1. High Giving. Giving is worship. Giving is "I love God." Giving is "Jesus is my master, not money." Giving is "God is my provider and source; my trust is in Him." Giving is a sign someone understands the Lordship of Christ. Giving leads to spiritual health, and when a church body understand the power of giving, it blesses God and enables the kingdom to advance through financing staff, missionaries and activities. A church can't be healthy without being a generous, open-handed church.
2. High Excellence. Exodus 31:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses (regarding the building of the tabernacle), saying, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel...3 “And I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, 5 and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship. 6 “And behold, I Myself have appointed with him Oholiab... and in the hearts of all who are skillful I have put skill, that they may make all that I have commanded you.
1 Cor. 3:10 - continues the tradition of Bezalel and Oholiab as "craftsman," imbued with a passion for excellence.
Nothing frustrates me more than when people bring their all to their regular jobs, and their second best to God and service in the kingdom.
God does all things well, and specifically calls out those that will do the job with skill, wisdom, knowledge and excellence. Excellence is attractive. God is beautiful because he has excellence. Heaven will be breathtaking because it has brilliance. The church must reflect God and heaven, and in so doing draw the world unto itself.
3. High Touch. Part of the genius of the New Testament Acts church was that in the midst of revival, with mulitudes coming to Christ, they also had a strategy & structure for nurturing personal community and accountability. Not only did they meet in the "temple" (big church experience - Acts 2:46, 5:42); they also had the "small church" experience (personal community - "house to house" - Acts 2:46, 5:42, 20:20). This represents God's "high-touch" strategy to personalize the church and keep it intimate as it powers foward as a harvesting machine. See also our 1 x 1 x 1 rule.
4. High Impact. In reality, the church has been in the minority throughout history, but it's impact has been like a majority. Our DNA is such that a little makes a big difference. Mustard seed. A band of 12. Ester. Hanging on a cross. Potency changes the world.
Craigslist (18 employees) is the fourth most visited site according to some measures. They are partly owned by eBay (more than 4,000 employees) which hopes to stay in the same league, traffic-wise.
Boing Boing (four people) has a readership growing 100x faster than the New Yorker (hundreds of people).
Small is big.
We put no limits on our growth as a church (which comes from God - 1 Cor. 3:6), but it's out of our control. What we can control is our potency. And out of potency comes impact.
5. High Tech. Technology has become an important part of our culture (ipod, iphone, powerpoints, twitter, podcasting, IM, etc), along side of fashion, movies, TV, etc. When used correctly, technology is an accelerator of ministries and a servant to the gospel. The use of technology communicates a cultural awareness that is important for people to relate to, and helps reach people for Jesus. See also entry here.
How to remember these five points: Get-It (giving/excellence/touch/impact/tech).