Are you a MENSCH!

Author Leo Rosten, author of “The Joys of Yidish” defines a mensch this way: “Someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character."

Guy Kawasaki says this, “The key to being a real mensch is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, and a sense of what is right. Responsible and decorous. “ He lays out 5 ways of achieving menschdom. I will comment on each one as well as how it relates to churches (my words will be in bold).

1. Help Those Who Cannot Help You. A mensch helps people who can never return the favor. He doesn’t care if the recipient is rich, famous, or powerful. You shouldn’t only help rich, famous, or powerful people.

As pastors we have to understand that some ministries will take and take financially and never give back…but that is ministry. Don’t give up on the needy, would Jesus?

2. Help Without Expectation of Return. A mensch helps people without the expectation of return-at least in this life. What’s the payoff? Not that there needs to be a payoff, but the payoff is the satisfaction of helping others.

You will get stiffed doing weddings and funerals. You will not always get that bonus on minister appreciation day, but you are doing what you are doing to make a lasting difference. God is faithful, He will bless you.

3. Help Many People. Menschdom is a numbers game: You should help out lots of people, so you don’t hide your generosity in a bushel. (Of course, not even a mensch can help everyone. Trying to do so would mean failing to help anyone).

Despite what people look like or dress like, we have to do our part and help. This does not mean we should delegate out work so we can stay behind our desk and check our church website webstats, check email, or update myspace. It means to leave the desk or leave the church and go help someone. Are you involved in your community?

4. Do the Right Thing the Right Way. A mensch would never cop an attitude like, “We aren’t as bad as Enron.” There’s a clear line between right and wrong, and a mensch never crosses that line.

Have you ever said, “Have you seen what that church is doing?” or “Did you hear about that church shutting down, let’s go after their members.” A true mensch would say, “Our competition is not other churches, our competition is the world and managing better the resources we have.”

5. Pay Back Society. A mensch understands that she/he is blessed. For example, an entrepreneur is blessed with vision and passion, as well as the ability to recruit people, raise money, and help change the world. These blessings come with the obligation to payback society. The baseline is that we owe something to society-we’re not doing a favor by paying society back.

So what are we doing outside of the church for our society? As pastors, we need to ask ourselves , “Is our church a blessing or curse to our society?” Here is a question, if your church was to pack up and close down, would anyone be upset? I am a police chaplain, on the board for the Chamber of Commerce, and a Jaycee member. Doing these kind of things helps me to keep my focus on others and keeps me asking, “What can I do to help the city?” This is when outreach happens.

These are just some thoughts….feel free to weigh in with comments.