Congregations seeking to transform realize they are a ministry and not a business. They heed the advice of Jim Collins in his monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors [Jim Collins, 2005]. “We must reject the idea–well-intentioned, but dead wrong–that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become ‘more like a business’.” [p. 1]
The typical business, says Collins, is mediocre. Why would congregations want to be mediocre? Congregations need a ministry model that may embrace appropriate, selective business principles, but which is empowered by a passion for ministry fulfillment and the discipline to achieve it.