Giant steps

A pastor who was working through a large building project said: “Faith only starts when you have no idea where the rest of the money is coming from and you’re forced to trust God.”

That’s so true of engaging our communities. Yes, it’s right that we take small incremental steps into engagement. Yes, it’s sensible to start where we are and discuss what we can realistically deliver over time. (After all, many people we’re trying to reach have too often been the victims of false hope - we don’t want to add to their list.)

But it’s right sometimes to dream a little, too; to allow God to drop a bigger vision into our hearts.

At the same time as discovering the small incremental steps, we should look for what Jim Collins in ‘Built to Last’ calls BHAGs - Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Portsmouth did just that. Its future looked bleak – but rather than slowly slide into decline, they decided to make one last attempt at reversing the trend. They planned to re-order their buildings – at a cost of around £3,000,000. There was no money to meet the bill, but they planned anyway.

Some five years on, the work is almost complete. Their goal was certainly Big, Hairy (or scary!) and Audacious - and it’s a goal they have reached.

Perhaps as a small church you may be thinking: “We could never make that! It’s out of our reach.”

Don’t feel defeated. That was St Cuthbert’s BHAG – it’s not yours. Your BHAG may be equally challenging for you. It may seem small in comparison. It may be refurbishing your hall for community use, or running a community course with little sign that it will succeed.

But what you’ll find it this: anything that changes your direction of travel from in to out is good news. Many churches on this journey of engagement have discovered that there’s nothing like success to encourage further success. It’s starting that is the challenge.

Points to consider:

• With every great initiative there will be detractors - those who can’t see the vision and won’t stop carping about it. Smile sweetly and don’t allow them to stop the attempt. In the parable of the talents, the man with one talent was not criticised for having failed, but for never having tried.
• You might not reach the dream. OK - but the point of a BHAG is that it carries you further than you would have achieved had you dreamt smaller. Of course, this can’t be the case with a building programme - but it can be the case with a training course. If you plan to see 30 at your first course, but only get 10, imagine how many you’d have got if you’d aimed for 10!
• We can set ourselves up for disappointment when we confuse false expectation with BHAGs. To expect without proof that 100 will turn up at an event is naïve. But to plan large, recognising the need for little steps to get you there, and realising that you may arrive somewhere you couldn’t have guessed when you started, is exciting.

When we think of engagement, we certainly need to respect the journey - but also to have an idea of a larger destination.

Last Updated 09 February 2009