While having goals for your church's growth is important, do you ever wonder if the goals lead to the same target? What if the church's goals were actually competing with each other for resources and ended up stumping the growth of the congregation?
Measuring the progress toward these goals is important. Be sure to measure the progress of all of the goals and not just one or two. If a goal is not being met or is struggling, looking at it juxtaposed with other goals may reveal an alarming reality about a lack of synergy in the goals.
I like taking different routes between familiar locations when I drive. Recently, I had the opportunity to take an unfamiliar route home from work. I knew that even though the route was longer than my normal route, it would end up costing less in gas because I would get better gas mileage as a result of being able to drive the Interstate as opposed to my normal routes that are filled with stop and go traffic.
On this particular Interstate, the main flow of traffic at one interchange goes straight, but that leads to a completely different Interstate. To stay on the original Interstate, drivers must take what appears to be an exit. I was not paying close attention to that little detail. As I followed the main flow of traffic assuming I was staying on the Interstate that would lead home, I noticed that my gas mileage was slowly increasing. The problem is that I drove for about 15 miles before I realized I was not seeing what should have been familiar sites.
My car has a MPG gauge on it. The good news is I increased my MPG for that tank of gas. The reality is, however, I spent more in time and gas with my little 30 mile side trip than if I had simply taken a normal route home or paid as much attention to the road signs as I did the MPG gauge.
My point is not that we should never take new routes or try new things in ministry. However, when evaluating the health and growth of the congregation, it is imperative that we evaluate as a whole all of the metrics we measure.
By doing this we can identify some ministry goals that fight each other, pit ministries against one another, and prevent the church from reaching its true goals.
Four Questions to ask when setting and evaluating church goals:
- Does this goal compete with existing goals?
- Does this goal compliment existing goals?
- How will you measure the effectiveness of this goal?
- Is the timing right for this goal?
How does your church or ministry evaluate and monitor goals?