Chapter 4

When writing this book, this chapter has been by far the most difficult. The reason is that this chapter requires a delicate balance in conveying a very specific concept without inferring others. It is like a tightrope walker who recognizes that it is possible to have safe passage between two towers, but also realizes that danger lies on either side the entire way across. While this chapter does not have life or death depending on it, it does have the potential to misinform and lead Christian leaders down paths that would produce unhealthy ministries and projects, and ultimately not bring glory to God.

My goal in this chapter is to introduce and explain the concept of measurement, convey the motivation for including measurement in a ministry, and determine when measurement should be used in a ministry. In essence, I want to address three things in this chapter.

What is measurement?

Why use measurement?

Does measurement conflict with God's will?

By answering these three questions, I hope to encourage ministry and project leaders to use measurement, but use it appropriately and to the glory of God.

What is Measurement?-Qualitative vs. Quantitative

So what is the concept of measurement all about? Measurement is about building quantifiable metrics into a project. To put it another way, measurement helps take qualitative (descriptive) terms and makes them quantitative (number) terms. Let me give you an example. If you look at the phrase "I am taller than before," it could imply any number of things and is not very helpful in describing a person's height. It still leaves the reader uninformed as to what is being talked about. The phrase is qualitative, because it uses descriptive words to explain something. On the other hand, if I rewrite the phrase to read "I grew three inches last year and am now six feet tall," I now have made my height unambiguous. This is a quantitative phrase because it has a number associated with it and it is measurable.

Similarly, in churches and Christian organizations, the projects and ministries can be described in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Let me give another example.

A church has a ministry to reach out to a shelter for battered women and describes their goals and effort as follows: "Our goal is to form a team to minister at the Women's Shelter by sharing the gospel and providing practical assistance." The ministry sounds good, and it seems that the goals of this ministry are plausible, but it is a qualitative statement. If each team member were to sit down and write what they envisioned the ministry would look like, they would generate a tremendous number of different thoughts. A ministry leader does not want to create a vague ministry that is open to numerous interpretations; he/she wants to make it clear what the ministry is about and what measurable and quantitative goals will be undertaken to complete this ministry.

Let's rewrite this statement using quantitative and measurable terms. "Our goal is to minister at the Woman's Shelter starting June 1 by creating a team of ten people who will share the gospel through a twenty-minute Bible study held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We will also seek to raise $10,000 by January 1 to provide for some of the mundane needs that the women have."

Wow, what a big difference. You can see that the statement has become more defined and is not a list of vague descriptive terms anymore. It has now become a quantifiable and measurable description of the ministry's goals. Examining the new statement, there are six elements of the ministry that are now measurable.

Starting Date: "June 1" - This is a measurement of time.

Participation Level: "team of ten people" - This is a measurement of people.

Length of the Activity: " twenty minutes" - This a measure of time.

Occurrence Rate: "Tuesday and Thursday" - This is a measurement of how often the events will take place.

Financial Goal: "$10,000" - This is a measurement of money.

Goal Date: "by January 1" - This is a measurement of time.

From this list we can see how this ministry has included six distinctly different elements that are measurable.

At this point, you may be asking the question, "What about things that can't be measured, like holiness, worship, and prayer?" Let me concede two things. First, I do not think everything in a church or ministry should be measured. This is what I address in the third section of this chapter ("When should measurement be used?"). Second, this section of the chapter is strictly designed to introduce the concept of measurement and illustrate how moving from qualitative terms to quantitative terms creates a better understanding and better stewardship of a ministry or project.