every generation." - Ray Ortlund
“Excellence” might not be the business leadership buzzword it once was, but it’s far from dead. A quick search at Amazon shows plenty of recent business titles with “excellence” in them, and even if the term isn’t the biz word of the day anymore, the concept has never waned.
This is because the business world understands that making what they do, and how they do it, better is essential for their survival in a competitive marketplace. Maybe that marketplace mentality is partly why ministry leaders sometimes view excellence as a “a business thing.”
But they shouldn’t.
A Christian view of life and ministry has the pursuit of excellence at its very core. The flipside is also true: to the degree we accept shoddiness and haphazardness in our churches and ministries, we’re embracing a deeply unchristian way of thinking and acting.
A Culture of Excellence
"COVID has forced innovation upon churches—even fundamental Baptist churches—and that is a good thing. There is no virtue in refusing to be innovative in carrying out the Great Commission." - Kevin Schaal
"1. Is my desire for gospel fruitfulness driven by a desire to exalt Christ’s name or my own?" - F&T
"Being small does not mean that something is broken. But if something is broken, you can’t fix it by making it bigger. Bigger fixes nothing." - Church Leaders
"In a modern church-planting culture that invites creativity and welcomes pastors that are younger, hipper, and more entertaining, we must remember the basics." - TGC
