At my last doctoral class with Len Sweet last week, he posed a question to us that went something like this: Provide for me the metaphors that will describe how we measure success in the church in the future. We are prone to measure success by how man and how much. And we determine who is a great leader by how many and how much.
So today, I want to share with you some of the metaphors we listed (and some I came up with afterwards), of things we can count as a measure of success. But I need to issue a warning. You will have to think about these and you may push back unless you realize the metaphor. So don’t react…Ponder…
- The number of cigarette buts in the church parking lot.
- The number of adoptions people in the church have made from local foster care.
- The number of pictures on the church wall of unwed mothers holding their newborn babies in their arms for the first time.
- The number of classes for special needs children and adults
- The number of former convicted felons serving in the church
- The number of phone calls from community leaders asking the church’s advice
- The number of meetings that take place somewhere besides the church building
- The number of organizations using the church building
- The number of days the pastor doesn’t spend time in the church office but in the community
- The number of emergency finance meetings that take place to reroute money to community ministry
- The amount of dollars saved by the local schools because the church has painted the walls
- The number of people serving in the community during the church’s normal worship hours
- The number of non-religious-school professors worshiping with you
- The number of people wearing good, free clothes that used to belong to members of the church
- The number of times the church band has played family-friendly music in the local coffee shop
- The number of people who have gotten better because of free health clinic you operate
- The number of people in new jobs thanks to the free job training center you opened
- The number of micro-loans given by members in your church
- The number of churches your church planted in a 10 mile radius of your own church
Got any more?
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Measuring Success in Ministry
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June 6th, 2008 at 6:04 am
David, I love this different “scorecard.” The only one that immediately comes to mind would deal with the number of hours the church staff (and volunteers) spend ministering to those outside the church.
I also really like #19, especially in light of the previous post on Ed Young. I have always appreciated the impact of Young’s ministry. I have visited several different aspects/services of the church over the years, but I find his take on the video to be a bit bizarre and utterly ridiculous. As someone else said on another site, when you view the church as a business this is what you end up with.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Those are great. Thanks.
June 16th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
The number of people who spend time on their knees praying in support of all that God is doing
June 28th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I find the list interesting. It true if the the church wants to find itself where there are people in need they have to geo where the people are. Often times, as a “good christian” I find myself judging the very people I am meant to reach. Thank you for this.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Wow, amazing points! Thank you for this!
I think this list is really phenomenal. Imagine if we used it to measure success, I wonder how “successful” most churches would be – probably very little.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
The list can be summarized with 2 words – “Changed Lives”
The list reminds us of the markers along the path of changed lives, from start to finish. A healthy church should have people in all stages of change working together on the journey, with the push and pull of spiritual growth…
- from non-believer to believer
- from believer to follower
- from follower to disciple
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 am
Scott,
I agree with you, but unpack that for a minute. What we tried to do is move it out of the world of the abstract and into reality. Those are very real, personal, relational aspects of success in ministry.