Mission Before Metrics: The Thousand Mile Journey
by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader
Why is this so hard to keep in order? This isn’t difficult to understand. Yet for most of us, keeping the metrics in their rightful place when it comes to church life is so terribly difficult. Perhaps it’s because this is the way many organizations, businesses, and corporations measure their success. Perhaps it’s because it’s simply easier than tracking spiritual growth and progress. Due to these, and many more influences, it seems like churches must travel a thousand miles to prioritize the mission upon which the metrics rest.
This is why a clear, actionable mission statement, one aligned with the Way of Jesus, is so helpful. Effective use of a mission statement includes calling ourselves toward its embodiment over and over again. The statement itself is not the secret sauce; prioritizing it is, allowing it to shape our collective aspirations and actions.
So, when we realize our metrics are outcomes, lag measures which actually describe something else, then we are positioned for missional progress. There are few (if any) people in our communities who want to join our churches in order to increase church membership, finances or participation levels. On the other hand, there are many people in every community who are hungry for a vitalized faith community where transformation is happening.
When we pursue mission first, rather than chasing metrics,
We dethrone metrics from their prime position, remembering they are not our primary aspirations nor bottom line.
We find the spiritual strength and stamina needed to address our metrics which may be institutional concerns.
We are far more likely to be invigorated as organizations when we are missionally engaged and being transformed than when we are afraid of our institutional concerns, or driven by them.
Mission before metrics; the thousand mile journey for churches… a spiritual pilgrimage that changes everything for the better.
