(fourth in the series “Good to Great Youth Ministry”)
Are we doing too much?
I stood speechless in the office of the minister I worked for many years ago reflecting on a comment he had just made. We were discussing programs in the church. This was a mega church with more programs than most churches ever dream of. His comment went along these lines. “I believe that when I stand before the Lord one day he will look at how many programs we created in the church.” I could not believe my ears! Was he serious? I smiled in reply and the rest of our conversation confirmed that he indeed believed there to be a correlation between his work in establishing programs in the church and his reward in heaven. My mind raced. Could this be what the apostle Paul had in mind when he said “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”? (1 Corinthians 9:22) A quick look at that passage in context told me otherwise. I did not know what to make of the thinking of a man considerably older and more experienced than I, and he possessed an earned doctorate! My thinking was that effective ministry had more to do with the focus of programs than the number of them.
In his best selling book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins relates Isaiah Berlin’s essay “The Hedgehog and the Fox” to the simplicity of great organizations. In the story, the Fox uses his cunning, skills, and speed to attack. His goal is to hunt down and kill the hedgehog. The Hedgehog has one simple plan and sticks to it – which works every time! Collins then goes on to explain ‘The Hedgehog concept’, an understanding of simplicity that comes out of three primary questions. He diagrams the three questions as circles explaining that the hedgehog concept is the pursuit of the intersecting core. Collins’ three questions are: What are you deeply passionate about? What you can be the best in the world at? What drives your economic engine?
Now these three questions do not all directly apply in the context of ministry, but their correlates are not difficult to discover. The first of course relates easily as we should explore our specific passions in ministry. Each of us is wired uniquely to get excited about different aspects of ministry. Likewise, a congregation or ministry team may have unique passions within the scope of possible ministries we can develop. The second question relates to uniqueness. What does the church or specifically our youth ministry offer that is not offered in the world around us? For youth ministers the answer is not activities and entertaining programs. These are available to students in greater abundance than any generation before them! The answer to the question is the typical Sunday School response – Jesus. The gospel is centrally what the church offers that is not offered elsewhere in society. The third question is one concerning vitality. It seeks to understand what keeps a business alive, namely the economic engine. For the church, the parallel question is also about vitality. What is needed to keep or make this ministry vibrant and full of life? Hence, the three questions for us revolve around passion, uniqueness, and vitality. The intersection of these three questions becomes our hedgehog concept.
The passion, uniqueness, and vitality questions will be answered differently for each person. As I look at the intersection of these in my own youth ministry efforts over the past twenty years I can see three aims emerge as my hedgehog concept. My passion, uniqueness, and vitality lie in Bible teaching (with application to our lives), building authentic community (as seen in Acts 2), and sharing the gospel with others. My deepest desire is that students know God, know themselves, and know each other. There are many other ideas that I have been passionate about over the years, yet they are either not unique to ministry or are not essential for the vitality of ministry. This is not to suggest other aspects of ministry should never be pursued. The idea here is to identify the hedgehog concept within a ministry and focus the greatest efforts on that. An example of a non hedgehog idea might help us see what the difference is. I have long been passionate about exposing students to good Christian music. Therefore I have invested in CD’s to share with youth groups, taken students to concerts, and even hosted concerts for youth groups in order to enthuse them for the music. I am convinced that Christian music is a great asset to young believers. However, it is not part of my hedgehog concept because it does not necessarily contribute to the vitality of the ministry itself. If I relied on Christian music to keep our youth ministry growing, we would be catering to consumerism and find ourselves trapped in a continuous need to provide a steady stream of concerts with new artists. Similarly I am passionate about missions. There are few things that help a youth group build community more than serving the needs of others together. However, one does not need to be Christian in order to serve the poor. Hence it is not a uniqueness and therefore not part of my hedgehog concept.
Finding your hedgehog concept is a vital exercise in understanding the core of your ministry. The three questions of passion, uniqueness, and vitality are only discovered when a person or group does some soul searching. The end result is a simple understanding of where the bulk of our energy must be focused in order to move a ministry from good to great. This is not to restrict our ministry and it’s activities but a proper focus will help us eliminate the programs or activities that are not contributing to the goals of our ministry. The church is famous for carrying on with non essential programs simply because it is the way we have always done things. By concentrating on that which we are passionate about, we will find an ever flowing stream of energy to build and develop our ministries. In focusing on that which is unique to ministry, we will eliminate unnecessary programs and work. With vitality in mind, we will constantly ask ourselves how each program, activity or meeting is contributing to the growth and life of our ministries. The hedgehog concept brings a simple clarity to ministry and gives freedom to the leader. As we discover this we will move our ministries from good to great!
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