tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post1913730803979379275..comments2024-03-21T03:45:48.679-05:00Comments on Enter the Rainbow: Fruitful Questions - Hoping for Answers!Andy B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05944614269873479581noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-13908208319785008032011-09-29T01:50:53.589-05:002011-09-29T01:50:53.589-05:00its nice to read your blog ....
its really quite i...its nice to read your blog ....<br />its really quite interesting one to read thanks for this...market research reportshttp://www.bharatbook.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-83829141188769720772011-09-22T12:05:14.069-05:002011-09-22T12:05:14.069-05:00These first two comments are very intersting in ju...These first two comments are very intersting in juxtaposition!<br /><br />I agree with you, filmfan. I know that the congregation makes a huge impact in the community. It is amazing and inspiring to witness.<br /><br />I also know that we cannot simply stop defining minstry by numbers altogether. The numbers point beyond themselves to symbolize lives, and that is what gives them meaning. <br /><br />Some hybrid of anecdotes and statistics seems to be what the answer is. Telling the story of what the numbers mean, maybe?Andy B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05944614269873479581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-8224410114082758452011-09-22T11:23:01.722-05:002011-09-22T11:23:01.722-05:00You may have to take this response with a grain of...You may have to take this response with a grain of salt. I have been sitting in stats classes all morning, and have a ton of stats waiting for me when I am done with this. Anyway, I don't think that its necessarily that you stop looking at the numbers and data. The fact is, everything is numbers and data, from the dollar amount in the church's bank account, to the impact that we have on our community. It may be that you just are looking at the wrong type of data. Instead of focusing on membership, maybe focus on data from a different source. How many kids has Campbell been able to help through our donations to the foster care program? Or the impact of the time that our missions teams have spent in Haiti? Granted, to a large extent those are things that have to be antidotal, but not entirely. Stop looking at the depressing data, and look at what we have done. I think you might be surprised at the amount of time and effort that our congregation puts in. Here's a challenge for you, get some data on for example, how many hours a week someone from the congregation puts in for volunteer work. Imagine, or figure out (I'd be doing the math out, but that's because I'm a math nerd) what that totals in even just minimum wage. Yeah, its not good to always be concerned about dollar amounts, but the truth is, that's what the world runs on. And the other fact is, people don't do things that they don't get some benefit from. Rational people make rational decisions about how they spend their time. My advice is this, don't worry about the amount of physical capital in the bank. Instead, maybe do bring some numbers to the Bishop, or whoever your supervisor is about the amount of work that we do in our community. You aren't going to get specific numbers about the impact of the congregation on the community, because it is a ripple effect. But we can figure out, given that we can gather the data, the impact that we have at the first level of community involvement. Fruitfulness in my view does have to do with dollar amounts, but not in how much is given to the church on any given Sunday. Remember that your congregation is out in the community, giving back, and that those man hours are just as valuable, if not more so, than any amount of money or inactive members that we might have. Anyway, your challenge is this: don't stop looking at the data, just change the data you look at. Everything is math, and everything is economics, because we have made the choice to spend our time either in the church or out in the community. Just a thought, and probably not the one you wanted to hear, but our impact is great, and if you can model that with numbers, it might make for not only an interesting conversation with your superior, but also an interesting sermon topic.filmfan28https://www.blogger.com/profile/12177817162849090245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10217302.post-83723187453136966872011-09-22T10:34:34.484-05:002011-09-22T10:34:34.484-05:00Let's stop looking at numbers in staff meeting...Let's stop looking at numbers in staff meeting (people AND dollars). Maybe once a month at Church Council, allow yourself the guilty pleasure of talking about them. But if you're (we're) really going to stop defining ministry by numbers, I think this is a place to start. We can take up that time with stories from the week instead.<br /><br />Do we choose churches based on fruitfulness? Sadly, I feel like we define a church's fruitfulness based on what it can provide me. If this church doesn't have the programs I want to make me feel good about myself, then the one down the street will. But that's another axe to grind another day.krishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05825784335870607539noreply@blogger.com