Success Markers

Pastor Brent and I had a talk on Tuesday. If you were a fly on the wall during that conversation you would have heard us talking about you, or more accurately, all of us.

Essentially it was a conversation about failure and success.

Here was the main question: If we as a church decide to go ahead with the multisite endeavor, and if 60-80 of us become a Sunnyside congregation downtown, how will we know if it is a success or a total flop?

(Conversations like this must happen keeping in mind that sometimes God’s definitions of failure and success vary from ours.)

So, let’s look at it from a ‘cup half full’ perspective and name some “Success Markers”.

Thumbs Up #1 (By Easter 2010)

• 60-80 people form a Launch Team,
  
• meet monthly September 2009 to March 2010,
  
• then meet weekly until our first official downtown service, Easter 2010.
  

Thumbs Up #2 (At the end of Year 1, Easter-ish 2011)

• Attendance increases by 50% downtown (Sunnyside Grosvenor sees pews filling back in too!)
  
• The downtown congregation covers a minimum of all the site’s expenses (approx. $50,000). But Sunnyside Grosvenor covers my salary.
  
• We see fruit that indicates the downtown site is alive: we love one another, God’s presence is evident as we worship, and we are present to the neighbourhood in ways that make a difference.
  

Thumbs Up #3 (At the end of Year 2, 2012)

• Attendance up by 25%. (Don’t want to get too caught up in numbers. But, on the other hand, they can give indication that we’ve got momentum.)
  
• Downtown congregation covers a minimum of all the site’s expenses (including contribution to overall missions of SWC and denominational fees) plus half my salary.
  
• More fruit.
  

Thumbs Up #4 (At the end of Year 3, 2013)

• I’ll be approaching 43 and will have less grey hairs than Pastors Brent or Darren.
  
• Attendance up by 25%.
  
• Downtown Sunnyside covers a minimum of all the site’s expenses and all my salary.
  
• And again, fruit!
  

 

So, what if these “Success Markers” are not met?

In that case, the downtown congregation will meet, recognize the reality of the situation and discern next steps. Pastor Brent and I talked in some detail about that too, but those thoughts have been tucked away. It’s quite possible that we will never need to revisit them!