by Dr. Jeff Mathis
For most of our churches, the 80/20 rule applies. That is, 20% of the church does 80% of the church’s work.
The 80/20 rule is identified as the Pareto principle in the business world and describes how 80% of the consequences, or outputs, come from 20% of the causes or inputs. Many executives use this principle to organize and allocate their resources, and it’s become an attractive strategy for individuals to employ as a rule of life.
However, for churches, the 80/20 rule serves as both a truism and a warning.
Yes, in most congregations that I’ve served, a small portion of the church is responsible for most of the work. Several very skilled, highly dedicated church leaders are the ones who are doing what needs to be done. At one level, this makes perfect sense. Those who can serve most effectively should be the ones who do most of the work, right? In business schools at universities worldwide, one can imagine them endorsing this idea wholeheartedly.
There’s one small problem: The Church—the Body of Christ—is not a business. It’s a movement of the Kingdom of God. And God’s Kingdom on earth plays by different rules.
Paul describes the Church as a body with many parts. This is how Paul puts it in his letter to the Church in Rome:
“For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:4-8)
I don’t think I have to tell you what happens to our health when only 20% of our body parts work effectively. Likewise, imagine Jesus being content with only two of the twelve disciples doing what he told them to do. Two for twelve, or .166, is not a good batting average.
No, the Church cannot survive (long) with only 20% of us doing 80% of the work.
We’ve seen how it can play out. People get resentful that they’re doing all the work. Even when they have good intentions, lay leaders come to the painful conclusion that they can’t do all the work. Other individuals don’t get the chance to serve or learn how to serve because church leaders won’t share the responsibility of church work.
For churches to rise to their full potential, each member of the Body of Christ must do what the Holy Spirit has gifted them to do. And that is, to serve as their skills and gifts dictate. Just as we know that we don’t want our noses to serve as our mouths, we should also see how important it is for us to serve in the arena of our giftedness. No one wins when we don’t—that is, when we serve in ways contrary to our giftedness.
On Sunday, we will be thanking our church members who have served this past year, and we will be commissioning new leaders for the coming year. When we recognize the many ways we serve and work together, what percentage of us will be represented? Is the work of the church done by 20% of us, or 50% of us, or 75% of us?
Is it too much to hope that we could one day have each of us—100% of us--working together as the Body of Christ?
Jesus doesn’t seem to think so.