This is the fourth in an unplanned blog series beginning with a pastor’s arguing for continuing to run the Sunday morning “play.” I think this is the final entry! Thanks to Sahil Bloom (again!), I’m reminded of another reason why it’s sometimes hard for churches and pastors to add in more intentional discipleship. They can’t add because they’ve already added too much!

Here are snippets about subtraction from Sahil’s August 21 newsletter:

Dr. Leidy Klotz, an engineering and architecture professor at the University of Virginia, pioneered the study of the psychological bias toward addition.

After watching his young son fix a Lego structure by removing a block, an action the boy took while Klotz was reaching for a block to add, he became interested in studying this effect in the lab.

…

Klotz and his co-authors summarized their findings across eight experiments, writing, “people systematically default to searching for additive transformations, and consequently overlook subtractive transformations.”

Leidy Klotz has written a book: Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less. Here’s the promotional paragraph from Amazon:

We pile on “to-dos” but don’t consider “stop-doings.” We create incentives for good behavior, but don’t get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don’t prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don’t subtract. Klotz’s pioneering research shows us what is true whether we’re building Lego models, cities, grilled-cheese sandwiches, or strategic plans: Our minds tend to add before taking away, and this is holding us back.

Do I need to tell you that most churches continue to add programs and ministries while not taking away any existing ministries, even if they’re not effective? My friend and former pastor John Ed Mathison succinctly articulated the solution:

If the horse is dead, dismount. – Dr. John Ed Mathison, Pastor Emeritus, Frazer Church, Montgomery, AL

The Apostle Paul said it first:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent… (Philippians 1.9, 10, ESV)

In our personal lives, our churches, our businesses, we need discernment to “approve what is excellent…” and I would add, “subtract that which is not excellent.”