What do you expect?

Group, Sep/Oct 2000 by Schultz, Thom, Schultz, Joani

A peek inside Group Publishing, publisher of group Magazine

You've heard the gripes about the post office. Years of under-performance caused many to lower their expectations for the post offices reliability. People came to expect slowness. In fact, the public now refers to the post offices product as "snail mail."

It's a case of crushingly low expectations. But the, post office isn't alone. Many in the church have similarly lowered their expectations for various ministries within the church. Over the past 20 years, Sunday school and Bible study attendance in America has sagged by 30 percent. Church leaders may not be too concerned because they believe these forms of Christian education weren't delivering much anyway. Low expectations.

People bemoan the current state of biblical illiteracy among the church's children, youth, and adults. It seems many no longer believe that educational ministries can really affect these negative trends, so why think about it? Low expectations.

Many leaders select programming materials based solely on cosmetic factors such as packaging or themes. They don't look past the veneer because their lowered expectations tell them that the contents of all products will deliver about the same minimal results.

INSISTING ON THE BEST

That's where we come in. At Group Publishing, the producer of this magazine and tons of other ministry resources, we do care about biblical literacy and the application of God's Word in people's lives. We believe the resources you use can-and should-help you produce real results. We believe we're successful only when your use of Group resources verifiably helps change lives. We insist on high expectations.

Back to the post office example, some people broke loose from "snail mail." Hence, Federal Express and email were born We no longer have to settle for low expectations.

But why has the church so often settled for less than high expectations for the resources it uses? Well, for one thing there truly is a lot of questionable stuff out there. Poor quality has caused many to become jaded, thinking all resources are weak. But ministry resources are not homogenous. You'll find both good and bad. Expectations shouldn't be lowered simply because some fail to deliver.

Lower expectations have also caused some to focus all their attention on the users of the resources, rather than on the resources themselves. They say, "It's the teacher or leader that makes the difference-not the material." Well, it's certainly true that good teachers and leaders play a vital role, but the quality of their work is always enhanced by quality tools.

We've also observed some church leaders trading their expectations for lower goals. "All we want is for kids to feel loved here." That love objective is good, but we shouldn't give up on the higher expectation that those kids will also come to know, love, and follow Jesus Christ.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

At Group Publishing were passionate about setting high expectations concerning our mission of encouraging Christian growth in children, youth, and adults. Each day we receive words of encouragement from people like you that God is doing great things through the leaders using our resources.

We thought it'd be fun to share a few stories that show no expectations are too small because God's power is so great.

We heard about one church this past summer that used Group's vacation Bible school, "HolyWord Studios: Where Kids Star in God's Story." It so happened that a Hindu child attended HolyWord and experienced the love of Christ in a powerful way. God's story became that child's story. At the end of the week the child-and her entire family-dedicated their lives to Christ!

This past summer over 14,000 young people and their leaders immersed themselves in a week of Christian service through Group Workcamps. We heard the story of one teenager who decided against going on a trip to Europe with her school because it might interfere with her workcamp week. She'd participated in Group Workcamps for a number of years and looked forward to that week of Christian service as the fuel that helped flame her faith for the upcoming year!

We learned of a pastor who'd always taught the adult Sunday school class. After just six weeks of using Group's FaithWeaver Bible Curriculum, he saw a spark of life in the class and new friendships forming for the first time among attendees. FaithWeaver's fresh, relational approach to Bible study led to breakthroughs in relationships, allowing the members to really grow and support one another in their faith walk.

These are just three little stories of God at work in a big way. What are your expectations for ministry? Are you numb because of past disappointments, or do you expect God to do big things through you and your ministries? The size of your expectations may determine the size of your ministry success.

We want to be partners with you to strive for great expectations-so tell us what you need most from us. Forget snail mail. Crank up your expectations and email us at tschultz@group publishing.com or jschultz@grouppublishing.com.