Faithfulness over Efficiency

Of the many lessons I've learned in marriage, one of the most important is the need to choose one's words wisely.  For instance, one evening, having dinner with close friends, Kenzie and I were asked what the title of a book would be that chronicled our first year of marriage. My first response was "Pre-Marital Failure," which was an attempt to convey how I felt that pre-marital counseling, while helpful, did little to truly prepare Kenzie and I for the profound mysteriousness of marriage. Unfortunately, all Kenzie heard was that I thought our marriage was a failure. The moral of the story? Choose your words wisely, for they can communicate far more than you may intend.

This lesson is not only applicable in all marriages, relationships, and friendships, but I think we need to be mindful of this in the way we speak of God and the work he has beckoned us to join him in. For instance, as Christians, I think the words "effective" and "efficient" should be eradicated from our vocabulary when it comes to talking about ministry.  Eradicated?  Strong word I know, but I feel quite strongly about this.

I have no problem with people running an effective business or being mindful of more efficient ways to accomplish one's work. Effectiveness and efficiency communicate the importance of maximizing one's resources, finding the best way with a minimal amount of supplies to create the biggest net result. These words, if they could talk, might say, "We know the goal we're pursuing, but can we attain it in a better, faster, more productive way? Can we save time, energy, or money?"  Effectiveness focuses on results and the means by which those results are achieved.  And sometimes, when effectiveness is the highest priority, the means by which results are attained are uncritically accepted.  Then, it doesn't matter exactly how you do it as long as you get the most results. The ends begin to justify the means.

These words are great for a business, but horrible for the church. God is not concerned with effectiveness and efficiency, but faithfulness. God is not concerned just with the results, but with every step of the process.  Everything we do says something about who God is and what his Kingdom is like. With faithfulness, the goal is not results, but conformity to and unity with God.

I could see effectiveness and efficiency having a place within the church if the goal is the glory of God.  Effectiveness then becomes, "How can I maximize glory for God?" which is a lot more akin to faithfulness. But glory to God is a bit more intangible than, for instance, more people.  And efficiency and effectiveness tend to focus more on what we can see and measure. Eventually, over time, the ends will eclipse the means. Thus, if we removed the words altogether from our vocabulary, I think it would free us to faithfulness.

Some may think that I'm creating a false dichotomy here, which may be true. I just can't help but think about Jesus' ministry, who gave such difficult teachings that many walked away and abandoned him completely.  Effective?  Probably not. Faithful? He's the primary image of what faithfulness looks like.