Purpose

I was in a church meeting once, when a committee member said, "The bottom line is that we need to increase our membership."

He meant that the bottom line, for the continued sound fiscal existence of the church was that we need more paying members.  I hope -- I sincerely believe -- that that is NOT our bottom line.

The presenter at the meeting I attended in Austin said, "We are not here to save the institution; we are here to use the institution."

We do not serve the church; we serve God.  And what does God want us to do?

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied:“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

I think our job is to figure out how to do that. What does it look like in our neighborhoods to love our neighbors? How can the church help us to accomplish that goal. How can the church be used to make that divine directive a reality.

If we do that, then the church will be fulfilling its purpose.  We won't have to worry about membership, because the church will thrive.

And if that becomes our goal, how do we measure our progress toward that goal?  It becomes less about how many people attend worship service each week (although we can still measure that, if it accomplishes something in our intentional striving toward the new goal), and more about measuring how we are reaching out.  Loving.  Fulfilling our purpose as a church.

Getting what we measure

You get (accomplish) what you measure.  Or, to say it another way, you get what you pay attention to.

This was one of the basic tenets of a conference I recently attended.  I'm a firm believer that sometimes quips  attract us just because they sound good -- they should be true because they seem clever.  We owe it to ourselves to examine phrases that seem true before we accept them as truth.

For instance -- "God won't give you more than you can handle."  It sounds like it ought to be comforting, but I don't believe it is true.  Ask the person who has way more than anyone should be able to handle.  The only reason he or she is able to continue is that there is no other option.  I think God is in the "handling," but not in the "giving."  He'll walk with us to handle anything we have to, but I won't blame God for the problem.

Anyway....

Do we get what we measure?  To me that phrase makes it sound like the act of measuring something makes it happen. Say, for instance, that we want our children to have an increased reading level. Does continually measuring it make it happen?  No, but reading to them might.  Encouraging them to read might.  I think what makes the goal reachable is:

1. Realizing the necessity of having the goal.
2. Setting the goal.
3. Planning the intentional steps to reach the goal.
4. Evaluating the progress to the goal.
5. Adjusting the steps to reach the goal

Churches see dwindling attendance, so they come to a realization that they need to attract new members.  They might start measuring how many people come to church and attend worship.  Will that accomplish any worthwhile goal?  Will they get what they are measuring?

I don't think so.  The goal is wrong.  First of all, it's not really a goal, it's a vision (we want more people to come to church).  Secondly, it isn't a goal that comes from God.  Thirdly, what intentional steps are they taking to reach the goal.

Just because we spend time measuring doesn't mean we are going to accomplish what we've set out to do.

More thoughts on this soon.