How do you measure success?

This is an important question in any ministry. Ultimately, the answer lies with God, who knows each of us and whether our faith journey is advancing or retreating, or worse, remaining stagnant.

As this is really impossible for us to measure (due to the millions of variables God must take into account!), we must find other ways of measuring ministry success. The default is usually numbers. Are we growing, or shrinking? More or less than last year? How many new people? And so on.

Recently published stats in the Baptist Magazine (December 2007 issue) reveal some sad, but not too surprising trends. According to their statistics, the entire growth of the Baptist church in New Zealand measures just 30 people. That's an increase in the past 12 months of 0.07%.* Is that success?

Is this not a wake up call? We must be doing something wrong to achieve such poor results.

I also read in the same paper, the names of those who have been elected at the Baptist Assembly. People who will be the leaders of this union for the next year. I know only a few, but ask this question: how many are under 40? How many are under 50?

I greatly value the wisdom and insight of the 'older' generation. The world would be a disaster without them. But I think it's time for some young people to lead. I greatly value their enthusiasm, sense of risk and desire for change. These attributes are what's going to turn the 0.07% into 7% and then 70%.

* Adults 28,869 down 189, children 8,193 down 110, teenagers 5,238 up 329.

Trying too Hard?

Is this good marketing for a church? It's funny, yes, but is it just plain trying too hard? Would this sign really attract people?

Churches have a tendency to overthink marketing. They also have the 'pinch other people's ideas' disease. How many churches have used the Tui campaign as a basis for a funny sign?

If church is that good, and we worship a creative God, surely we can come up with our own unique, relevant and engaging messages?

Home made Proverbs

As promised, here are some of the home made proverbs from the service, plus a few serious one's people shared:

Man made omelet so woman shouldn't...
These sayings deserve tears
Without laughter, even faith gets difficult
While a kiwi laughs, clowns make lemonade
Don't waste your weetbix, share it with a crocodile
The spill on the carpet happens after it is cleaned

Someone shared this quote as one that has left an impact on them:

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”

M. Scott Peck (American Author)

Oxygen #12

Oxygen 12 was on Friday and was attended by 17 people. We looked at wisdom and where we get it from. A fascinating group activity produced some interesting proverbs (which I will post here tomorrow).

I was interested to read in a commentary recently that Proverbs actually encourages Christians to learn and make use of human wisdom and experience. In a sense, it is a book demonstrating how best to go about that.

I was also interested in the concept that Proverbs reflects three social backgrounds, one of which being the life of the family. "The teachers often speak as father and mother to the hearers as their children,"* reads to commentary. Behind this implication is the notion that the home is the natural place for teaching and learning about life, wisdom and the way of righteousness.

This is certainly something to think about as the school system leverages these values away from parents more and more. What will society look like if the home is not the place for teaching and learning about life?

* New Bible Commentary, page 584.

Fantastic Marketing Stunt

I am not a Marc Ellis fan, but you have to tip your hat to the man for his latest marketing stunt. He let off some explosives on Rangitoto this week to simulate an eruption. The smoke billowing from the volcanic peak could be seen all over Auckland and sent people running.

My marketing lecturer said to me once, that no publicity is bad publicity. This is a common saying but I am not sure if it's true. In his context he was describing a legal case Guinness were having in the UK. He worked for Guinness and said the nightly mention of the story and displaying of the Guinness logo on the BBC (no ads channel) was absolutely priceless.

Marc Ellis, for all that he will be fined and raked over the coals for this stunt has gained some serious mileage. The stunt was an awesome marketing ploy and no doubt has driven tens of thousands to his new website.

He reminds me of a young and stupid Richard Branson who is probably the master marketing stunt puller.

Free Rice

Yes, here it is. Free Rice. Check out this site, it's awesome. Learn new words and donate free rice to Africa via the UN. It's real and it's pretty cool.

www.freerice.com

Back to Basics

A couple of weeks ago, Willow Creek Community Church (one of the most influential churches in America) made some remarkable statements. They released some research into how well their church programmes and activities facilitated spiritual growth.

Greg Hawkins (executive pastor) says “Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.”

In essence, this is the philosophy of most churches in the western world. The idea is that by creating programmes and activities, people will grow spiritually through participation.

Hawkins continues; “I know it might sound crazy but that’s how we do it in churches. We measure levels of participation.”

But when the research came back (now published in Greg's book 'Reveal'), Willow Creek leaders were shocked at the findings. Bill Hybels explained at a leadership summit recently: "Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for."

After 30 years in ministry, Hybels calls this the "wake up call of his adult life."

He said that what the church should have done when someone became Christian was encourage them to become 'self-feeders'. In other words, encourage and help them to read their Bibles, pray and build relationships on their own.


For a fuller article, check out this blog. It also has all the links to the Willow Creek resources should you want to check out the research further.

Oxygen #11

Last night we looked at being the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). It's an amazing call by Jesus, and it means to be more than just flavour.

19 people came and we had some challenging displays of what salt is and how we are to mimic it's qualities in the world.

Salt crosses cultures: salt is important in every culture. How do we cross cultural boundaries?

Salt preserves: salt is used widely for preserving food. What is good in the world that we would like to preserve?

Salt heals: salt has cleansing qualities and aids the healing process. How do we bring healing to the world?

Salt provides traction: one of the biggest uses for salt is on icy roads. What issues do we stand firm on, unprepared to compromise?

Salt stings: salt can burn the skin. How and when do we agitate to cause change in the world?

Salt has more than 14,000 uses and when we unpack what Jesus meant when he said to be the 'salt of the earth', we find an amazing personal challenge. But many Christians and churches keep the salt in the shaker. They don't take it to the world. We're all guilty of that. How can we change and provide the world with the flavour, healing, agitation and preservation it needs?

It makes you think?

It certainly does make me think. It makes me think that Victoria University is either strapped for cash or has no creative talent whatsoever, that they have to keep using the same old marketing campaign week in and week out.

You didn't think you would be let off the hook did you Vic?

Surely, there must one of your marketing students who has a new idea you could use to attract new students? What do you think using the same old tired campaign communicates to people? What could it say to prospective students?

Why is it in this country that once someone latches onto a good marketing campaign like Tui below, they thrash it until it is bleeding?

Come on

Come on Tui, give us something else. You've got to be joking. This campaign should have been retired three years ago. I hope you're not still paying a marketing agency for this.

Brand Promise

As soon as I saw the most recent Noel Leeming ad starring Erin Brokovich talking about the 'buzzards' circling for that sale, I knew they had made a mistake. They essentially are promising something they most likely cannot deliver - a totally transformed customer experience. I.e., leaving the customer alone to browse instead of asking them if they needed help.

Already their brand promise is failing. This from the NZ Herald last weekend:

"Lesley writes: Apparently Erin Brockovich feels the same way I do about annoying sales staff hanging around while you're trying to browse. I spent some time in Noel Leemings over the weekend, just having a look around while my husband bought an electric shaver. I couldn't help overhearing one of the new Noel Leemings endorsements by Brockovich as it played on a store TV. In it she stated (and I paraphrase) how much she hated the buzzards that come swarming around when she is trying to browse in a store and how she likes to be given space to shop. I'd like to note that, in the 15 minutes I was in the store, I was approached by no less than five separate staff all asking if I needed help. Either I appeared to be in a perpetual state of confusion and in dire need of expert guidance, or Noel Leemings staff should listen to their new spokesperson and back off a bit."

If your brand promises something to the consumer, you must deliver or the results are far worse than if you'd never made the promise in the first place. "Noels", as they're now calling themselves, has surely earned this week's 'Brand Stupidity" award from me.