I’ve spent the last two decades of my life working in and with churches, church and denominational leaders.  Regardless of the arena I’m working in the issues of declining membership, and the apparent increase in the irrelevance of church in our increasingly secular culture presses into meeting agendas.  Then, on the heels of this, comes the challenges of introducing and managing change surface. As we enter the next decade of the 21st century these dialogues and challenges seem to be increasing with frequency and intensity among church leaders. It is as if many denominations, churches and pastors have lost our way as we face the realities of not only declining membership and interest, but now due to economic and cultural shifts, the funding of church and denominational entities seems to be decreasing or at least shifting to a diversity of venues. I have noticed several things regarding what creates these pressures and it seems to revolve around how we are evaluating ministry in the midst of a changing culture.  I’m going to explore some of my observations here in hopes of creating a dialogue in your leadership meetings and with you as my readers. I’d love to hear your feedback – email me at EdwardHHammett@mchsi.com .

    What might be the measuring stick for today’s and tomorrow’s ministries….. Consider….

• Measuring impact, influence and presence rather than just membership, offerings  buildings and staff size
• Measuring attractional venues and participation of membership in centralized services. Attractional meaning what are the entry points or experiences that genuinely attract the interest of the believers as well as non-believers
• Measuring the creation of functional and attractional entry points rather than simply preserving what organizations or rituals that only work for the present active ‘membership’ now.  
• Measuring the transforming value of sharing biblical and transformational stories with each other rather than simply hearing the stories from one (usually the pastor) as a valued part of spiritual formation
• Measuring how many are invited to transformation of life, career, families rather than just inviting people to church gatherings
• Measuring how much believers give – of time, energy, expertise etc. to deepen the impact and influence of the faith in their families, careers, communities rather than just measuring how much money or time they give ‘to the church’.
• Measuring and valuing the breaking of the strongholds that hinder many – maybe their addictions, obsessions, compulsions or inward focused lives.
• Measuring how often individuals, couples, families adopt and nurture others through fellowship, mentoring, nurture, coaching etc. as part of the ministry and outreach of believers in the world AS the church
• Measure all variations of the biblical view of church – IN, THROUGH and AS the church. (My Spiritual Leadership in a Secular Age book expounds upon this in detail)    
  

Now these are some of my observations and ways of rethinking measuring what matters. …What would you add/delete from this list? What drives that decision?
Now the more important concern is if you buy into any of my new measuring sticks – how do you contextualize these concerns to your ministry?  Let me pose a few coaching questions for you to use to jumpstart a dialogue around this vital issue.

Coaching Questions:
1.    Which of the concerns listed above are issues for you? Your church?
2.    What personal examples bring you to this conclusion?
3.    How can this concern(s) specifically be measured effectively in our setting?
4.    What are the benefits/consequences of the way you measure ‘church’ impact now?

    So many argue that you can not measure spirituality or spiritual formation.  While I agree it can be challenging and subjective in many instances I do believe Jesus wanted us to ‘bear much fruit’ and fruit is tangible and can be weighed, observed and benefited from. Jesus also calls us to ‘BE about our Father’s business’ – BEING is evidenced and observable and the power of one’s presence is more crucial than ever in our increasingly secular culture.  Another biblical teaching that supports measuring the often intangible results of our presence and influence comes when God’s people are challenged by Christ to ‘BE salt, light and leaven in the world’ (John). In the coaching section of my personal website www.transformingsolutions.org you can find Tools for Helping Persons Grow in their Faith. These are tools many are using to do self-assessment of their spiritual growth and designing a ministry that moves believers and non-believers forward in their faith journey rather than simply repeating studies or projects of the past.

Visit www.transformingsolutions.org for FREE downloads of training podcasts, articles and links to other churches and resources for deacon election

©Eddie Hammett, http://deaconministry.ncbaptist.org and www.transformingsolutions.org