Reflections LEAD: Michael Porter

If you want a refresher check out the notes on Michael Porter from the conference before jumping into some reflection time. There were mixed reviews of Porter's presentation from the people with whom I attended the conference. Some folks just zoned out at the professor type presentation and others really tuned in to the statistics and presentation. I agreed with everything that he was saying for the most part about getting the most out of God's resources and impacting the community in positive ways for long term benefits. The down side of his approach was that when everything is so analytical and processed the space for the Holy Spirit gets limited.
I could go off on that tangent for some time, but I'll limit this time to some positive reflections on one of his comments.
One of Porter's statements was: "Many congregation's community outreach is more about them than about those they are serving." This was not so much an AHHHA! moment as it was an invitation to look inward. Unfortunately the statement is not only true about congregations but also about people like me as well. The very nature of altruism is that it is assistance given without regard to personal benefit. While it would be nice to think that everything that is done in the name of Christ would be completely selfless and giving because it is needed I think we could all agree that isn't the case.
Think of the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke. The example of being a good neighbor is one that had no possibility of bringing a benefit to the Samaritan who comes to the assistance of the one robbed and beaten. Could that be the reason the two religious leaders didn't stop? Could it be that they saw no personal benefit for them in 'wasting' their time with the beaten man?
In the church it seems like we are quick to publicise our good deeds because it is all about name recognition (of course we justify this by saying that we want the glory to go to Jesus as long as our church, or maybe even our own names, get associated with it as well).
One of the classical spiritual disciplines is that of providing hidden service, doing for others that which they nor anyone else will ever know who was responsible. But this is a missing discipline in many of our church's and one that I have to confess is not modeled well because by it's very nature those who do it remain hidden.
Even those acts have to be examined though and the question asked why? Why are we doing these things? Is our motivation Christ centered or is it to ease our own sense of uncomfortableness with our lifestyle or actions?
I'm really afraid that this reflection has raised more questions than it has answers. Sorry for the navel gazing, but I think the questions are worth an honest examination and maybe through the examination we will gain a better insight and a willingness to give of ourselves in selfless ways.