A while back I ran across a blog post on the topic of fairness. Here’s what Tim Stevens, Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church, had to say:
Today I’m a fly on the wall in the back of the room in Kem Meyer’s workshop on Communications. She just said something very interesting: “Fairness is not a priority for us in what we communicate and what we don’t.”
It made me think through several thoughts about fairness:
- We aren’t fair about what gets promoted from the platform. Some ministries or events get priority.
- We aren’t fair about which events or ministries get facility space.
- Jesus wasn’t fair when he chose to spend most of his time with his 12 disciples. Furthermore, he wasn’t fair when he chose three disciples above the rest of them.
- As a leader, I’m not fair with my time. Some people can call and get time with me at a moment’s notice. Other people can’t. That’s not fair.
- We aren’t fair when we determine what gets in the budget and what doesn’t.
- I’m not fair with my influence. I focus a great deal of my influence with some people, and none at all with other people.
- We aren’t fair with our compensation. Two people in the same position may not be paid the same. Two people who have been on staff the same length of time may not be paid the same. Two people with the same education and expertise may not be paid the same.
Bottom line: We make decisions based on priority, not fairness. We filter discussions through our mission and values, not whether it is fair. We determine budget dollars and facility requests through our purposes, not whether someone will get their feelings hurt.
Here at CCV our decisions are occasionally questioned as to whether or not they are “fair.” I usually think (to myself), “Who said life was fair” or something like that but answer with a hopefully well thought out justification for the decision. The justification is almost always based on priority and almost never on fairness. I really appreciated Tim’s post and thought you might as well. You can visit Tim’s blog yourself by clicking here.
We have a Ministry Priority Model that we use around here called “The 3 Buckets.” It’s a useful tool, check it out HERE.
