Edgar Schein, Professor of Management at MIT, says that whatever an organization measures becomes its de facto culture.Churches and ministry organizations write mission statements that are great, but they are only wishful thinking if they have put in place mechanisms to measure their success that are contrary to those lofty mission statements.
For instance,a random mission statement I grabbed from a church on the internet reads,
“Our church seeks to make disciples for our Lord Jesus Christ through Christ-centered worship, Bible-centered spiritual growth, and evangelistic service.”
Okay. That sounds pretty good to me.
How do you measure that?
Here is most pastors’ default measuring tool: Sunday Morning Attendance.
However, if attendance is our primary measuring tool, our mission should actually be changed to this:
“Our church seeks to get as many people to commit to attending on Sunday mornings as possible.”
Period.
Is that a good mission statement? How does that align with God’s mission in the world?
As I’ve said before, The mission God has sent us on is not to attract people into the church. No, the goal is to send people into the culture as incarnational “little versions of Jesus” invading every institution and sphere as God’s instrument for bringing all things under the Lordship of Christ and His Kingdom.
How do you measure that?
“In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect vocation.