{"id":1505,"date":"2012-06-12T03:00:48","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2012-06-11T13:35:42","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T20:35:42","slug":"why_if_just_one_person_reasoning_is_false_dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2012\/06\/12\/why_if_just_one_person_reasoning_is_false_dangerous\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8220;If Just One Person&#8230;&#8221; Reasoning is False &#038; Dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Originally posted December 16, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There is a growing trend among many churches to apply a false formula in many aspects of the budgeting process. I call it the \u201cIf Just One Person\u201d false logic.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve found yourself falling into this trend you need to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be aware of the trend,<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Recognize why the logic is faulty,<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Know how to respond.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1506\" style=\"border: 5px solid silver;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/money_tree-279x300.gif\" alt=\"dollar tree\" width=\"279\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>1.\u00a0\u00a0 Be aware of the trend<\/strong><br \/>\nThis trend typically unfolds in this manner. During the budgeting process someone will notice an unusually large dollar figure attached to a new or unproven outreach initiative.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The defender of the line item will then apply this logic. \u201cHey, if even <strong>one person<\/strong> makes a decision for Christ, then every penny will have been worth it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">While I\u2019m using outreach as an example, the same reasoning pops up in other budget discussions too, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If just one person <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">takes a big step towards God<\/span>\u2026<\/li>\n<li>If just one person <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">starts reading the Bible regularly<\/span>\u2026<\/li>\n<li>If just one person <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">invites someone far from God into their home<\/span>\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>2.\u00a0\u00a0 Recognize why the logic is faulty<\/strong><br \/>\nIn reality there is a dangerous false economy at work here. Suppose, for example, the outreach line item is for $20,000 and it is being justified on the \u201cIf Just One Person\u201d logic. But could there have been a far more effective outreach initiative which, for that same $20,000, could have seen 10 people come to Christ? Or 20? Or 100?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>3.\u00a0\u00a0 Know how to respond<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen this logic is raised in your budgeting circles the key is to match the sincere value with a discussion of equally valid competing values such as the stewardship value and the wisdom value.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Have the courage to point out that even in an abundance economy (recognizing that God does indeed \u201cown the cattle on a thousand hills\u201d), there is still a leadership responsibility at play which requires a maximum return on each Kingdom dollar.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is this a big deal?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a church leader you have a responsibility to ensure that each dollar is being applied for maximum Kingdom impact.<\/p>\n<p>So be on the lookout for the \u201cIf Just One Person\u201d false logic. If you speak into it in a timely, gracious but clear manner the Kingdom win can be huge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you respond to the \u201cIf Just One Person\u201d logic?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally posted December 16, 2011 There is a growing trend among many churches to apply a false formula in many aspects of the budgeting process. I call it the \u201cIf Just One Person\u201d false logic. If you\u2019ve found yourself falling into this trend you need to: Be aware of the trend, Recognize why the logic&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478,7,758],"tags":[760,759,41,190],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-leadership","category-stewardship","tag-faulty","tag-logic","tag-ministry","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1510,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions\/1510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}