The Goals of the Church

I'm sure we've all been thinking about this for a while, but how do you measure church success. I was reading Jim Collins business classic, Good to Great, (I read a lot of different things, not just basing my church thought on business classics) and he said that great companies know exactly what to measure. I thought, "What are we measuring at The Crossover?"

Traditionally churches measure: Members (often doctrinal agreement and moral compliance), attendance, offerings, salvations

The problem with attendance is we have people attending multiple churches and it really could be an identification of a really good show. That isn't to say all big churches are only putting on a good show, just that attendance isn't necessarily a good indicator. Even salvations is a problem. I looked back to see who are salvations were over the last few years. Those people aren't all in church today. Salvations isn't necessarily a sign of fruit.

My next thought was to look at Christian Schwarz Natural Church Development. He says you have eight measurements to make: Leadership, ministry, spirituality, structures, worship service, small groups, evangelism, and relationships. This is certainly more helpful and may be the direction I need to take.

But I thought about what the Bible describes as fruit, mostly found in Luke 4 (reading the scroll of Isaiah) and Matthew 25 (sheep and goats). Here are some questions I'm going to start asking our leaders quarterly. And maybe we should add these questions to the statistical analysis.

There are two major elements here. Are people getting free and are people helping people get free?

-Have you helped a poor person with some financial need in the last 3 to 6 months? Pay a bill, transitional housing, food, …
-Have you helped a poor person in a way that will lift them out of poverty, done something that will help them longer term in the last 3 to 6 months? (Give a fish, teach to fish) Habitat for Humanity, education, …
-Have you helped someone to move from living in debt, paycheck to paycheck, to having a stable financial life that frees them to do more with their life in the last 3 to 6 months?

-Is there someone who was in prison, but through our love, encouragement, and willingness to give them a chance, has now been released and has started a path that won’t lead them back to prison in the last 3 to 6 months? 1 in 136 people today are in prison. Almost 1 in 10 black men are in prison.

-Is there someone who has an addiction, but through your help, has been able to remain clean and sober for the last 3 months? 6 months? This could be to drugs or alcohol or food or porn. This could also be an addiction to bitterness or guilt. All of these stop us from being truly free.

-Have you helped someone in the past 3 to 6 months to see life more clearly? To see that they should take responsibility for their life and their actions and for their families? That they should keep a job even if they don’t think they are being treated fairly? That they shouldn’t sue everyone who they have the ability to sue?

-Have you communicated successfully in the last 3 to 6 months that because Jesus came, we now live in the Year of the Lord’s Favor, Jubilee, where all debt is forgiven?

-Has someone been healed in the last 3 to 6 months because of your prayers?