Take 60 seconds to try this thought experiment: Close your eyes and imagine a successful and effective ministry program in your context. What do you see? What are people doing? How many people are present? What’s your role as a ministry leader?
Perhaps you imagined a space inside your church’s building filled to the brim with people. Maybe some of them were brand new to the ministry. Maybe you pictured programming that went off without a single mistake or issue, or an event that was “perfect” in your mind.
In Western culture, many leaders and denominations consider a ministry good, valuable, and effective only if it adheres to the following values:
Within this paradigm, the best ministries are those that contribute to institutional survival, or so the myth goes. These values aren’t inherently negative or entirely misplaced, but every ministry leader knows they only tell part of the story of what’s unfolding within a community.
Part of the trouble with measuring effectiveness only by these transactional values is they often cause leaders (paid staff and volunteers) to minister from an internalized sense of failure. They experience enormous stress, anxiety, and freneticism, and ultimately, burn out and leave ministry altogether.
The biggest issue with transactional metrics is they’re centered on numbers, not Jesus.
By most transactional metrics, Jesus’ ministry was not a roaring success. He intentionally gathered the outcast and the poor who had very little to offer financially or in status.
He never once invited someone to join him at the local synagogue so he could disciple them there. He did supervise a ministry team of 12 eclectic disciples, but clearly not without significant challenges. Jesus didn’t oversee any large building or capital campaigns, or a bustling calendar of programs.
So if the Church is truly a body of people following in the way of Jesus, then perhaps our preoccupation with excellence, perfection, and transactional metrics isn’t just a practical problem. It’s a heart issue.
Ministry is messy because humans are messy. People make mistakes. A leader’s best efforts to create a meaningful program, worship service, sermon, or event sometimes fail or fall flat. Sometimes no one shows up. And yet God is present even still.
This begs the question: Is perfection ever the goal of a ministry?
At the Ministry Leadership Center, we challenge the leaders and faith communities we work with to look for signs of transformation — rather than perfection or excellence — through the ministries they lead.
MLC’s Transformational Ministry Framework is a research-backed way for faith communities to actually measure transformation in people and communities. Along with our collaborators at the non-profit Goodfaith, we identified 24 Signs of Transformation that measure outcomes across four categories: Transformation of the Head, Heart, Hands, and Community.
This framework affirms that God can — and does — begin to transform someone’s life when they experience new ways of thinking, feeling, acting and being in the world. When a group of individuals is transformed, an entire community experiences transformation and revitalization.
In this framework, measurable transformation can look like a young person becoming aware of and articulating their vocation and calling. It might be a group of people for whom church has never been a safe place finally feeling a sense of belonging, or growing in their engagement of spiritual practices. Perhaps it’s a casual program participant who begins to volunteer and eventually lead the ministry, allowing staff to take a step back.
Over time, it’s a church developing relationships grounded in mutuality with people in their broader community. It’s greater social cohesion developing that breaks down the walls between “church” and “community” so that people work together to address local challenges.
Transformation can start anywhere a faith community is willing to pay attention — in someone’s head, heart, hands, or throughout the community.
As your faith community moves through the Advent season and busy end-of-year rhythms, don’t miss the chance to take stock of the many ways God is at work, transforming people and your community. Looking toward the New Year, let these reflections expand your understanding of “success” to transcend transactional metrics of perfection, numerical growth, excellence, and longevity.
Remember, there are countless examples in scripture of Jesus’ ministry not going perfectly. The disciples often didn’t understand the message he was sharing. The people receiving Jesus’ teachings didn’t always respond how he hoped. But for Jesus, and for the Church today, these imperfections aren’t the most important thing.
That’s because the point of the Church’s ministry isn’t transactional success; the point is transformation, even when it’s messy and non-linear.
If you’re ready to think differently about ministry effectiveness in your context, our Transformational Ministry Assessment will guide your faith community step by step.
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