There is a figure from Greek mythology, Sisyphus, who received a unique punishment. From the start, as King of Corinth, he got away with it cunningly, even cheating death twice. But then Zeus gave him the eternal punishment of forever rolling a boulder up a hill only to roll it back down each time he reached the top.
This forever anchored the myth of Sisyphus in all that is laborious or futile.
Or both.
So let’s think about that. What could we do that takes a lot of effort but ultimately will always be futile?
There is a management practice that looks at things through the prism of effort and reward. Something that has a lot of effort but low reward should be avoided. If it takes a lot of effort and a big reward, then okay, it’s worth doing. But if you come across something that requires little effort, but great reward, then my God, jump on it!
Too many churches are trapped in the Sisyphean dynamic of continually pursuing something that involves great effort and little or no reward.
Maybe a few examples would help.
For years, our church has offered a fall festival for our community on our 80-acre campus. It grew to become one of the busiest fall festivals in the city of Charlotte and, I must add, it took a tremendous amount of resources for us to offer.
One year I assembled a team of leaders following our last festival and asked, “Can any of you name a single family without a church that came to Meck during our fall festival?
The silence.
I then asked them to elaborate on whether this event was strategic for our mission. They needed to talk to other grassroots leaders and volunteers, dig into our database, and help determine if this outreach event was truly reaching nonbelievers. We were so impressed with the scale of the event that we just assumed it was. But we weren’t, after all, in the business of fall festivals. We were in the “reaching the unbelievers” business.
It turned out that there was very little fruit despite a very large crowd.
This was the last year we had a fall festival.
Another example occurred during a construction phase where we could not have used the full capacity of our auditorium because it was being extended. We rented the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (now the PNC Music Pavilion), which had a capacity of over 18,000 people for our Easter service. Thousands came. We did it again the following year. Even busier. We added nems and bouncy houses. We even had bands like NEEDTOBREATHE playing mini sets.
For the fourth year in a row and approaching capacity at the amphitheater, this was by far the largest Easter service in Charlotte, perhaps the largest in the entire southeastern United States.
But did this translate into growth on the part of non-believers?
In the end, we determined that was not the case. It had simply become the go-to event for Christians who wanted an Easter mega-event. But we weren’t in the business of “Easter for happy Christians in church,” much less in the business of “growing from other churches.”
This was the last year we hosted “Easter at Verizon.”
Here’s the big idea: look for low effort, high reward. And avoid big efforts, low rewards at all costs. Otherwise, you’re like Sisyphus – continually rolling the rock up the hill, only to have it roll back down.
James Emery White
About the Author
James Emery White is the founder and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His last book After “I believe” is now available on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. To take advantage of a free Church & Culture blog subscription, visit churchandculture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture podcast. . Follow Dr. White on TwitterFacebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
James Emery White is the founder and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president.
His latest book, After “I believe”, is now available on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. To take advantage of a free Church & Culture blog subscription, visit churchandculture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture podcast. .
Follow Dr. White on TwitterFacebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
