How do you measure success? How do you know whether or not your achievements measure up? What does “well done” mean? These are questions I keep asking myself no matter what I do. Personally and professionally. Whether I exercise physically or engage in ministry. In my doctoral studies I wrestled with these issues as it applies to the preaching of God’s Word. How do I know whether or not the outcomes of one's pulpit ministry are good outcomes?

These are questions I coach many others to think about as they do church work. It might be a ministry a congregation has done for years or it might be a new initiative. How do you measure success?

This is when people hear me talk about ‘critical success factors’(CSFs). In order to measure success you need to decide what ‘factor’ it is that you are going to measure. What aspect, feature, part, or element are you going to measure? And how are you going to measure it? Say for example you are going to measure the success of a Sunday worship service. What aspect are you going to measure? The number of people attending? The number of first time attenders? The total first time decisions for Christ? How many cups of coffee or tea were served? The tangible evidence that the sermon’s points of application were put into action? What is it that you are going to measure?

Then you need to decide what measurement would demonstrate success. If in a worship service you are going to measure the number of people in attendance, would success mean 100 people, 200 people, 20% more than last week Sunday’s attendance, 80% of your actual church membership, or (you suggest)? Determining CSFs will help you figure out if your achievements measure up.

So now I am reflecting on last week’s conferences that I had a hand in organising: the 2019 CRCA Recharge Ministry Conference (held at the Country Place, Kalorama, VIC) and the Organic Outreach Intensive (held at the RTC, Melbourne). How do I know whether or not our achievements were good? If we were just measuring attendance, then I would say we had great success with the Recharge Conference. Our goal was 60 people and we had a total of 74 pastors, ministry workers, and spouses in attendance. Much to be thankful for. For the Organic Outreach Intensive our goal was 40 people in attendance – and we had 31 people registered. We did not reach our target, but the outcome was still pretty good. But in planning these conferences attendance was not the CSF.

What about the learning that the people gained at both conferences? Was knowledge our CSF? If it was, then a substantial increase of knowledge would demonstrate success. For the most part those who attended the Recharge Conference would admit that they did not learn a massive amount of new things about prayer. And we only had four plenary sessions over 3 days. The outcomes of the Organic Outreach Intensive were quite different. People learned a huge amount about how to share their faith and encourage a culture of outreach in their local church. We had 10 plenary sessions over 2 days. But we were not measuring increase of knowledge.

So what were the critical success factors for these conferences? Well, for the Recharge Conference we had several. Here are two: one was to have people come away rested and refreshed; another was to see new or renewed friendships to be forged among colleagues in ministry. We would measure the written feedback received to see if these outcomes were achieved. For the Organic Outreach Intensive the CSF was the number of churches implementing the Organic Outreach strategy in their churches. Our goal is to see 5 CRCA congregations implement the Organic Outreach strategy during this triennium (2018-21)

So how did we do?   Were these conferences a success?   Well one of the pastors who attended Recharge sent me this note in an email:   "What a privilege to be amongst such faithful men and women of God!  [My wife] and I were both really blessed and transformed by not only the content of Recharge, but also the new relationships we forged."   Another wrote:  "Recharge came at the right time for us, especially my wife who was feeling burnt out and it was really encouraging."   These comments echo the feedback we have received, and it confirms that the outcomes we hoped for were realised.   Praise the Lord!   And although we have recieved many positive comments about what people have learned at the Organic Outreach Intensive, our goal is to see these strategies implemented.   This will help us gauge the success of that conference.  The months ahead will be telling.

So as you look at your church, your ministries, new initiatives, and/or your personal life -- think about your CSFs.   This will help you measure success.   If you don't care what direction your church, ministry, or life is heading, then just do anything.   But if you are serious about growing a healthy church that impacts your world with the gospel, then determine your CSFs and what it is that you are going to measure.   Measure the outcomes and do some reflections.   Make any adjustments that are necessary to realise movement in the right direction.    This will impact the health of your church and the spiritual growth of your people.  Do the same for yourself personally:  spiritually, emotionally, and physically.   And don't forget to look in the mirror.   Remember:  it is all about reflections!