Laura Wacker Stern writes on Duke Divinity Call & Response Blog about Struggling with leadership “effectiveness”.
The leadership models recommend constant evaluation in order to measure the “success” of an event, sermon series, or outreach ministry. From formal congregational surveys to first-time visitor interviews, we are encouraged to build accountability structures into our day-to-day church operations. Such evaluations alone are certainly understandable, yet they can create a narrow, data-driven measurement of success. Increased participation in worship, new professions of faith, and additions to the membership rolls disproportionately define a congregation’s faithfulness to the Gospel.