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When I was in college, I took several semesters of archery. I really loved shooting arrows at targets, but what ultimately won me over was the nature of archery; you immediately know how you are doing, based on where you hit the target. Still, there was one time that I hit a bullseye, which scored a zero because I was aiming at the wrong target! The problem is - too many Catholic parishes and dioceses are aiming for the wrong thing and miss the target. Then when questions arise about why the results they expected aren’t happening, they are puzzled.
To further illustrate this problem, we need to understand that what we value is measured and what we measure, we generally value more. In our current Catholic context, we measure:- Mass attendance
- “Involvement” outside of Mass
- Sacraments received (i.e., the number of baptisms, weddings, Confirmations, etc).
- Numbers of programs, events, and classes
- Etc
This means we value these things. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with tracking these things (and we certainly need to value the Sacraments). The numbers we track in these instances are objective and can give us a broad overview. But, if these are the only things we track, then we may be aiming at the wrong target, because we start to value these things above others. Therefore, to understand what we need to track, in addition to the list above, we need to start what knowing the correct target.
Before we recalibrate our target, look back at what we currently track and see what they each have in common. You might notice they are all inwardly focussed. Again, to measure the health of a parish, you need to know what is going on internally - but there are no outwardly focussed goals. Nothing about mission. Nothing about conversion. Nothing about evangelizing the community. Nothing about outreach to those far from God. This is where our problems arise. We are aiming for everything we do toward the internal Catholic community.
This is the wrong target!
Another issue is that fruitfulness in ministry ought to be named more often than numbered. As CS Lewis put it:“The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time." -C.S. Lewis
The real target, otherwise known as the mission (or great commission) of Jesus is this - “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” -Matt 28:18-20
So, how do we measure success, according to this target? Here are a few ways to do it.- Measure output more than input. If you were to go to a jeans factory manager and say - “we set a record number for the amount of material we used this quarter!”, I doubt he would be excited by that statement. But, what if you said, “we had a record number of jeans sold and we did it under budget!”, that would probably excite him. Catholics measure input (e.g. attendance) - but not output (e.g., intentional disciples). The only way to measure output is to know others and to hear their stories. This is not efficient, but necessary to a proper tracking system.
- Understand the strategy which can help you achieve the goal. To make an intentional disciple, you have to know the process of moving someone to conversion and that you are not ultimately in control of their decision to follow Jesus. Still, there are strategies that can help you become a more successful evangelist. If our goal is to make disciples, then we need to reorient our ministries along a plan which helps us accomplish this.
- Don’t stop with an initial conversion. One of the “fatal flaws” of how we currently do pastoral ministry in a Catholic context is that we stop too soon. One place we tend to stop is after someone has a conversion. The simplest way to help someone at this stage is to have a more mature disciple come alongside someone to accompany, disciple, and apprentice them. This is a discipleship relationship which you can read about here, which walks someone further on the pathway of discipleship. The goal of this relationship is to help another person mature into a multiplying disciple, who can make disciples who make disciples.
- Sometimes success demands you stop some activities before starting others. Too often we have churches that are busy with things that distract from their mission, don’t correspond to an agreed upon strategy, and aren’t going to help fulfill a vision - because they have “always been done”. That isn’t a good reason to waste time, money, space, etc on doing something. Pruning takes as much leadership as harvesting!
Our first goal is to "make disciples", which means conversion. We are supposed to make disciples. So, how do we track success and hit the right target? Here are some things we need to track.
- Aim for behavior modification & you may get right actions.
- Aim for the mind & you may get right thinking.
- Aim for the heart & you may get the whole person & all the rest too.
This means knowing your people asking specific questions:
How many people pray daily?
How many people have made a decision to put Jesus at the center of their lives?
How many people actively and intentionally share their faith with others outside of church?
How many have shared their testimony of conversion in the last 6 months, with someone who isn’t a disciple of Jesus?
How many consider themselves an intentional disciple?
How many have a personal daily prayer life?
So, what are you aiming at? How can you hit the right target? What else can we track and how?
Remember - your fruitfulness ought to be named more than numbered. So...who not how many needs to become the metric which drives your work.