Weekend Tithing

This past weekend we launched what could be called The Great Tithing Experiment. A fellow number cruncher has an excellent account of what we did, the numbers and what it means - so read Tim's blog if you haven't already.

Show Me Da Money!

You may be wondering why in my last post about the Executive Reports there was no mention of those reports containing any financial information. And before the questions and comments start, I’ll just answer it upfront. The answer is actually pretty simple: they’re overrated.

Now I’m not suggesting that your financial position is irrelevant, but my belief is that most churches put more emphasis on the finances than they do the ministry. We crafted the Executive Reports to show us the condition of our ministry efforts. Not our checkbook.

Sure, someday we’ll probably include some trending on giving and try to figure a way to get a handle on tithing statistics, but for now it’s not important. We’d rather know how we’re doing at life change. Plugging people in. Getting them connected to Christ. You know, what the church is supposed to be doing.

I think when a church concentrates too much on the finances it limits the dreams and the vision. The leadership starts to automatically scale back and only attempt what can be readily paid for. (No, I’m not advocating going into debt.)

You need to dream your dreams and cast your vision with all the anticipation and excitement that God has given you. Plan big. Go for it. Dare to think what your community will be like as you make a difference and transform it. And then, and only then, look at the finances. Because the only thing your finances will tell you is how much of your vision you can accomplish at this moment. It’s not a mandate to scale back. It’s only a measurement of how much of your dream you can currently do. Plan phases. Be strategic. But never, ever, limit the vision based on da money.

Hot Off the Presses

This past week we released our first set of Executive Reports (part of the reason there was no post last week – I was scrambling). These reports are, for the most part, quick hit summaries of the major areas of our ministry that are designed to give our Senior Management Team a snapshot of our church health. They basically summarize and trend these areas of our ministry:

• Volunteer team rosters
• Participation in ministry events
• Attendance at serving opportunities

We decided to tackle these first and then add on as we get more comfortable with our data. I said “more comfortable” with our data because, well, the process hasn’t been easy. The structure of our database has been great for individual ministry needs – but isn’t set up for enterprise-wide reporting. I had to correlate 17 different reports to generate the half dozen we issued.

Which is why if you are just setting up your ministry database you’re in a sweet spot – make sure you design in enterprise-wide reporting. You don’t need to use it right away, but believe me, you don’t want to have to restructure somewhere down the road.

Beyond the Numbers

We recently completed another weekend survey at GCC. We try and do a weekend survey about every 6 months or so to try and get a handle on the simple demographics of our congregation, their spiritual growth and other ministry related aspects. Being the numbers geek, I started thru the returns after the first service on Saturday. There I read stories behind the numbers that rocked my world.

We asked what I thought was a simple question –

If you can recall a specific next step you’ve taken toward Christ recently, what was it?

I was prepared for the expected answers – I started to pray more, read my Bible, etc. All great next steps. The ones I wasn’t ready for were –

• I had a heart attack
• I had a mastectomy
• My husband left me
• I lost my job

…and many others.

These were the stories of people who saw life threatening and tragic situations as positive steps toward Christ. People whose faith in Jesus overshadowed their situation. People who would rather say “thank you Jesus for bringing us closer” than “why me?”.

Don’t focus on just the numbers. The numbers aren’t the whole story. Measuring Innovation is sometimes about telling stories.