Let's overturn these tables

What makes a mountain impressive? What makes us feel a sense of awe when we see it?

It’s easy to find statistics on the tallest mountains, the ones whose peak is highest above sea level. Everest (Sagarmatha to Nepalis, Chomolungma to Sherpas) wins that one.

But if, like Everest, it is surrounded by other tall mountains, it may not be as impressive as a slightly lower peak that towers over its surroundings. Several terms attempt to measure this.

The term “jut” uses both height and steepness to measure how impressively the mountain rises from its base (and thus may measure how difficult it would be to climb). Annapurna Fang (Varaha Shikhar) has a jut of 3,412m the highest of any mountain in the world, far above Everest’s 2,223m.

Prominence measures how much a mountain rises above its base without accounting for steepness, and here Everest wins, but it isn’t as visually impressive as mountains like Annapurna Fang or Machapuchare (pictured above).

So what has all this to do with churches?

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Ministry can be like mountains

I suppose most churches keep some measures of their success – e.g. attendance, offering, annual budget. These are useful and often necessary measures, but like simply measuring the height of a mountain above sea level, they may not measure what is most important.

And if we’re not measuring what is important, our statistics may be misleading us.

Measure what is important

When I worked as an environmental manager, I attended courses on performance measurement. One of the main lessons was to measure what is really important.

Work out aims, then measure how well those aims (outputs) are being achieved. Also measure what is being done to achieve those aims (inputs). This allows assessment of what is working and what isn’t.

What’s important for churches?

Of course it is important that church budgets balance and money is being spent wisely. But they aren’t the church’s aims.

Church aims will be something like making disciples, seeing people renewed in their faith, transforming the lives of church members and people in the surrounding communities, and seeing community renewal.

These are much more difficult to measure, but really much more important than attendance. After all, people can attend church all their lives and never grow or change.

Get some ideas

The Barna organisation in the US has been developing ideas on how to better measure what churches really want to achieve.

1. Define goals

Prayerfully consider God’s call on your church. “Define success by your God-given mission, not by comparison with others. Ask: What would it look like for us to be faithful and fruitful here, in this place, with these people?”

2. Add new measures

Include both quantitative and qualitative measures. The latter may include:

• “Participation in discipleship pathways, not just worship services.
• Stories of life change and spiritual resilience, not just numbers of programs.
• Engagement in prayer, serving or evangelism, not just dollars given.”

3. Ask & listen

Counting attendance or offering is easy, but qualitative measures can’t be so easily reduced to numbers. So ask people questions, perhaps have occasional focus groups. “Ask about spiritual practices, relational health and sense of belonging.” Barna has resources on this. Not only will this gain information, it will make Pastors better pastors and encourage the congregation that their views and experiences are important.

4. Celebrate good outcomes

In written reports & newsletters, ministry meetings and Sunday services, celebrate the good things that are happening. Share testimonies of steps people are taking to grow and act in faith. Share reports of successful ministry events. “People learn that transformation is valued as much as turnout.”

Scary for some, life-giving for others

I can imagine some pastors feeling less than excited about asking deep questions of their congregations and listening attentively to the replies. Some would feel they are the pastors and they kinow what’s best. But likely most might feel afraid they would open up issues that might lead to criticism or dissatisfaction. Some might fear for their jobs.

But if they genuinely want the best fortheir congregations, if they want them to flourish spiritually and be salt and light in their communities, settling for an easy life won’t be for them.

Barna has a guide that “explores 15 essential practices for nurturing, sending and leading congregations and lays out ways to help measure current success while also identifying potential areas for improvement.”

Whether using Barna’s resources or trying an individual approach, I believe churches can gain by considering how measuring churches and mountains have some things in common.

Photo: Mount Machapuchare in the Himalayas of Nepal is 6,997m high and has a jut of 3,049m, the fifth highest in the world (Pixabay).

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