What Matters Most to Our Church

Fleda and I recently watched the movie, Moneyball.  It is about Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland A’s major league baseball team.  In 2002 the Oakland A's, at the end of the regular season, had won the same number of games as the New York Yankees, who spent $1.4 million per game won. Oakland spent $260,000 per game won – 5.3 times more efficient. During one stretch the A's won 20 games in a row, a streak that had not been accomplished in more than 120 years.

How did Beane do this? He took the revolutionary step of ignoring the usual characteristics of players that had always been valued highly by managers, coaches,   and front offices – running, throwing, hitting, fielding.  Instead he analyzed each player's ability to contribute to the factors that had statistically proven to matter most (to win games): the ability to get on base and to score runs.

As a result of using this entirely different approach, Beane got more wins per dollar than any other team. That is what every manager wants to do: get the most wins per dollar spent. With enough money, any manager can hire the best players at every position and get more wins.

Our church is a version of moneyball. If we work hard enough we can create apparent success in a lot of things: recognition, buildings, and more. But if we're not aware of what truly matters, we can accomplish all that and still miss the things that matter most: the fruit of the Spirit of Christ - love, joy, and peace. We can look like a successful church but lose the game.

We at New Hope are going to pursue what matters most.  Our goals come from the Bible, especially from Ephesians 3:16-19.  They are “strength of the Spirit in our inner beings, being rooted and established in love, and being filled with all the fullness of God.”  If we pursue the Spirit of Jesus, unconditional love, and the fullness of God we will have the most important things and be a truly successful church.