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The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes
These are challenging times for churches and ministries. Prominent voices like Richard Stearns (Unfinished), David Platt (Radical), Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution), and Kyle Idleman (Not a Fan) have noted that American churches and ministry leaders may be headed in the wrong direction. Reports reveal that the global church also wants answers. Are we lost?
This book is about recalculating the route for Christ-centered ministry. Its underlying assumption is that far too many churches and ministries operate according to unexamined presuppositions that drive everything they do. When we examined them, we found that the way we define and measure success has much to do with how we got to the precarious place we find ourselves. Our definitions of success shape what we say, think, and do.
This book is about recalculating the route for Christ-centered ministry. Its underlying assumption is that far too many churches and ministries operate according to unexamined presuppositions that drive everything they do. When we examined them, we found that the way we define and measure success has much to do with how we got to the precarious place we find ourselves. Our definitions of success shape what we say, think, and do.
126 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 16, 2021
Loved it. The only book I've seen where the authors' central aim is to biblically define success and how it should be measured, all the while taking down the more common, and worldly, ways we define and measure success. Great book for leaders or aspiring leaders.
Their aim: "to help you redefine success, to prepare you to respond to the three temptations of the devil, and to map the path for the Christ-centered pursuit of kingdom outcomes." (95-96)
Path #1, the "Common Path" (which they "take down"), consists of: (1) production-driven leadership; (2) expansion-focused strategies; (3) earthly-oriented metrics; (4) results-based management; and (5) utilitarian view of resources. In this path, success is defined "in terms of results... commonly linked to levels of church growth or ministry expansion." (2)
Path #2, the "Kingdom Path" (which they recommend), consists of: (1) steward leadership; (2) faithfulness-focused strategies; (3) eternity-oriented metrics; (4) relationship-based management; and (5) stewardship view of resources. In this path, "Success is defined in terms of our obedience to the instructions of Jesus Christ for which He promises eternal rewards." You "become less concerned about results that we cannot control because our primary concern is obedience." (7)
They describe, rather than prescribe, "ten marks of Christ-centered ministry" in the last chapter of the book:
(1) submission to the Father
(2) filled, led, and empowered by the Holy Spirit
(3) prayerful strategic planning
(4) raising kingdom resources
(5) ministry accountability
(6) transparent financial administration
(7) serving people humbly
(8) doing everything with love
(9) mobilizing spiritually gifted people
(10) radical Christian generosity.
Definitely recommend it.
Their aim: "to help you redefine success, to prepare you to respond to the three temptations of the devil, and to map the path for the Christ-centered pursuit of kingdom outcomes." (95-96)
Path #1, the "Common Path" (which they "take down"), consists of: (1) production-driven leadership; (2) expansion-focused strategies; (3) earthly-oriented metrics; (4) results-based management; and (5) utilitarian view of resources. In this path, success is defined "in terms of results... commonly linked to levels of church growth or ministry expansion." (2)
Path #2, the "Kingdom Path" (which they recommend), consists of: (1) steward leadership; (2) faithfulness-focused strategies; (3) eternity-oriented metrics; (4) relationship-based management; and (5) stewardship view of resources. In this path, "Success is defined in terms of our obedience to the instructions of Jesus Christ for which He promises eternal rewards." You "become less concerned about results that we cannot control because our primary concern is obedience." (7)
They describe, rather than prescribe, "ten marks of Christ-centered ministry" in the last chapter of the book:
(1) submission to the Father
(2) filled, led, and empowered by the Holy Spirit
(3) prayerful strategic planning
(4) raising kingdom resources
(5) ministry accountability
(6) transparent financial administration
(7) serving people humbly
(8) doing everything with love
(9) mobilizing spiritually gifted people
(10) radical Christian generosity.
Definitely recommend it.
July 14, 2014
I love the book's critique of growth-oriented leadership that overlooks character and quality in the process. Quote: "The key to grasping eternity-oriented metrics is realizing that the quantitative is subservient to the qualitative. Could this be why the modern church has so many professing Christians and so few disciples of Jesus Christ?" I am constantly asking church-planting ministries to show me how they measure church health not just church growth. It isn't being done.
The reason I rate this book low is how it makes its points: false dichotomies and biblical misinterpretation. What is an example? Quote: “The kingdom path links success to obedience rather than outcomes.” That is the mantra from ECFA's new book The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes. Nonprofit consultants Hoag, Rodin & Willmer have been publishing articles in multiple outlets (like OUTCOMES magazine) to push this message to faith-based nonprofits. Since my philanthropic advisory firm Excellence in Giving directs clients to fund many faith-based nonprofits, we care about the accuracy and consequences of this message. Unfortunately, the baby is being thrown out the door with the bath water.
In a recent article, the authors conclude, "We pray it will inspire further discussion into this critical topic for everyone in churches and Christian ministries who seek to be instruments of God to produce kingdom outcomes for his glory." I can't say I'm an answer to their prayers, but I will further the discussion. Since I have designed processes for measuring outcomes, I will direct my comments toward their critique of metrics.
The main argument in the book and the articles is: Because some ministries can have ungodly motives when measuring results, no ministries should manage toward outcomes, track performance, and pursue more money based on good results. This line of argumentation takes its cue from the age-old logical fallacy of "appeal to motive," or the circumstantial Ad Hominem argument. Just because a faith-based nonprofit stands to gain from better performance does not mean it is misguided or deceptive to pursue it. Eliminating outcomes measurement because some people do it for the wrong reasons is a sloppy diagnosis. But Hoag, Rodin and Willmer believe the Bible tells them to stop. As a Bible professor myself, I find their biblical condemnation of counting results unconvincing.
See full book review at my Intelligent Philanthropy blog
The reason I rate this book low is how it makes its points: false dichotomies and biblical misinterpretation. What is an example? Quote: “The kingdom path links success to obedience rather than outcomes.” That is the mantra from ECFA's new book The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes. Nonprofit consultants Hoag, Rodin & Willmer have been publishing articles in multiple outlets (like OUTCOMES magazine) to push this message to faith-based nonprofits. Since my philanthropic advisory firm Excellence in Giving directs clients to fund many faith-based nonprofits, we care about the accuracy and consequences of this message. Unfortunately, the baby is being thrown out the door with the bath water.
In a recent article, the authors conclude, "We pray it will inspire further discussion into this critical topic for everyone in churches and Christian ministries who seek to be instruments of God to produce kingdom outcomes for his glory." I can't say I'm an answer to their prayers, but I will further the discussion. Since I have designed processes for measuring outcomes, I will direct my comments toward their critique of metrics.
The main argument in the book and the articles is: Because some ministries can have ungodly motives when measuring results, no ministries should manage toward outcomes, track performance, and pursue more money based on good results. This line of argumentation takes its cue from the age-old logical fallacy of "appeal to motive," or the circumstantial Ad Hominem argument. Just because a faith-based nonprofit stands to gain from better performance does not mean it is misguided or deceptive to pursue it. Eliminating outcomes measurement because some people do it for the wrong reasons is a sloppy diagnosis. But Hoag, Rodin and Willmer believe the Bible tells them to stop. As a Bible professor myself, I find their biblical condemnation of counting results unconvincing.
See full book review at my Intelligent Philanthropy blog
September 19, 2014
This is a much needed volume on proper leadership direction for churches and parachurch ministries. The title is not specific enough to draw the reader in. Only after reading the first few chapters does the title make sense. The first part part of the book is excellent. I did not find the final chapters as helpful and poignantly written as the early ones, but I nonetheless found myself saying, "Yes, yes" to the initial demarcation of leadership paths.
August 22, 2024
My first impression of The Choice comes from the subtitle, The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes. It seems like Dr. Hoag and company are developing “The Theology of Stewardship.” I am of the opinion that, “The Theology of Stewardship” does not exist, however a biblically informed view of stewardship does exist. While I did get the impression that the authors consider the view expressed in this book to be the biblical theology of stewardship, that doesn’t take away from much of the good information in the book.
The author’s draw a dichotomy between “The Common Path” and “The Kingdom Path.” In short, the common path uses earthly oriented metrics. Metrics like production, expansion, growth are used to set goals and measure success. Hoag concludes, “Organizations that measure success in these terms develop measurements and metrics associated with their expansion-focused strategies. These metrics are temporal in nature and counted in three primary areas: people, facilities, and finances. The influence of these metrics goes beyond these three areas and finds its way into human resource procedures, core values statements, and board governance policies. As such, every area of organizational life becomes aligned with quantifiable church growth or ministry expansion.” (10)
In contrast, the authors say that option two is the Kingdom path. “On this path, success is defined in terms of our obedience to the instructions of Jesus Christ for which He promises eternal rewards. On the kingdom path, we as Christ-followers become less concerned about results that we cannot control because our primary concern is obedience.” (7) Hoag then offers five traits of the Kingdom path. They are:
• Steward Leadership
• Faithfulness-Focused Strategies
• Eternity-Oriented Metrics
• Relationship-Based Metrics and
• a Stewardship View of Resources. (8)
While these five traits do resonate with me as good, the authors provide no connecting dots from scripture to these five traits. They simply state that these are “the five traits that flow from defining success in terms of obedience to the teachings of Jesus.” (7) So what we have is an idea from the authors looking for a justification from the Bible. Much of what they say does fall into the category of biblically informed. What that means is that their approach may be wise and in alignment with some biblical thought, but their approach does not hold the authority of Scripture. It is not the biblical theology of stewardship.
I also see a false dichotomy. They present two paths, The Common Path and The Kingdom Path and ask, which one will you follow. The implication is that everyone falls into one of these two categories. In my experience, there are those who fall into the Common Path category, and really no one falls fully in the Kingdom Path category. Most probably fall somewhere on a spectrum between the two paths. Further, most, over time dynamically move around on that spectrum – sometimes adding kingdom goals and sometimes confusing kingdom goals with common goals, etc.
The authors further use Jesus’ temptation as a paradigm for choosing the kingdom path in finances. They apply Jesus’ temptation to stewardship issues and define the three temptations as
• Control (Lust of the flesh).
• Idolatry (Lust of the eyes).
• Pride (the pride of life).
While I agree that it is good ponder the temptation narrative to be formed more into the likeness of Jesus, I don’t see the financial connection. However, I do see the formation connection and that Jesus values and “metrics” were flowing from his meditation of the Deuteronomy wilderness narratives.
Later, Hoag says, “First, any person who desires to follow God and participate with Him in His work must resist the three temptations linked to control, idolatry and pride.” (51) This implies that there are only three primary temptations when talking about stewardship. My sense is that there are more than just three.
The rest of the book is basically an exhortation to choose the Kingdom path and what it means to choose that path.
As a matter of application, in chapter six, the authors propose 10 marks that define a Christ-centered ministry. “We propose ten marks, two for each of the five facets of the kingdom path. We believe they point the way for each of us—whether we are pastors or parishioners, executives or employees—who engage in God’s work and desire to pursue kingdom outcomes.” (52)
While the ten marks are wise, at various levels, and good metrics, I do not see how they flow from a single text or even a set of texts. So, in my opinion, this is a case of educated, experienced, authors, expressing good advice from their wheelhouse, dressing it up with some bible gymnastics and calling it a theology. The categories are expressed with bible lexical terms, and the view is informed somewhat from the bible, but, again, I see no flow from text to category. That doesn’t mean that this is not valuable. It just means that it doesn’t hold the authority of Scripture. It holds the authority of the expertise and experience of the authors.
I found the 10 marks to be good advice. Some were very broad, like “Submission to the Father.” This is a good metric in all aspects of life. Others were more focused like, “Transparent Financial Administration.” It may be helpful for a group of managers to ponder these ideas, and the arguments presented in the book, but I do not see a mandate in scripture.
The author’s draw a dichotomy between “The Common Path” and “The Kingdom Path.” In short, the common path uses earthly oriented metrics. Metrics like production, expansion, growth are used to set goals and measure success. Hoag concludes, “Organizations that measure success in these terms develop measurements and metrics associated with their expansion-focused strategies. These metrics are temporal in nature and counted in three primary areas: people, facilities, and finances. The influence of these metrics goes beyond these three areas and finds its way into human resource procedures, core values statements, and board governance policies. As such, every area of organizational life becomes aligned with quantifiable church growth or ministry expansion.” (10)
In contrast, the authors say that option two is the Kingdom path. “On this path, success is defined in terms of our obedience to the instructions of Jesus Christ for which He promises eternal rewards. On the kingdom path, we as Christ-followers become less concerned about results that we cannot control because our primary concern is obedience.” (7) Hoag then offers five traits of the Kingdom path. They are:
• Steward Leadership
• Faithfulness-Focused Strategies
• Eternity-Oriented Metrics
• Relationship-Based Metrics and
• a Stewardship View of Resources. (8)
While these five traits do resonate with me as good, the authors provide no connecting dots from scripture to these five traits. They simply state that these are “the five traits that flow from defining success in terms of obedience to the teachings of Jesus.” (7) So what we have is an idea from the authors looking for a justification from the Bible. Much of what they say does fall into the category of biblically informed. What that means is that their approach may be wise and in alignment with some biblical thought, but their approach does not hold the authority of Scripture. It is not the biblical theology of stewardship.
I also see a false dichotomy. They present two paths, The Common Path and The Kingdom Path and ask, which one will you follow. The implication is that everyone falls into one of these two categories. In my experience, there are those who fall into the Common Path category, and really no one falls fully in the Kingdom Path category. Most probably fall somewhere on a spectrum between the two paths. Further, most, over time dynamically move around on that spectrum – sometimes adding kingdom goals and sometimes confusing kingdom goals with common goals, etc.
The authors further use Jesus’ temptation as a paradigm for choosing the kingdom path in finances. They apply Jesus’ temptation to stewardship issues and define the three temptations as
• Control (Lust of the flesh).
• Idolatry (Lust of the eyes).
• Pride (the pride of life).
While I agree that it is good ponder the temptation narrative to be formed more into the likeness of Jesus, I don’t see the financial connection. However, I do see the formation connection and that Jesus values and “metrics” were flowing from his meditation of the Deuteronomy wilderness narratives.
Later, Hoag says, “First, any person who desires to follow God and participate with Him in His work must resist the three temptations linked to control, idolatry and pride.” (51) This implies that there are only three primary temptations when talking about stewardship. My sense is that there are more than just three.
The rest of the book is basically an exhortation to choose the Kingdom path and what it means to choose that path.
As a matter of application, in chapter six, the authors propose 10 marks that define a Christ-centered ministry. “We propose ten marks, two for each of the five facets of the kingdom path. We believe they point the way for each of us—whether we are pastors or parishioners, executives or employees—who engage in God’s work and desire to pursue kingdom outcomes.” (52)
While the ten marks are wise, at various levels, and good metrics, I do not see how they flow from a single text or even a set of texts. So, in my opinion, this is a case of educated, experienced, authors, expressing good advice from their wheelhouse, dressing it up with some bible gymnastics and calling it a theology. The categories are expressed with bible lexical terms, and the view is informed somewhat from the bible, but, again, I see no flow from text to category. That doesn’t mean that this is not valuable. It just means that it doesn’t hold the authority of Scripture. It holds the authority of the expertise and experience of the authors.
I found the 10 marks to be good advice. Some were very broad, like “Submission to the Father.” This is a good metric in all aspects of life. Others were more focused like, “Transparent Financial Administration.” It may be helpful for a group of managers to ponder these ideas, and the arguments presented in the book, but I do not see a mandate in scripture.
November 20, 2019
An excellent challenge to avoid shallowness. I felt that on the negative side of current Christianity, the editors picked extreme examples to prove their thesis. I think that this weakened the argument.
January 10, 2020
I read this book for work. It will challenge you to think about how to think differently and center your organization on the Kingdom path rather than the traditional ways of society.
January 24, 2022
The focus was more on church leadership but I think there are some good nuggets that can be applied to other careers. It was worth the read!
February 13, 2023
Many ministries have pursued the world's way of looking at results while ignoring what God has put us here on earth to do and by measuring spiritual outcomes. Good book on the subject.
August 15, 2016
I appreciate the effort put forth by this book from ECFA to help churches and Christian ministries pursue kingdom work to the glory of God. The authors set themselves on an important task: following the way of the Lord Jesus and rejecting the ways of the world.
Unfortunately, the book just doesn't deliver. Built on a shaky foundation of false dichotomies, and ringing hollow with more than a hint of "Let go and let God," it unfortunately fails to present a compelling choice for organizations that seek great results to the glory of God.
Unfortunately, the book just doesn't deliver. Built on a shaky foundation of false dichotomies, and ringing hollow with more than a hint of "Let go and let God," it unfortunately fails to present a compelling choice for organizations that seek great results to the glory of God.
December 9, 2022
This book has been very insightful. I am eager to read it again piece-meal, and study it along with it's study questions at the back of the book.
My biggest take-aways from the perspective of deeper insight into a couple of things in the Bible, were the passages that dealt with our Lord's three temptations in the wilderness, and the rocks that brought forth water while Moses lead the Israelites.
Apart from these, there is much about true Christian leadership that gave better understanding about much.
My biggest take-aways from the perspective of deeper insight into a couple of things in the Bible, were the passages that dealt with our Lord's three temptations in the wilderness, and the rocks that brought forth water while Moses lead the Israelites.
Apart from these, there is much about true Christian leadership that gave better understanding about much.
August 25, 2019
We compromise by trying to make things happen in the name of expedience.
A timely and succinct reminder of the values that should be guiding our ministries today. I especially appreciated the emphasis on treating people as people (what a concept!) and not as resources or as a means to growth/profitability. There is nothing truly new here but it does feel novel at times given the culture in many ministries in North America. This was also impactful to me on a personal level as well.
A timely and succinct reminder of the values that should be guiding our ministries today. I especially appreciated the emphasis on treating people as people (what a concept!) and not as resources or as a means to growth/profitability. There is nothing truly new here but it does feel novel at times given the culture in many ministries in North America. This was also impactful to me on a personal level as well.
December 8, 2014
Good overall point, but it seems to do a better job warning what not to do than giving tools for what to do. Included some gems of insight though.
June 8, 2015
I have never read a book about growing a ministry in accordance with the Scriptures. This book changed the way I work at the ministry I serve. Highly recommended!!
December 24, 2015
Good book but very predictable. I would not necessarily recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews