Ask "Why?" Five Times

In the world of business we constantly ask the question "Why?" in order to improve. Many of you know that I work for JCB here in Savannah. We ask ourselves "Why?" over and over to get to the bottom of things. Especially if we find a problem we ask "Why?" in order to determine the root cause. If we do this five times we usually come to the answer. We have to follow this pattern in order to effectively compete with Caterpillar, Bobcat, John Deere, Kubota, Case, Takeuchi, etc.

Christ's church is most definitely not a business. We are not in competition. However, we could learn a little from the world of business. Specifically, it is beneficial to ask "Why?" concerning every aspect of church life. Is there a good reason for why we do this, this, this, this, this, etc.?

Asking "Why?" can certainly be uncomfortable. The answers we find often force us to change. This is not very easy. If it was, we would have done it already. We all probably need some change in the way we live as part of Christ's church. This will look different from person to person and church family to church family. The need to ask "Why?" applies to all churches, from the most institutional to the most organic.

The one answer that "Why?" will not accept is "We've never done it that way before." We tend to criticize other believers for using that answer, but to be honest we all think it from time to time. Change makes us uneasy. Sometimes it almost hurts.

Despite this, we all ought to dare to ask "Why?" of ourselves. We need to begin individually and only then work outward. Jesus told us to take the plank out of our own eye before pointing out the speck in our brother's.

Ask "Why?" I dare you.