NOTE: This post is adapted from the book Missional Renaissance. In it, McNeal argues that missional churches will shift from program development to people development.
In order to help people grow, we’re going to need a new scorecard that celebrates investments in people, not just programs, and cheers breakthroughs in people’s lives, not just organizational achievement. We need a scorecard that supports a people development culture.
To pull off this new scorecard will require a retooling, a reallocation of every resource the church and church leaders employ. It can be helpful for us to think through this grid of resources: prayer, people (both leaders and your ministry constituency), time, finances, facilities, and technology. In each of these areas, we can and should identify specific results in people’s lives that would signal genuine progress for them.
Below are some benchmarks to track your ministry constituency. These suggestions are just ideas to prime the pump of your imagination as you cultivate a people development culture.
- Number of people reporting improved marriages over time
- Number of people reporting improved friendships over time
- Number of people reporting increased friendships over time
- Number of people reporting improved family life over time
- Number of people engaged in financial planning
- Number of people receiving life coaching
- Number of people engaged in strengths identification and development
- Number of people who have created and are following a life development plan
- Number of people serving other people in some venue
- Number of people practing intentional blessing strategy for those around them
- Number of people being mentored
- Number of people serving as mentors
- Number of people able to articulate life mission
- Number of people able to articulate core values
- Number of people reporting improved spiritual life over time
- Number of people growing in financial giving to kingdom causes
- Number of people debriefed in life experiences each week or month
- Number of people pursuing job skill development
- Number of people pursuing life skill development
- Number of debriefing exercises in corporate gatherings
- Number of debriefing exercises in small group venues
- Number of people reporting addiction recovery progress
