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:
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.
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.
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.