Bill Easums Observations

The old adage “you get what you measure” holds true both in business and in the church. Obviously it might appear to be easier to develop measurement metrics for a business than a church, but is it? I don’t think so.

When I was pastor we always measured elements based on our vision. Our vision was “everyone a missionary.”  Based on that vision we developed our metrics.  If I were a pastor today the vision would be the same and here is what I would measure in the order of importance.

• How many new converts do we have this month?
• How many people do we have deployed in ministry in the world this month?
• How many of our people are in small groups this month?
• Do all of our small groups have a mission they are involved in each month?
• How many new leaders are being mentored this month?
• How many new leaders emerged this month?
• How many tithers do we have this year compared to last year?
• What is our worship attendance compared to last year?
• How many new churches are satellites have we established this year?
• How does our income compare to the last three years?

Each of these elements can be measured. What is hard to measure is the spiritual development of people. But if you content that we are the nearest to Christ when we are giving the cup of cold water then you can sort of tie this measurement to the second question in the above list.

So what are you measuring and how do you apply accountability to the results of your metrics?

Here’s something to think about.  One doesn’t have to good look closely at Western Christianity to tell it is in dire jeopardy. With over 85% of our churches simultaneously declining and aging within 25 years the number Christians in the West will drop by 50%. However, that’s not the real picture. Go many parts of the world and Christianity is exploding with new converts- Korea, China, Fiji, south Africa, India, Nigeria, Indonesia,  Philippines, Latin America.  Just consider Latin America. In 1900, there were only 50,000 Protestants in Latin America. In the 1980s, they had grown to 50,000,000, and by the year 2000, they reached 137,000,000.  The same thing is happening of other parts of the world.  God is fulfilling the Great Commission throughout the world – just not here. Ever wonder why? Let me list the reasons I see:

1. Western Christians do not live and breathe salvation.  We are content to sit and soak and leave the salvation of our networks to the church staff and even then most church staffs are in to maintain not transformation.  Just ask your congregation “When was the last time you had a conversation with a lost person about Jesus?” and see the reaction.
2. Western Christians have become too sophisticated to truly believe in miracles and if you don’t believe in miracles you can’t believe in Jesus because he IS a miracle. We are too smart to truly believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that he now sits at the right hand of God. So if that isn’t believable nothing else is in the story from that day forward.
3. Western Christians have become too affluent to risk all for Jesus.  When you are poor it is easy to be sold out for Jesus. But when you have 90% of the world’s riches its hard.
4. Western Christians are saddled with pastors who focus more on their next promotion than on how to reach the least, last, and lost. I know. I’ve gone to meddling now, but you know its true with many of us. Pastor, which do you think about the most – an increase in salary or new converts?
5. Western Christianity has misunderstand what is meant by the word “church.” Most of us think “building” when we say the word “church.” Or we think of an institution to which we belong.  We talk about “going the church” when in reality we ARE the church everywhere we go.  And because we confuse church with buildings and institutions we fail to see the importance of how we live our lives after we leave the building.  We don’t see a disconnect in how we live and what we say we believe.

I know there are may other reasons why Western Christianity is dying while Christianity is exploding over much of the world. But these are the ones that stand out the most for me as I look into the mirror and see too much of them in my life. How about you?

Without knowing it, most pastors today are harming thousands of people while trying to save one person. You ask, “How so?” Well, one of the main problems with pastoral leadership today is most pastors are plagued with so much mercy and grace that they spend untold hours trying to save a person. Usually this person is; a. either a staff person who is well loved but totally ineffective; or b. is a dysfunctional member of the church who constantly causes disruptive hell

In both cases such graceful action may or may not save the ineffective or dysfunctional person but it always results in less fruit for the Kingdom. Ineffective staff causes the Kingdom and the local church to not only fail to reach new people but also loses members who are looking for a leader.  Dysfunctional, disruptive people cause healthy people either to leave the church or not return after their first visit.

The problem here is that too many pastors are like counselors than transformers. They focus more on getting along than on rocking someone’s boat.  In other words, they see pastoral care to be the main thing about ministry. As long as this is the primary emphasis of a pastor, then thousands will go unchanged while a handful of ineffective and/or dysfunction people continue to get their spiritual diapers changed.

What is needed today are pastors whose primary task in life is bringing in the Kingdom by focusing on the transformation of people and society.  In other words the primary need today is leaders who think like missionaries with the apostolic gift of transformation. These kind of pastors have no time to waste on the ineffective and dysfunctional staff or members.  Instead they show them the door. In the final analysis that is the ultimate gift of mercy for both the congregation and the Kingdom. It makes no sense wasting tons of hours trying to save one while thousands pass by our churches everyday untouched with the Gospel.

Bill Easum
www.effectivechurch.com
www.nextlevelcoachingnetwork.net

Well after yesterdays post I received another email asking what are the best books I’ve read the last few years. So here is the list.

After my post yesterday on the Best Book of the Year, I received an email asking how many books I’ve read so far this year. I’m not sure if the email was tongue in cheek or serious, but either way, it is a legitimate question. So here goes the list of books Ive read so far this year with rating (all the books were published in 2011).

Ministry Velocity, Wayne Schmidt ++++
Journeys to Significance, Neil Cole” ++++
Organic Outreach, Kevin Harney ++
The Dangerous Church, John Bishop
The Walking Dead Church, Jimmy Dorrell
The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting, Aubrey Malphrus ++++
The Gospel Commission, Michael Horton
The Missional Church, Reggie McNeal +++++

I just finished what I consider to be the top book I’ve read so far this year and one that I feel will become a classic on the missional movement – Reggi McNeal’s Missional Communities.  The book both explains the movement and gives examples of actual places where the movement is succeeding. This is a must read for any leader wanting to understand the missional conversation and to put it into practice in their church.  You can read my entire review of this book by clicking here.