Myths of Pareto Principle 3

The final myth is that people can group themselves into the 20/80, and most damaging that the 20% begin to think of themselves as being better than the 80%.

Bringing this back into the local church, I've heard people say, "Well at my church, ABC Church, 20% of the people do 80% of the work." This is may be a true statement for ABC Church, but it is not an extension of the Pareto Principle. It's this co-mingling that is most problematic.

I think the bottom line is that when people, especially those with responsibilities, start counting themselves as the 20% that is doing all the work they have stopped focusing on the mission or goal and have begun focusing on themselves. Let me put it more bluntly naming yourself in the 20% is selfish and arrogant, and in the ministry of Christ will sideline you from ever truly bringing about the lion's share of results. You might still be part of the handful doing the work, but you'll not be a part that brings about results.

If you can look with honesty and say that what you've done in participating toward moving the vision forward than nothing should be more humbling. It will lead to a grace-giving attitude wishing that more people could have been instruments for God to work through, but it will never look condescendingly at others and form groups of us and them, the haves and have-nots, the good ones and the useless ones.

The longer I'm in this the more I realize that if I stack up everything I can do, it still won't be that big a pile. When God works through me then real things begin to happen. He takes my minimal offering and brings about a huge return. Not because of what I've done, but because of what he's done through me.

Scripture echoes this: 2 Corinthians 12:10, "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then am I strong."

--Ben