Category: Spiritual Metrics

In some places, Christians are not welcome, nor are Westerners. Questions about values may or may not be acceptable. What are we to do in those places? Should we abandon the idea of measuring impact entirely? Each organization will have to come up with its own answer to that question. There is a lot of…… Continue reading Spiritual Metrics Pt 4 – Restricted-Access Contexts

The principles of measuring spiritual impact outline some potential ways forward. However, it bears repeating that “tearing down is easier than building up”. The problems with measuring spiritual impact are obvious. Possible solutions are much more tenuous. These too I will outline as principles that will need to be adapted to a local context. The…… Continue reading Spiritual Metrics Pt 3 – Moving Towards Impact

Metrics to measure spiritual growth is the holy grail of integral mission, at least among organizations that receive funding from Western \ evangelical donors. Ever since development agencies began trying to develop holistic programs by incorporating spiritual aspects, they have been scrambling for ways to assess the success (or failure) of those initiatives. Last time,…… Continue reading Spiritual Metrics Pt. 2 – First Principles

Clarity. It’s the biggest difference between corporations and non-profit organizations. Not the profit motive or market forces or greed. The key difference is clarity. Success for a corporation is profitability over time, unambiguously displayed on the “bottom line” of the P&L statement. Success for a non-profit organization is achieving its mission and vision, or making…… Continue reading Spiritual Metrics Pt 1

The methodology of the earliest evangelists (and Jesus) seems simple. Call people to follow Jesus. That’s it. Do the kinds of things he did, for the kinds of reasons that he did them. Treat all people / churches as responsible adults capable of discerning God’s ethical / moral will based on His Word. The Bible…… Continue reading Better Than Mission Management – Faithful Stewardship

When we look at the New Testament for a management mindset, we can’t find anything. No instructions on how to do evangelism, or measure success, or strategize. The New Testament does record joy and rejoicing at the spread of the word of God, at the conversion of unbelievers, and at spiritual maturity (cf., Acts 2:41,…… Continue reading The Biblical Evidence for the Management of Mission

Last time, we investigated the introduction of the management paradigm into the world of mission. Here’s a link if you haven’t read it yet. Dr. McGavran was not a revolutionary thinker. He took an incremental step that was perfectly in line with American culture. It was pragmatic, empirical, and data driven. He continued the relatively…… Continue reading The Management Paradigm for Mission: Providing the Right Answers to the Wrong Questions

The origins of management and measurement in missiology are shrouded in the veils of history and my own ignorance. It starts very early when people (especially evangelists) begin to correlate certain methods with certain results (either bad or good). We can already see an obvious focus on using right methods to get right results in…… Continue reading The Origins of Management and Measurement in Missiology

Google returns approximately 471,000 results for “the unfinished task”. Nine of the top ten results are links to content about the Great Commission, the unfinished task of the Christian faith. Tasks are part of a conceptual realm primarily associated with work. Management, scheduling, resource allocation, efficiency, strategic planning, and metrics all exist in the same…… Continue reading Evangelism Metrics