Measuring Effectiveness Beyond ASA and Budget
As congregations of the Diocese of Georgia our mission is to be the physical manifestation of God’s salvation of humanity. We know that wherever the Gospel is truly preached and the sacraments rightly administered that this bears fruit. The fruit born will vary in differing circumstances, but we believe that the Word does not return empty. Yet, if one is about the work of living out the Gospel as the Body of Christ in such a way that lives will be changed for the better, how do you know if you are getting it right?
The ABCs of Measuring Churches
Despite what we may say, the Church as an institution counts the ABCs—attendance, buildings and contributions. Where these are growing, we say there is health. Where these are stagnant and declining we generally say nothing.
These measures do matter. The number of people in church each Sunday is measured as Average Sunday Attendance (ASA). A growing number of people coming to church for worship is an excellent sign of the significance a congregation holds for the people who worship there. Likewise, another important sign of conversion of life to the Gospel is in giving back to God through the church. A growing budget may be simply a product of larger attendance, but it can also result from those who attend increasing the portion of their income they give in thanks to God. Beyond these basics, the number of baptisms in general and adult baptisms in particular are important indicators of the growth. Even if the attendance is stagnant, where there are a number of baptisms each year, lives are being touched by God.
Mutual Accountability
The Diocese gets one important read on its overall health through the annual Parochial Reports of its congregations. Overall growth in attendance and giving are shown there, and these are important measures of our effectiveness as a Diocese. Through the reports, Congregations give an account of the previous year using one set of objective measures. The Diocese is accountable back to the congregations for assisting in the ways possible to help congregations become healthier, grow and thrive. Congregation and Diocese then are accountable to one another and the effectiveness of each should be assessed and changes made to make the system healthier and growth (in discipleship as well as numbers) more likely.
Beyond These Numbers
Yet, we know that these numbers alone can miss something vital. For example, the mission of Christ Church, Augusta (at right) has thirty something people on a typical Sunday. The church is not only preaching the Gospel and rightly administering the Sacraments, they also feed more than 100 people a week in their soup kitchen, offer free medical check-ups on a monthly basis, and have a Clothing Ministry. None of these activities fill in a line in a Parochial Report, but they are signs of a congregation bearing fruit. If this congregation were to close, it would leave a hole in the life of its community. Further examples could be given from across the Diocese of congregations bearing fruit in ways not reflected on a report, but nonetheless essential to the Kingdom of God.
Faithfulness Bears Fruit
Jesus said, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). As Jesus has promised that we will be fruitful if we stay connected to him, then we should be able to see signs of our ministry bearing fruit. Those signs of God using our ministries to make a difference may well be beyond a check off box in a form. Yet, every congregation should make an annual effort at least to ask of itself, “How are we doing?”
Look at your mission statement if you have one and ask how it’s going. If you don’t have one, fear not, Jesus said, “Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.” What are the ways you can point to your congregation corporately living more fully into these commands of our Lord and encouraging the parishioners to do so individually as well. Jesus also gave the Great Commission to go into all the world making disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to observe Jesus’ commands. How is that going in your corner of the Kingdom?
There may be reasons why your attendance and budget are not going up, as these are not the only indicators of faithfulness. But there is no reason why every congregation can not bear fruit for the kingdom of God. To do so, we have to stop routinely to ask how we are doing, and to look at ways to go about being the Body of Christ more effectively. This sort of discernment about how we are doing and what might need to change in order to be more effective are a key part of being faithful churches.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon for Congregational Ministries
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