Musing on Metrics

A clergy group I belong to on Facebook got started talking about metrics and I chimed in (just a little bit). Thought I'd share some of that here for those who are interested:

"Metrics may not do a good job of telling the whole story, but they tend to tell you if there's a story you should be paying attention to."

"Much of the 3dm approach lends itself to metrics, which I appreciate:

Number of people in huddles.
Number of huddles meeting.
Number of people who are able to lead huddles.
Number of second, third... generation huddles.
Number & generation of Missional Communities."

"One key metric that anyone working in Post-Christendom should be tracking is adult baptisms. I think that one metric is like the canary in the coal mine if we dare to look at it.

For conventional congregations, I went so far as to develop an measure of "Evangelical Effectiveness" based on that: Number of Adult Baptisms per year per 100 people in worship. (Normalizes for the size of the congregation.)

I tried to get that metric placed in use in my Synod years ago - at least as a way of discovering the congregations that are *actually* effective in conversion growth. I was thinking if we knew which ones they were, we might be able to hear their stories and learn from them. Unfortunately, the proposal was met with disinterest and resistance I'm sorry to say.

(You can read more about that on my blog.)

"Going off in another direction... sometimes we measure what we do because it's easier to measure than other things that might be intrinsically more important. Butts and bucks are easy to count & so are adult baptisms for that matter. But we're trying to make disciples and help people *mature* in faith. What could we look at as "metrics" for maturity?

Many people stop pursuing that because they think things like maturity cant be measured. True enough. But they can be *evaluated.* Lots of "squishy" things can be evaluated... you just need to find a way to metri-fy it.

For example, years ago when I was (FINALLY!) getting my depression diagnosed, the doctor gave me a little inventory. "How often do you think about thus-and-such?" "How many times per week do feel XYZ?" and so on. Scaled responses like Never - Rarely - Sometimes - Often - All the time. He *scored* the inventory and that was a part of the diagnosis.

We *could* do discipleship growth assessments... if we dared.

Imagine an assessment about the presence of the following traits in your attitudes and behavior: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness...

Are those things *more evident* this year than when you took the inventory last year?

For the truly courageous, we give the inventory to the five people closest to us and let THEM do the eval!

Ready to have your kids and spouse weigh in on the question "Has (your name here) become more patient over the last year?" Does (name) have more self control?"

The GO Space

From my daily devotions, drawing from the Moravian Daily Texts.

Resonating with Brokenness?

I pursue a practice of daily devotions (note: pursuing is not the same as achieving) and when my devos are suitable for public view I often post them on my Feral Pastor Facebook page.  A recent post there that touched on the experience of brokenness, and how "cheering people up" is often not the best approach, seemed to get more attention that most.  Maybe that's just because simply naming the reality of brokenness has a powerful resonance with a lot of people.  Whatever the reason, I thought I'd also post that reflection here in case it was a blessing to others.

Burning Out?

Wrote this for the blog at my church but thought I'd post it here as well.

Here’s a parable for you:

A MAN ONCE TOOK THE ENGINE FROM HIS LAWN MOWER AND USED IT TO REPLACE THE BROKEN ONE IN HIS CAR. HE THEN CURSED THE CAR FOR POOR PERFORMANCE, AND ALSO RUINED THE MOTOR. ALL ALONG, HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MOWING THE LAWN.

Are you the engine?  Are you the “man?”  You may well be both at the same time!

What do you expect out of yourself, out of your life and the others around you?  What does the world and your workplace expect?

What does Jesus expect?

Jesus said – no, scratch that – Jesus says; “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.”  That’s from Matthew 11:27-29.

I also love, love, love this version from Eugene Peterson’s The Message: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

(By the way… be aware that even if you are a Christian and feel pretty good about that, the actual “religion” you are practicing may well be Busyness, or Other People’s Expectations, or My Own Expectations, or Success, or The American Dream or whatever.  These are killer religions, and burning you out is their preferred form of human sacrifice.)

If you want a job to do and something to work on for Jesus, consider this one: become a living, prophetic witness to a different way of life that gives life, rather than destroys it.

Faith in Community

I've heard it said that one of the beauties of community is that in the  times when it's hard for us to believe, others can "believe for us."  Here's a little reflection on on that.

The "Kodak Moment" of the Church according to Thom Schultz

Here's a nice, brief blog post from Thom Schultz, the founder of Group Publishing with the "Kodak" analogy for the church, if you haven't encountered it before.  Kodak was the only game in town for film, but has been wiped out by digital photography... a technology they invented!

In that analogy, I'd say that sticking with film for photography in the digital age corresponds to sticking with programs, property, professionals/pastors, and presentational worship in the post-Christendom age.  But that's just me.

Or more succinctly, it's the mistake of thinking we are in the "large group weekly worship" business.