Bean Counting

How do you measure the success of a local church? In my tribe it is through "sola numero" (numbers alone) in most instances. In my ten years of serving churches and filling out reports I have filled out my fair share of forms so that the denomination could count. I wonder when the last time what we count as United Methodists has changed? What should we be counting? Believe it or not I do not have all the answers but can probably say better what we do not need to count.

But I really resonate with what Reggie McNeal in his book "The Present Future" has to say about what a missional church counts versus what the clubhouse church counts. Here are my notes from that part of the book.

Adopting a missionary approach will require changing the scorecard.
Church scorecards currently reflect member values: how many show up, pay up, and participate in club activities.
Keep score of different things such as...
How many ministry initiatives we are establishing on the street.
How many conversations we are having with pre-Christian friends.
How many volunteers we are releasing into local and global projects aimed at community transformation.
How many congregations are starting to reach different populations.
How many congregations use our facilities.
How many church activities target people who aren’t here yet?
How many hours per week do members spend in ministry where they work, go to school, and get mail.
Will we continue to have a kingdom vision that is shrink wrapped to church programs and church real estate?
Start adopting schools, hosting community foodbanks, teaching parenting seminars, and financial planning seminars.