Chinese Characters

I was watching the Olympics last night after getting home from VBS. At one point they were saying that unlike our English alphabet where we have 26 letters that can be put into various orders to form words, the Chinese have no alphabet. Instead they use a character to depict every word. Right now that translates to about 50,000 characters to learn although a mere 3000 can get you by.

Hmmm…which is easier to learn 26 things or 50,000 things?  What’s amazing is that at the end of the day they both accomplish the same thing…a bird is a bird, a house is a house, flying is flying…just two radically different paths to get you to the same conclusion. 

Interestingly enough, churches do the same thing all the time.  Some churches offer so many different ministries and programs that it overwhelms people and the result is people don’t end up growing like they should.  The most successful ministries focus on doing just a few things exceptionally well and the results numerically and spiritually are incredible.  Both churches want to help people grow to be more like Jesus but one is harder than the other.

At CFCOG this is something we always try to keep in mind.  What’s working, what’s not working…what needs to be added, what needs to be eliminated?  Pray for your leaders as we look forward to what our church will look like in 2009.