I was at lunch today with a group, and one person leaned over to speak to me. “I was a banker, and if I didn’t show a 10% increase each year, I would lose my job. Preachers need that same accountability.” I agreed, “Yep, only working 4 hours each week is a cushy job that I have.” We both smiled, no offense taken on either side.
I then went on to describe to him, briefly, some of the changes we are seeing in the United Methodist Church. In Missouri, we report our attendance, baptisms and professions of faith weekly. The Northern Alabama Conference takes this report a step further, posting a Conference-wide “dashboard” that shows those numbers for every church. (You can see it at http://www.northalabamaumc.org/weeklyreport.asp) On this site, they list the top five and bottom five churches each week in terms of growth or decline. Frankly, I take issue with posting the bottom five churches in this manner. I can imagine pastors and churches that are doing the hard work of adaptive change, or perhaps helping to plant a new church. Often, there is a short-term but expected decline in numbers at these times. Showing up on the bottom five list could undermine the vision of the church leadership in some of these situations.
Having said that, I realize that even those of us in the God business need to be held accountable. Until we get to that final accounting, we are stuck with human measures. Worship attendance, professions of faith, baptisms, financial giving to the church are some of the indicators that have been identified as useful. All of that information has always been available, and if making it more accessible helps us to focus on the task at hand, then I am all for it. The challenge, of course, is how to measure that which is largely unmeasurable. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” How do you quantify Jesus’ Great Commandment?
As I think about “measurable outcomes,” I can’t help but think about that pastor in Florida. He threatened to burn the Koran. He was warned, by no less than the President of the United States, that a likely outcome of such an action would be loss of life overseas. The pastor burned the Koran. Twelve UN workers were killed in retaliation. An expected and measurable outcome of that action. I in no way want to condone the horrible actions of those persons who murdered the UN workers. However, I cannot understand that pastor’s choice. Why choose to act in a manner that will have such results?
My actions matter. How I practice my ministry matters. I have a blessed opportunity through ministry to change the world for good. If I- and the rest of the leadership and membership of First Church- are doing things well, then more people will have a chance to know God. And the numbers just might reflect that. Creating measurable expectations can help us do our work better. After all, what I am glibly calling “numbers” are real, flesh-and-blood humans, humans who can use some Good News. And if I practice ministry poorly, or worse, then real humans will suffer.
Like everyone else who bears the name “Christian,” I am about the business of loving God and neighbor, the way Jesus commanded us. It is a calling that I take much too seriously to avoid talking about measurable outcomes, yet it is also a calling that I take much too seriously to be limited by those same outcomes.
