A New Scorecard

An outreach to students with killer band and dynamic speakers to draw in a crowd= $2000
Equipping students to be inviters using the latest and greatest curriculem= $500
Ratcheting up weekly services to have appealing elements to newbies= $1000
A community of young people that will be celebrating Christ for eternity= priceless

How do we measure success in ministry? It is hard. Most of the real life change is priceless and difficult to quantify.

When I asked my mentor how he measures ministry success he said, "I mow my lawn." What he meant by that statement is that measuring ministry results is hard. If you want to see the fruit of your efforts, go mow a lawn.

Most of the time we measure ministry by attendance and activity. This doesn't give us a very accurate reading though. We may have a bunch of chairs filled up but that doesn't mean we are making disciples. A snap-shot of CSM may give you the impression that the ministry is unhealthily small... but, when you think through how solid the students are, it is hard to find another group that matches their spiritual maturity.

We need to rethink how we measure success. A new book called Transformational Church: A New Scorecard for Congregations aims to do just that. My hope is that lots of congregations will be equipped to better serve their congregations by measuring things that last.

I know I personally have a lot of room for growth, and our ministry does too. But, I pray that we would be guided by goals that are meaningful and not simply numerous as we pursue gospel-growth.