“Are we there yet?”
If you have traveled with small children, adolescents, or some adults,
you have heard this question. Most of us
are anxious to get to the end of the journey.
The driver seeks to relieve anxiety by pointing out the mile markers or looking
at the GPS to give an indication of progress toward the final goal.
When we begin moving toward the vision of what we believe
God wants our congregation to do, we identify ministry initiatives and set
goals to achieve under each initiative.
Perhaps even more important, however, are indicators that we are making
progress. These are milestones,
indicators along the way that we are doing what we have set out to do.
In most churches, the milestones of success have been
articulated in terms of nickels (amount of offering) and noses (how many people
show up on Sunday). These are not always
the best measures of success. These
measures are limited in showing how we are going about life transformation,
community engagement, and building the Kingdom of God.
I was talking recently with a pastor whose church is engaged
in reaching and serving refugees in their area.
He talked about the number of refugee children they feed as part of
their Wednesday evening activities. I encouraged
him to think about that as an effective milestone in their larger ministry to
refugee families. This measure
highlights the engagement, service, and love that moves their ministry to
refugees forward.
Milestones are the little things, the day by day
achievements, that show that we are doing what we say we want to do and are
making progress toward our vision.
A mentor once told me, “What gets measured, gets done.” Measurements are not an end in themselves but
checkpoints that keep us going in the right direction.
One of the greatest challenges for the missional church is
to identify and pursue milestones that are specific, realistic, and energizing. We can celebrate the achievement of these
milestones on the ultimate journey of what God has called us to do.
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