In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  –John 1:1-5

     What works in the world may not be what pleases God.  We’ll come back to that thought in a minute.

     There’s a temptation in every culture to make “best practices” the Bible of that society.  Because something works, or appears to work, we deem it inherently valuable, and determine to replicate it.  Nowhere is this more likely to occur than the workplace. 

     On the surface, the idea of gathering together in one place the things that work best makes sense, especially when those best practices are backed up by empirical evidence of their effectiveness.  Sharing ideas that work saves time and effort, saving us from “re-inventing the wheel.” 

     But there are dangers to “best practices”, too.

     For one, there’s a danger that “best practices” will organize themselves into one-size-fits-all formulas.  For example, in Jim Collins’ bestseller Good to Great, he and his team of researchers developed an impressive empirical mechanism to determine what makes some companies excel where others in similar circumstances were less effective.  In order to do this, of course, they first had to determine a definition of “great”.  Eventually they settled on cumulative stock returns as a measure of greatness, and then built their project around that.  For companies who view cumulative stock return as a primary benchmark for success, the “best practices” discovered by Collins’ team are useful indeed. 

     But what if that isn’t your company’s mission?  What if a company exists primarily to serve a specific niche or need in society?  What if a company exists primarily to provide work to hard-to-employ individuals?  Are the best practices from “cumulative stock return” companies the best practices for that firm?  (To his credit, Collins and his team recognized this, too, and have recently released a monograph for not-for-profits.) 

     “Best practices” must be carefully examined because they may shift our outcomes or our focus away from our original objectives. 

     Christians in the marketplace need to be especially alert to such a diversion.  What works in the world may not be what pleases God.  That’s a hard pill to swallow, so let’s set it apart for special emphasis.

     What works in the world may not be what pleases God.

     Too often we live our working lives in trial-and-error mode trying to discover the right fit or the right goal or even the right job.  To save ourselves time, we look around us for “best practices”, people or ideas (or books) that help us find shortcuts to success in life.  Unfortunately, most of those people or ideas or books define success differently than God does.  Still, the “best practices” often work, so we put them in play in our working lives.

     It’s a process that leads to immense spiritual frustration.  Even when we’re successful on the world’s terms, we feel the tug of eternal benchmarks. 

     There’s only one way to know if your work matters to God.  There’s only one way to know if the best practices of the world work in the eyes of God.  There’s only one way to know if what works in the world pleases God.

     Every workplace action must be measured against the principles of our faith as expressed in the Bible.  Every corporate goal, every personal job change, every policy and procedure must be measured against the only set of principles that won’t ever change. 

     He or she who would lead in the world must know that Word or else they’ve surrendered their authority.  He or she who would serve Christ in tangible ways must know that Word or else they’ve surrendered their effectiveness, and possible even the value of their labor. 

     In the beginning was the Word…and no one of us who seek to make our work effective may do so without making it the central document in our existence. 

--Randy Kilgore

rkilgore@marketplacenetwork.com

www.marketplacenetwork.com