March 2017 – Nonprofit Readers Blog

On the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, everyone recalls the story of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg. Lesser known, I would imagine, are his four stages of manhood to pin to the door of our heart. They too have something to do with reformation.

The Making of a Man
The protestant reformer is on to something here—not much has changed in 500 years. His astute observations warn of prominent landmines that come with the territory of each stage of a man’s life. Here’s what he says:

Stage One: Young fellows are tempted by girls
Stage Two: Men who are thirty years old are tempted by gold
Stage Three: When they are forty years old they are tempted by honor and glory
Stage Four: Those who are sixty years old say to themselves, “What a pious man I’ve become!”

Let’s first analyze the first three stages.

Nothing wrong with the major themes behind them, in and of themselves. It’s natural for a young man to be hunting for a Genesis-style helpmeet. Once she’s found him, they need money to support their family. In his forties, when a fellow hits his stride, he starts thinking about making his mark—all in the name of Jesus and his nonprofit’s worthy cause, of course.

But, says Luther, each unfolding stage carries great temptations: Lust, greed, and envy of those more influential. And there can be a thin line that separates the good from the not-so-good.

Which brings us to Luther’s fourth stage: “What a pious man I’ve become!” Did I hear an “Amen?”

Ah, You’ve Finally Made It!
A school of thought in criminal justice maintains that most inmates should be released by a certain age. One reason is that incarceration geriatrics triple the tax-payers’ cost for housing a prisoner. But another, related to public safety, is that research shows elderly “returning citizens” rarely commit crimes. They’re just too old to pull it off anymore.

It’s not all that different with pious, old men.

That being said, when you get to the fourth stage you might be feeling pretty good about yourself—that you’ve accomplished something. And more so, that you are no longer prone to the weaknesses of those younger lads—you’ve outgrown them.

Likely, but here’s the rub. A doozy of a temptation crouches behind that fourth door, perhaps the trickiest of all: the sin of pride. And to be proud of your “piety” might be the most hideous of all sins. (It was, after all, pride that got the devil and his angel-gang booted out of heaven.)

While we didn’t need a crystal ball for the first three, Luther’s fourth is a zinger. Perhaps, you didn’t see it coming. Yet, the Wittenberg wonder’s last stage opens one more chapter to be written to finish your story. To sabotage a happy ending, the devil throws you a huge party to celebrate your arrival—your becoming a legend in your own mind. For you to take your bows.

So at which stage are you? At whatever level you are, be aware of its major navigation errors. And when reaching stage four, rather than straining for significance or rehearsing your resume ad nauseam—the reformer invites you to finish well your personal reformation.

How?

The reformation recovered the five great Solas: Scripture Alone, Christ Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone and To God Alone be Glory. Notice how they are all “Solas.” None include, “and me.” Even faith is “not from yourselves, it is a gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).

That means God is everything and we are nothing, nada, zilch—neither in salvation nor in any of the stages of manhood.

The Fifth Dimension
Oh, but wait a minute. There is a fifth stage that the Wittenberg reformer failed to mention on his list, but that his wisdom certainly implies.

In his final moments, Martin Luther’s last words were, “We are beggars. This is true.”

Another great reformer, 400 years after the Reformation, was J. Gresham Machen. His last words on his death-bed reportedly were, “I’m so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.”

Isn’t that the sum of it? In such heartfelt knowledge, both men finished well, both exited this life for the fifth, everlasting stage of true manhood. And so can we—reformed and ever-reforming—500 years after Luther nailed it.

H. David Schuringa

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How are you at making and reaching goals? A-? C+? Annual goal-setting is one of the most vital tools for sustainable growth in accomplishing the mission you envision. The value of setting the right goals in the right way at the right time cannot be overstated.

Every year you’ll want to gather key staff to participate in setting goals for the dimension of the institution for which each is responsible. Of course, you must guide the process and take responsibility for the end product. This complete list of institutional goals—and there should be many— should be presented to your board of directors each year and, the following year, a progress report provided.
For effective execution, each goal should meet several criteria. I’ll explain just five of the main rules. I have religiously abided by these, and they have never failed me. So here they are, bare-bones. In the future we’ll flesh them out.
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ALLIGNABLE: A particular goal may be fine in and of itself, and would further a great cause for the advancement of humanity. But if it doesn’t align with one or more agency objectives– which in turn flow from your well-framed vision and mission statements—it doesn’t belong on your list.
Chasing rabbits is a tempting organizational pastime. Perhaps in a brainstorming session, a great idea sparks and everyone thinks you should run with it. Another side-track can be directed by a huge donation ear-marked for a project not on your radar. Rabbits lead down dark holes.
Bonus Value: The alignability factor keeps the organization on line, ensuring every effort is pushing in the same direction.

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QUANTIFIABLE: Quantifiability goes with clarity and concreteness. To “try harder and do better” is not a goal. To feed dinner to 5,000 homeless people in the northeast shelter of the city is clear, concrete and quantifiable. Sometimes nonprofits rightly find it difficult to quantify a foggy “spiritual” goal such as “for 10,000 people to give their hearts to Jesus.” But “for 10,000 people to sign a card that they have accepted Christ for the first time and to provide contact information,” while still murky, can be quantified. This also means to keep accurate records.
Bonus Value: Quantifiability provides outcomes to be graphed for historical analysis and future projections.
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CHALLENGING: Worth-while goal-setting stretches the agency in all its parts. So an aim to rescue 500 battered women next year, when you housed 495 last year is planning to plateau, not grow. Great goals present aligned and quantifiable challenges for expansion of the organization. As the maxim goes, no pain, no gain. Without challenge, an organization experiences progressive atrophy. As a leader, you are not making the grade if you merely follow the agency, or coast along.
Bonus Value: Challenging goals strengthen your agency and demonstrate you have the courage to lead.
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ACHIEVABLE: Still, goal-setting is best tempered by realism. Your goal of tutoring 400 inner city children for 20,000 hours, when you accomplished a tiny fraction of that last year, should not be confused with visionary. To make matters worse, unachievable goals discourage your team and make you look detached from organizational capacity. On the bright side, however, challenging, but achievable, goals inspire your agency with a “Yes! We can do this!”
Bonus Value: Goals achieved inspire confidence that you and your team know where you are going.
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VERIFIABLE: If you achieved your goal of training 250 new volunteers, you should be able to print out their volunteer applications, with contact information, the day they were trained, and by whom. Also, these should be volunteers who actually volunteered following the training. Only verifiably accomplished and meaningful statistics count.When anyone outside the organization asks for proof of your figures, you can confidently bring them to a computer and show them (likely with the aid of your IT guy!). Hopefully, your success will sound too good to be true. But then, you must be able to prove your stats are backed by facts. Call this utter transparency.
Bonus Value: Verifiability flows from integrity, the foundation of a successful agency.

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Having said all this, remember we’re talking here about annual goals, not medium or long-range ones. Also, if goal-setting doesn’t come naturally to you, get reliable assistance to begin or strengthen the process. Such will also help you formulate a strategic plan for reaching your goals.
Goal-setting is always necessary. Sure, you can get lucky and be at the right place at the right time so that the organization seems to be growing by itself. My mentor used to say that a church in a rocketing suburb could have the devil in the pulpit and still grow. So, that means you must set the bar much higher than that which would have been reached anyway, while chatting around the water cooler with staff.
Goal-setting is never infallible. Sometimes circumstances happen beyond your control that you can’t reach a goal. After 9/11, many nonprofits didn’t meet their revenue goals, but any board would understand. By the same token, when you set a goal and exceed it, few will complain if you also went over budget to embrace the opportunity.
Goal-setting is a mark of a top-grade leader: You’ll discover these five simple rules to be advantageous if you are serious about helping people in need. Goal-setting is not about peeking into a crystal ball, it’s about exercising leadership with vision, clarity, faith, realism and accountability.
As a final note, a faith-based leader knows that God can do “abundantly more than we ask and think.” Exactly, which means we must “ask and think.” These five simple rules get you on the path do just that, and to see God do unimaginably more.