mission | trajectory | future: why what we measure matters

The Wesleyan Church, the denomination of which I am a part, is hosting a series of ‘Pastors Forum(s)’ in the coming months. The purpose of these meetings/forums/discussions is:

to gather knowledge from the grassroots on what needs to be revived, refined, reinvented, and/or restructured in order for North American Wesleyans to achieve our vision of “Fulfilling the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.” During three to three and a half hours of conversation, we will discuss what a denomination should look like that is passionately and powerfully spreading hope and holiness to transform individuals, churches, communities, and cultures. Your General Superintendent and District Superintendent want to hear your responses to the following:

-What are your greatest hopes for The Wesleyan Church?
-What is your church already doing to spread transformational hope and holiness?
-What are the barriers that prevent or hinder your local church from doing this?
-What needs to be revived, refined, reinvented and/or restructured in order for The Wesleyan Church in North America to achieve its vision?
-How should we be measuring the health and growth of The Wesleyan Church to evaluate our mission effectiveness?

(Excerpt from an email from Rev. Randy Swink, District Superintendent of the Western Pa. District of the Wesleyan Church)

The final question, “How should we be measuring the health and growth of the Wesleyan Church to evaluate our mission effectiveness?” is, for me, the most intriguing and perplexing question on the list.

It’s intriguing because I have a “love-hate” relationship with measurement, because it so often denigrates into a discussion about statistics.

Each May, I sit down and dutifully prepare the annual statistical report, and the accompanying forms, which are required by both my district and the denomination.  The process is slow and tedious, but is not nearly as horrible or time-consuming as I was initially led to believe.  That said, as I compute and then input the statistics, I am oftentimes left with a sense of unease and dissatisfaction.  Are the statistics that are being asked for (statistics primarily having to do with attendance, membership, and budgetary items) really an accurate measure of: 1) what God is doing in the hearts and lives of His people, in this particular location, and at this time? and, 2) the effectiveness of the local church in accomplishing its mission?

I wrestle with the question of how to effectively measure the health and growth, while at the same time evaluating our mission effectiveness, because I’m not sure that it is a question that can adequately be addressed in light of the current institutional structures and emphases.  Here is, in bullet-point form, what I mean:

1. I was talking with Todd Hunter, the other day, in an effort to get a better handle on some things that we are looking to do in our local ministry context.  During the course of that conversation Todd made the comment that, “Once you decide what to measure, you have shaped your mission and future.”  I think that Todd’s statement was spot-on.  As a local church, we can say that we are about “reaching our community for Christ” or in showing the love of Christ to our community in tangible ways, but when we sit around the table at leadership meeting we only talk about how many visits I made as a pastor and how many people we had in our respective services throughout the week- is reaching our community for Christ or sharing the love of Christ in tangible ways really central to our mission or what we would like to see take place in the future?  The truth is that we can talk about such things and say that we are committed to them, yet, all-the-while, our focus and emphasis remains on other things.  What we measure shapes who we are now, as well as who we will become.  That said, denominationally, can we truly talk about measuring the health and growth, let alone the missional effectiveness, of the Church while at the same time keeping intact a reporting system that is driven by bucks, butts, and buildings?  Can we say that we are concerned about missional effectiveness, when those churches and pastors which are recognized are the ones who have built bigger buildings, seen an exponential increase in giving, and/or have seen attendance explode?
2. While statistics, necessarily, will always tend to be part of the way that we measure things, might there be a better way for us to “measure missional effectiveness”?  One of the newest initiatives to be rolled out by the Wesleyan Church has been that of m3 (which proposes that we focus on becoming a missional, multiplicational movement of God in which we see believers, leaders, and churches being multiplied).  Personally, I have no qualms with such an emphasis.  In fact, it seems as if the Church, our churches, and our communities would in fact be better places if we had committed believers, leaders, and churches who were on a mission to be the hermeneutic of the gospel.  That said, however, is our current system of measures structured in such a way as to measure the force and impact of the missional, multiplicational movement?  As we statistically count those who raised a hand, prayed a prayer, or visited an altar are we truly measuring a church’s capacity/ability to multiply believers?  How many of those who have been counted on such a line, on our statistical reports, have either prayed a prayer and disappeared (bearing no fruit and evidencing no maturation) or have become a nominal, pew-warming individual?  Is it possible that if we are striving to be a missional, multiplication movement, that we should be measuring (in one shape or form) how many believers are moved to minister to the world as if it were their parish?!  Maybe, for example, we should be asking whether the belief of a believer is leading to a tangible difference in that person’s relationship with her family, co-workers, and her community.  In other words, might we find a way to measure the kingdom-impact of a believer upon his/her sphere of influence?
3. When we speak of attempting to “measure missional effectiveness,” I think that we need to decide what “missional effectiveness” really is.  Is the mission, which we are trying to measure, something that is universal- in that, it is a mission for all of God’s people, in all times, and in all places?  If so, then maybe we need to come up with a way to measure how well our the churches of the Wesleyan denomination are cooperating with the churches of other denominations so that the missio Dei can be accomplished.   Are we endeavoring to measure missional effectiveness of a mission which is unique to our denomination?  If so, we may need to ask how we can measure these missional distinctives in such a way so as to accurately gauge and measure our success in these areas of ministry and mission, rather than in unrelated areas.  Or, are we striving to measure the missional effectiveness of a local church, whose mission may look different from church to church?  If this is the case, can a denomination ever hope to accurately measure missional effectiveness?!

These are just some of my rudimentary thoughts on the subject.  In some sense, I feel that I have raised far more questions than for which I will ever have answers.  What is more, I am well-aware that the questions that I have raised do not even begin to address the litany of questions which exist on the subject.

With that in mind, I would like to pose to questions to you, the reader: 1) Whether you are Wesleyan, or not, how would you define “missional effectiveness”?  and 2) What mechanisms/statistics/criteria would you employ as you seek to measure missional effectiveness?

Tags: Church, Ecclesiology, missio Dei, Mission, Missional Effectiveness, Mount Union Wesleyan Church, statistics, the problem with statistics, Todd Hunter, Wesleyan Church, Western PA District of the Wesleyan Church
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So Long Old Friend…

Watershed, the Saturday evening worship gathering of the Mt. Union Wesleyan Church, has been a time of refreshment and renewal for me, over the course of the last few months. The music has been refreshing. Worshiping and preaching on Saturday evening has both afforded me the opportunity to rehearse and revise my message for Sunday mornings, as well as helped me to be more mentally prepared for worship on Sundays.

However, what began (on March 7th), with a steady and consistent group of 25-30 people, has since dwindled to a handful. Admittedly, there are plethora of reasons for this. Area colleges dismissed for the summer, meaning that some of our steady core group have returned home for summer vacation. Summer baseball leagues are now in full-swing. Many people, therefore, have found their Saturday afternoons and evenings to be rather full- so, rather than attending on Saturday evening, Sunday mornings have become the most ideal time for worship. These are just a few of the many reasons.

Regardless, last night, as a leadership team, we decided to press the “pause button” in regards to Watershed. We are going to discontinue meeting together, during the summer months of 2009, with plans to tentatively resume our Saturday evening worship gatherings in the Fall of 2009. We have determined to do this for a couple of reasons:

1) We hope that by doing so we will not lose the momentum that we have gained;

2) Our desire is to reevaluate what we are doing, with the hope that when we resume things will be even better;

3) We feel as if this hiatus will allow us to spend some time in prayer, which might result in us taking things in a new direction;

4) Our goal of creating a space where members of our community can come and worship has not been achieved- we have primarily attracted already “churched” individuals.

So, if you are reading this, I would encourage you to keep us in prayer. As we pray, reevaluate, and re-envision things we desperately desire for God’s Spirit to blow wherever it pleases. Whatever we do, and whatever is decided, our prayer is for God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will to be accomplished in His church and in this community.

Tags: http://www.mountunionwesleyanchurch.org, Mount Union Wesleyan Church, Watershed
Posted in Mt. Union Wesleyan Church | Comments