by Eric Swanson

When I chat with people about becoming an externally focused church, they often ask how they can measure their progress in loving and ministering to those outside the walls of their church.

We have identified two primary variables for tracking the effectiveness of externally focused people and congregations that change a community and grow one's own soul: Depth of engagement and frequency of engagement.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with Eli Morris from Hope Presbyterian Church outside of Memphis. Over a plate of barbecue at Eli's favorite restaurant, he sketched three concentric circles depicting how he gauges the spiritual progress of folks at Hope. "There are people who give money and things," Eli explained. "There are people who engage in projects, and there are people who engage with people. Life change happens best when people engage with people. So we want to move people from the outer circle (those who give money and things) to the inner circle (those who engage in ministering to people)." Wow! Now that was a big idea.

Money and things
If we are honest with ourselves, we'd probably admit that giving money and things is pretty painless and doesn't stretch us much. Throwing a ten-spot in the plate, giving a toy for tots, a shoebox of love or a winter coat is a good thing. But we can grow and be stretched even more.

Projects
As we engage in projects, we give more of our time and talents to causes in our community God cares about. Projects might include building a Habitat for Humanity house, refurbishing rooms at a local women's shelter, etc. In early June of this year, my church in Boulder, CO, joined with people from two other churches on a Saturday and Sunday morning to paint, landscape and clean five public schools in our community. Fourteen hundred people engaged in this incredible project, dubbed "SHAREFEST 2005."

Apart from donating their labor, participants wrote notes of appreciation to the faculty and staff of these five schools. After working Sunday morning, these three churches also had a combined worship service on the University of Colorado campus where they honored school board officials, faculty, and administrators. The school board estimated that we saved the district about $300,000. Afterwards, some 1,500 of us gathered on the lawns of the campus to enjoy Memphis barbecue (there seems to be a pattern to my life). Serving in projects together brings joy and growth and helps make the invisible kingdom visible.

People
As helpful as money and projects can be, lives are most likely to be changed when people engage with people. People feel their worth only when they are affirmed by other people. Good deeds can be done from afar, but good news can only be shared up close. Love is a shared experience. Engaging with people might include helping third-graders read, mentoring teenagers, training an unemployed person in critical job skills or working with orphans on a mission trip. As we engage with other people, God may use us to change the ending of their story.

Part of the path of spiritual formation is to help people move toward sharing their life and the love of God with others.

If giving of one's resources, talents and love is beneficial to both the giver and the recipient, it seems logical that frequency will increase the benefits to those serving and those being served. If giving, serving and loving are beneficial once a year, would not five times a year be even more beneficial?

To measure growth in a person's external focus, we can create a matrix with Depth of Engagement forming the vertical axis and Frequency of Engagement forming the horizontal axis.

With such a matrix, one could theoretically plot every person in a congregation to measure the depth and frequency of that individual's engagement outside the four walls. I'm not sure how an ideal congregation would look. But I think I can say with some degree of certainty how an ideal movement would look from year to year--an increasing number of folks moving from the lower left of the matrix upwards and to the right. With a greater commitment of time and greater personal involvement with people, hearts can be enlarged and the kingdom expanded.

What part of this article created an "aha" moment for you?
What mechanisms could you begin to put in place that would purposefully move the people you influence to an increasing depth and frequency of engagement in the needs and dreams of the world?
With whom can you share this concept and matrix?