“Scorecard” is one of the contemporary buzz words. Along with missional, leverage, futuring, incarnational, engage, connect, and a long list of terms, they comprise the language of the “new thing” God is doing. Some of the strategists are insisting we need a new “scorecard” – that is, a more accurate way to measure effectiveness. The old ones are thought to be pass? – you know, baptisms, mission giving, average Sunday school attendance, longevity, church plants, and all of the tracking devices, the unique metrics of church life.
HolmesSo what is the new “scorecard”? If making disciples is the mission, then by what means can we determine whether or not the assignment is pursued with rigor or being accomplished?
Quantifying results has some potholes! Yet, we cannot ignore numerical factors, especially when most of them are trending downward. Actual numbers may occasionally reflect outside factors not especially related to church health. But when all the graphs and pie-charts go red, there’s an alarm sounding. The cumulative message of across-the-board declines is that something is awry.
Certainly, the math doesn’t tell the whole story. To ignore statistics, however, is a serious error. They do speak to our effectiveness in clear and definite ways, especially when reviewed from the larger context. And they are at least one objective means of assessment.
Efforts to develop a qualitative scorecard are usually subjective to a fault. We humans tend to shade things in a direction that make us look better. So go through the checklist. Doctrine, check. Bible preaching, check. Music, check. Teaching, check. Fellowship, check. Visitation, check. Facilities, check. Programs, check. Missions, check. Children, check. Youth, check. Food, check. Attendance, down. Baptisms, down. What’s the deal? If everything is check, then why are the other indicators registering negative? If we’re doing all the right things, in all the right ways, why are we slipping?
Well, I’m doing some “scorecard” stuff these days, just weeks before being a past-president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. What kind of year has it been? Well, it’s been full of surprises, never a dull moment, and with a tragic turn that we could never have imagined. We’ve met some interesting people, been in a few very exciting places, shared dreams and aspirations with some super-charged ministers, and endured a few others. The statistical review of the year won’t be available for a while. What is more, the influence of the state convention president is limited anyway. We are an independent bunch, no doubt. All in all, it has been a good year, one that I value greatly, an honor in every respect. More than that, a daily learning experience.
But the “scorecard” thing troubles me somewhat. You see, with all the new church math, we usually end up lowering the bar so we can put a good face on what we’re doing and speak positively about our assignment. In the final analysis, the real “scorecard” is our influence on the world around us, our kingdom impact on the mission field into which we have been deployed, and around the world.
My prayer is that the trend lines don’t tell the whole story.
“Now, to Him who is able to do immeasurably more -?.”