HippoChurch

We can talk about ministry models all day, and I think a variety of models is healthy for the Church because each of us reaches people in the unique way they might have been searching for God or the way we were gifted to reach them. As long as it’s founded in the Truth, I say Sunday School - go for it! Emergent - go for it! Small groups - go for it!

We do a great, though sad, job of tearing each other down in the Church world, arguing over models, whether or not someone’s watered down the Gospel, megachurch and pastor as CEO is heretical, etc., but one thing you can’t argue with is fruit. (I mean really, have you ever tried to reason with a pear? There’s no swaying those things! )

So, my thought for the day is how do you know you’re actually being effective? What can you point to? Do you have a system? What does it produce?

Certainly, there are moments in worship sets, in sermons, in community work, etc. where you absolutely feel the Spirit and know God is at work in hearts in your midst. But, how do you know that your contribution at your church is resulting in fruit?

One of my favorite things about being around here is that we’re very intentional about trying to set the table through environments (Foyer, Living Room, Kitchen) where God can do what only God can do, and then we measure like heck whether or not those environments are producing results. Not to manipulate anyone, or pat ourselves on the back or to report big numbers (we’re non-denominational so we don’t even have anyone to report those numbers to anyway!). But, we want to know, “Are we being effective with the resources God’s entrusted to us and are we seeing life change because of our environments?” We could depend on feel, especially on Sundays which are always a high moment, but we pressed on past the feel of things to measure whatever we could measure. As they say, “what gets measured gets managed”. Meaning you’re intentional and people are responsible about it.

We’ve centered on 3 key measurables:

1. Baptisms - Cool to see 10-15 per month at each campus getting baptized. That’s just adult baptisms too. The number of people making decisions for Christ is even higher.
2. Starting Point Orientation Attendance - We have a 10-week small group environment for what we describe as “seekers, starters and returners”. It’s one of the few things that we regularly include in announcements, and we have orientations after services at least twice a month. This is a brief 30-minute intro/Q & A. We measure how many people attend. If we see a declining trend, it means we’re not reaching enough new people and/or we’re not casting enough vision for it.
3. Percent of Attendance in Small Groups - Our threshold is at least 60% in groups. If we fall below that number, we know we have something to talk about. Rather than focus on the number in rows on Sunday, our main measure is how many people are in circles during the week. We consistently see life change fostered and cemented by doing life together in small groups. And I love that we’ve set big, audacious goals that can’t be met without God. We are driving towards 5,000 Groups with 50,000 people in them by 2010 across all our campuses and partners. We’re nearing 30,000 currently. Who knows if we’ll make it, but wow! to think what God can do in the process.

I know this can sound mechanical to some, but I swear we’re only concerned with people moving towards God and ultimately living lives that reflect an understanding of what He’s done for them. It’s not the numbers. It’s the process and intentionality to measure it and be accountable. What’s going on in your church?