The ABC's of church "success"

What's the barometer of "success" in the church? For many, it's the ABC's. Attendance, buildings and cash.

I have sat in board meetings for years, and this is what the typical leadership of a church looks at (including our own leadership).

How many people are we assimilating into our Sunday morning services?

How can we build a bigger building?

How can we get the cash to build these buildings?

Randy Frazee writes, "...regardless of the platitudes offered up in bulletins and letterheads, our mission was to add more people to our membership who give more money so we can build bigger buildings to contain even more people, who can give more money, and so on and so on.

Most people would deny that this is true of their church, but if the ABCs are the only valid measurement points, it is really more true than we want to believe.....

One of the most prevalent mistakes I saw among those who wanted to break away from the numerical monitoring grind of head count, square footage, and cash was this: the attempt to pawn off an assimilation strategy as spiritual formation. What happens is that instead of taking attendance at the worship services only, we now take it at other church-sponsored events, such as small groups and seminars. The assumption is that if people are attending these additional events they must be growing. The most clever and orderly churches organize these events in a recommended sequence - "do this first, this second, this third, and so forth."

Let's try to grasp a new paradigm of "success". Success is defined as spiritual formation which comes not only from Sunday morning attendance but participation in a small group and giving of yourself in ministry.

That's where we would like to go and be: We encourage you to join a come on Sunday mornings, attend a small group and participate in a ministry.