Measuring Impact

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11-13

Key Verse: “Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)

When we talk about measuring, we often think of numbers. But, have you thought about measuring intangible things such as the impact that we can make in our lives together as people of faith?

In order to measure the impact that we desire to see in our organization, the prerequisite is to differentiate these three terms: output, outcome, and impact. We need numbers or metrics, which are the outputs, to track or indicate what we do since they reflect the changes or differences that our actions can make. And the changes and differences that our actions make are the outcomes. Please keep in mind that an output is not an outcome. And an outcome is not an impact. However, they are interconnected. A meaningful metric-output leads us to see the outcome. And becasue of the outcomes, the significant or major effects occur, our desired impact.

Recently, I rediscovered a tool for measuring impact at a course I took at Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. This tool was originally introduced by Jason Soul, the author of Benchmark for Nonprofits. With this tool, we can measure the impact that we desire to make on others and its progress as people of faith, leaders, ministry teams, or as a church.

Let’s think about the ongoing impact that the pandemic has had on every aspect of our lives. For one, the pandemic has impacted our sense of security. In the last two years, our lives have changed dramatically. The financial downturn, isolation and social unrest has changed people’s behaviors, conditions, and statuses. We relied on the internet more than ever, were isolated in our homes and changed professions or retired early.

And such an impact is not what we want for a society. In order to create a new impact that is more life-giving with a sense of security, both profit and nonprofit organizations including churches are increasing the availability of services and activities designed to protect the safety and wellbeing of people, such as online or outdoor meetings and gatherings, educational resources and healthcare support for family, school, hospital, and company. After more than one and half years, people once again started taking vacations, meeting in person, and going back to work.

This pandemic’s impact makes me think of the current impact of the shrinking body of Christ, the church. Have we learned from any new life-giving social impact that we have seen from the pandemic? Then, how can we go forward by creating life-giving impacts for our churches instead of being paralyzed or being in denial? We know that we can’t measure our faithfulness based on the number of worshippers or baptism. How about creating some meaning metrics or indicators that show us the progress and help us measure the changes in our behaviors, conditions, and status?

I invite you to think about a life-giving impact that you desire to see in your own context. What changes do people’s faith practices can make such as worshiping, giving, serving, and participating in the life of the church?

Let’s put it into practice with an easier one. For example, what’s the impact of a successful marriage? It could be satisfaction or resilience. In order to reach the impact, what are our quality outcomes, meaningful indicators, and purposeful strategies? The desired outcome is a changed relationship based on the actions of forgiveness and support. Our indicator-metric is the shared accountability to apologize and listen more than advice. The strategy is to spend more time together to share ups and downs on a regular basis.

Another example. Let’s say we want to create an impact by attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, as St. Paul said in Ephesians 4:13. We need to determine quality outcomes, meaningful indicators, and purposeful strategies that will drive the result - the impact.

The quality outcome that we determine shall contribute to the long-term impact such as changes in people’s behaviors, conditions, or statuses. For example, people intentionally express their love to God, to themselves, and to their neighbors as stated in Deuteronomy 6:5. The indicators can be the amount of monetary giving, the frequency of serving, and the number of people worshiping and participating in the life of the church. Then the strategies could be implementing equipping programs, activities, workshops, and classes as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20 and St. Paul affirmed in Ephesians 4:11-13.

Please see below the measuring ‘what matters’ equation worksheet along with another example from the church I served in 2022 and its explanation.

May God lead and bless every impact you desire to have in your context.

Worksheet for your use:

Example from my own context in 2022:

Explanation of my example in 2022:

Notes: This is a portion of my presentation given at the 15th Assembly of the Association of Asians and Pacific Islanders - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Wednesday, January 11, 2023.