As a pastor, I’m always reading books. I try to read as much as possible about the church…new trends, what progressive churches are doing, and how the church can relate to our culture. Some folks don’t like that very much because they think people ought to relate to the church instead of the other way around but that’s a subject for another blog.
What I’ve noticed lately is that there’s a lot of talk about using a “new scorecard” in the church. In other words, the advice is to reevaluate how we measure success. I happen to agree with that because for too long we’ve been measuring the wrong things. For example, churches have measured things like how many people read their Bible each week, instead of evaluating how many lives are impacted by reading the Bible. In some ways we’ve measured how spiritually “sterile” we’ve been able to make the church by attracting other folks who are just like us. Perhaps we should be trying to spiritually diversify the church by reaching folks who aren’t quite as religious as we are, or at least as religious as we think we are. Leonard Sweet has suggested in his marvelous book, “So Beautiful” that we are making progress when we see more cigarette butts in the parking lot…not less!
As a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking that perhaps those of us who call ourselves “Christ-followers” should be thinking about a new scorecard too. I’ve been trying to figure out lately how I can impact more people who are in need, instead of how I can accumulate more stuff. Instead of a newer car, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can make a car I recently received from my dad last long enough to free up enough money to employ some homeless men to do work around my house. My wife and I have seriously been thinking about downsizing, maybe to the point of selling our home and using the equity to pay cash for a very small place so that we are not tied down with debt enabling us to be able to respond to God’s call whenever and whatever it is.
I think it’s important to reevaluate what we call success. It’s important to think eternally instead of temporally. I’m trying to reinvent my personal scorecard. What about you?
