These kinds of themes have been running through my head recently. I wonder, in this world where we never seem to "win," if it ought not to start with our own understandings of what it means to be leaders or not--if the invitation to "follow me," is not a counter-intuitive invitation to "lose with me".
I think you're absolutely right. And I wonder how much of our struggle is downstream not from persecution but from productivity culture. How exactly does Christianity set SMART goals when it's meant to run against the current of worldly power? Yet this is what do many churches do. We've let ourselves become unmoored from enduring values that aren't necessarily reflected in annual growth.
But there are bad paths to take too, while shifting out mindset. Some of my research lately has looked at NFPs and activist organizations who, without hard evidence of their impact to point to, start using their own pain as a benchmark. If it hurts, we must be doing something right. Which, of course, is a form of resentment.
That's the crazy thing about losing gracefully; it doesn't have to hurt. As Beckett says, "Ever tried, ever failed, never matter; try again, fail again, fail better."
I hear what you're saying and it's interesting that you should bring SMART goals into it, because I find that we are terrible at writing metrics. A SMART goal done right is entirely voluntary but if there isn't good coaching then our metrics usually look like Quantity over Quality--More time doing X, More money donated to Y, More people moved through program Z. We're super focused on our ROI and perhaps that is where we could stand to be "losing".
Our SMART goals fail on a domino effect because they are specifically garbage because we don't have good metrics. We think we've done a good job when we write achievable and realistic goals that are time-based but end up with something other than what we wanted in the first place. Sure we have "a church that prays" but we also have a church that preys--not a good overall outcome.
Losing only hurts because we care about the outcome the world was looking for. ex. Jesus dead in a tomb wasn't the ideal ascension to the throne of Israel we had in mind so it hurts. Churches who close their doors don't look like the spiritual organisations providing safety, legitimacy and provision (albeit illicitly) and so it hurts.
Politicians who don't stand a chance at the Presidency don't look like having "our man in the White House," and so backing them hurts.
In many ways I think the whole idea of loss is tied to our productivity culture. What does it profit us if we gain X but lose our souls? I think Jesus' words here are not an appeal to make a "better" profit but to expose our single mindedness towards turning a profit in whatever metric we are using as fundamentally unhealthy for our souls. Therefore, the specifics of our goals and the metrics by which we measure them must be focused on personal intersoul care.
In The House that Stands (2022) I write that, "If our main individual pursuit and purpose in life is to commune with God and with one another then we cannot effectively run after those pursuits if we continually outsource that responsibility to those we think can do a better, more efficient job. We will fail at our own flourishing and the flourishing of others if we fail at personal intersoul communication". (1.10 Communicate and Flourish)
Sorry for the whole post--it's near and dear to my heart.
Another great piece. Looking forward to learning more about your plans for September; happy to be a part of it in whatever way may be helpful!
Angela, thank you so, so much!! Both for your kind words and your support. I'd love to be in touch soon!
These kinds of themes have been running through my head recently. I wonder, in this world where we never seem to "win," if it ought not to start with our own understandings of what it means to be leaders or not--if the invitation to "follow me," is not a counter-intuitive invitation to "lose with me".
I think you're absolutely right. And I wonder how much of our struggle is downstream not from persecution but from productivity culture. How exactly does Christianity set SMART goals when it's meant to run against the current of worldly power? Yet this is what do many churches do. We've let ourselves become unmoored from enduring values that aren't necessarily reflected in annual growth.
But there are bad paths to take too, while shifting out mindset. Some of my research lately has looked at NFPs and activist organizations who, without hard evidence of their impact to point to, start using their own pain as a benchmark. If it hurts, we must be doing something right. Which, of course, is a form of resentment.
That's the crazy thing about losing gracefully; it doesn't have to hurt. As Beckett says, "Ever tried, ever failed, never matter; try again, fail again, fail better."
I hear what you're saying and it's interesting that you should bring SMART goals into it, because I find that we are terrible at writing metrics. A SMART goal done right is entirely voluntary but if there isn't good coaching then our metrics usually look like Quantity over Quality--More time doing X, More money donated to Y, More people moved through program Z. We're super focused on our ROI and perhaps that is where we could stand to be "losing".
Our SMART goals fail on a domino effect because they are specifically garbage because we don't have good metrics. We think we've done a good job when we write achievable and realistic goals that are time-based but end up with something other than what we wanted in the first place. Sure we have "a church that prays" but we also have a church that preys--not a good overall outcome.
Losing only hurts because we care about the outcome the world was looking for. ex. Jesus dead in a tomb wasn't the ideal ascension to the throne of Israel we had in mind so it hurts. Churches who close their doors don't look like the spiritual organisations providing safety, legitimacy and provision (albeit illicitly) and so it hurts.
Politicians who don't stand a chance at the Presidency don't look like having "our man in the White House," and so backing them hurts.
In many ways I think the whole idea of loss is tied to our productivity culture. What does it profit us if we gain X but lose our souls? I think Jesus' words here are not an appeal to make a "better" profit but to expose our single mindedness towards turning a profit in whatever metric we are using as fundamentally unhealthy for our souls. Therefore, the specifics of our goals and the metrics by which we measure them must be focused on personal intersoul care.
In The House that Stands (2022) I write that, "If our main individual pursuit and purpose in life is to commune with God and with one another then we cannot effectively run after those pursuits if we continually outsource that responsibility to those we think can do a better, more efficient job. We will fail at our own flourishing and the flourishing of others if we fail at personal intersoul communication". (1.10 Communicate and Flourish)
Sorry for the whole post--it's near and dear to my heart.