Measuring Out There

“The measure of what happens in here is what happens out there.” That phrase in a sermon by John Ortberg grabbed my attention. I am keenly interested in metrics, and I love helping ministry leaders measure what matters. In one sentence, Ortberg captured one of the more important and understated aspects of measurement for churches. Church leaders readily agree that attendance and budget are important but inadequate measures of ministry effectiveness. If you ask what they are measuring beyond these two standards, you’re likely to hear a lot of stammering. Philosophically we can agree that we want people to grow closer to God. We can also agree that spiritual growth should result in behavioral change, and that this should positively impact the world around us. When we pray, “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” we’re saying that the ultimate goal is for our corner of the world to look like God’s kingdom. But this ideal is very long-term and almost impossible to measure. So where does that leave us? I see two ways to interpret Ortberg’s phrase, “what happens out there.” One is the long-term transformation of our communities, as described above. But the second is the degree to which the church is involved “out there.” “Out there” churches are just as concerned about finding tutors for a local school as filling the spots for children’s Sunday school teachers. They minimize the number of committees and leadership meetings because doing ministry “out there” is more important than talking about “out there” from “in here.” Their culture is that every member is a missionary and where everything they do is an opportunity for ministry. So I wonder if we can at least begin to measure how actively our churches are involved “out there.” It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>