I recently stepped onto the golf course for the first time in 2 years. Very quickly, I realized just how long it had been. Any hope of shooting par was gone after the first hole, so I knew I had to change my scorecard for this particular game of golf or else I was going to get very frustrated. So I decided to keep up with things like: how many fairways I hit off the tee, how many balls I lost/found, and how many times I used 2 putts or less on the green. I adjusted my scorecard to make my experience more enjoyable because the typical golf scorecard wasn't working for me.
With all of this being said, I want to challenge you to think about the scorecard of the church. Think about the tweets or Facebook posts you see regarding church. These statements give an indicator as to what the church keeps score on or deems as success. For example, I generally see post such as these all the time...
"The service was great today. I enjoyed all the songs."
"We had ____ (insert number of people) at our service today. God is good!"
Here's the overarching problem when we keep score/determine success based off these things... We're using a scorecard for the church that doesn't reflect the same scorecard of the Bible. Our typical church scorecard is primarily based on viewing the church as an event or a service, which again doesn't reflect a biblical definition of church. Over the years, I think we've adopted this scorecard because it's very easy to find success using these metrics. As a result, we feel more successful and justified in the perspective of American church culture.
The truth is, God doesn't celebrate how many people attend a service on Sunday or how well the music was performed. I've heard people say, "We count people because people count" and "If numbers don't matter, then why is there a book in the Bible called Numbers." I'm not saying numbers don't matter at all, I'm just saying attendance numbers aren't an accurate measuring point for the health of a church. Having 1,000s or just dozens at your worship service on Sunday doesn't mean a particular church is or isn't advancing the Kingdom.
Church leaders, The only way to know whether or not the Kingdom of God is advancing because of the church you lead is to get to know the people in your church and discover what's happening in and through their lives 7 days a week.
I've also heard people say, "We only want excellence at our worship services." Yes, do whatever you do as best you can, but just realize that if your commitment to excellence takes a priority over intentionally discipling the people you're pushing to be "excellent" in the service, then you're completely missing the core essence of following Jesus and being the church.
My suggestion... We must return to a scorecard that reflects Kingdom advancement much more than the typical, American church growth models we're all used to seeing. We must fall back in love with Jesus and discover what He cares about most. We must care more about THE church than we do OUR church. Here are some ideas on how you can start keeping score within your church and your own personal life...
How much of my time is spent with people outside the church?
Who am I specifically pouring my life into so they'll learn how to invest their life into others?
Is my workplace environment better because of how I interact with others when I'm there?
Is our community being impacted because of our church's presence and involvement in the community's life and rhythms?
How many people is our church equipping and sending to lead movements of mission in specific contexts that will advance the Kingdom outside of Sunday services?
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