The Problem With Mother’s Day

Officially established in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson, Mother’s Day was the result of the tireless advocacy of Anna Jarvis to honor her own mother.

 

One problem: less than a decade later, Anna was so distraught over its commercialization, that she spent the rest of her life—and her inheritance—trying to rescind the holiday. In 1943, she launched a national petition to have the day recalled, even being arrested earlier for protesting at florists.

“Charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites” is what she called the greeting card companies, the florists, spas, and purveyors of commercialism in her day. She died broke and blind in a sanitarium at 84.

In 2023, we Americans spent a record $35.7 billion on Mother’s Day.

The curious history of Mother’s Day had me thinking about how certain methodologies and programs become part of the culture and practices…and how this happens in churches. My friend and co-worker Tom Thatcher introduced this “emergent” idea to me when he wrote:

“By ‘emergent,’ we’re not referring to the movement of self-described postmodern, post-evangelical churches, but rather using the term drawn more narrowly from the social sciences and the study of group behavior. From this perspective, an activity—particularly an activity performed by a group or an organization (like a church)—becomes ‘emergent’ when it ‘just happens.’ We do this just because we do it. The activity happens, but it would be difficult to say exactly who says it should or why, or even who actually does it or parts of it. It seems to ‘emerge’ as a natural byproduct of the church and has taken on a ‘life of its own’.” ELEMENTAL INVENTORY FIELD GUIDE, DR. TOM THATCHER

Tom offered a case study of a church that decided to stop doing its Vacation Bible School (VBS) program after decades. It had evolved into an annually-assumed activity that was complex and required huge resources—money and people-wise—and the fruitfulness of it as it related to the church’s overall mission was suspect. They had to admit that there really wasn’t much of a return relative to all the effort it required…and somehow it just appeared every year on the church calendar.

It had become emergent.

Which raises the obvious leadership question: what activities and programs are counter-productive to the mission of your organization? At the very least, what if the resources used to maintain some ongoing program that produces little, were diverted to new initiatives or at least to existing activities that more closely align with your mission?

It is leadership’s job to regularly tackle this big question: how do we accomplish our mission better?  This is the question of fruitfulness with which Jesus would challenge his mentees.

By the way, I still believe a day to honor moms is legit. Let’s just do it better.

Dave Workman | The Elemental Group

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The Elemental Churches Inventory is a revolutionary web-based assessment system that combines individual and team learning through online tools and videos with coaching. It not only gives your leadership team a snapshot of where you are, but provides a comprehensive report with recommended action steps to move your church forward. Plus, it's accessibly cost-effective! Check it out here.