Common Sense Rules

1. Understand what your goal is and how to solve it.

2. Do not use someone else’s solution to solve similar problems, especially when they do it better than you.

3. It is better to compete on things that you do best.
4. Know what the problems are.
5. Deal with the cause and not the symptoms.
6. Know how to use your tools to get best results.
7. Discover what you do not know.
8. Know what your purpose is. You cannot do well unless you know your purpose.

Common Sense Rules for the Church

1. Understand what your goal is and how to solve it. The goal is commitment. The secular community creates programs to build commitment.  The role of the Church is to build commitment to create programs.
2. Do not use someone else’s solution to solve similar problems, especially when they do it better than you. The Church has copied secular programs to build commitment from youth work to senior citizens, marriages and families, social programs to suppers and of course the usual fund raisers and raffles.  The secular community can work with these groups in many more attractive ways than the church.  I.e. youth sports to golf club memberships.
3. It is better to compete with things you can do best. The one thing the Church can do that the secular community cannot is in the area of Spirituality.  Spirituality is growing spiritually by living in the grace Presence.  It raises and deepens ones commitment.
4. Know what the problems are. The Church’s major problems are in the areas of church growth, finances, outreach and in dealing with controversial issues.
5. Deal with the cause and not the symptoms. These problems are caused by low commitment. People give out of their commitment. Spiritually committed people will grow the church, meet and exceed financial and outreach goals and they will learn to gently appreciate one another rather than fight it out.
6. Knowing how to use your tools to get best results. The strategy of the Church is to come to church, be baptized, confirmed, attend services regularly, tithe, take communion, go on retreats, do social outreach and, after thirty years, something is bound to happen. Most sermons tell people what to do spiritually, rather than how to do it. They give the menu, not the meal.
7. Discover what you do not know. Understand the Presence of God’s grace of Love, Joy, Peace and Wisdom are with all of us, all of the time. All of us, however, are not always in that grace. We only can come in through a spiritually open heart, rather than a rational mind.
8. Know what your purpose is. You cannot serve unless you know your purpose. A simple and doable purpose of the Church would be to “build Christian community to enable people to live Christian lives in the Presence of God’s grace.”