Measuring Mission Project: Activating an Outcomes-Based Missional Congregation
A series of workshops for a study team from your congregation.
Purpose
Measuring Mission is a workshop series which equips congregations, according to the purpose of gifs for the building up of the body of Jesus Christ, per Ephesians 4:12. These workshops help to:
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- Measure, assess, and analyze a congregation’s social mission projects
- Build capacity to activate and sustain social mission volunteers
- Plan for outcome-based social mission projects which improve the lives of the people served
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History – Pilot Congregations
Development of this series began in 2014 with two members of the Presbytery, Rev. Roderic Frohman and Rev. James Evinger. They had grown concerned that while our congregations responded to a call from God to serve their neighbors in their communities, the efforts could often be described as toxic charity (i.e., projects which perpetuated people’s dependency). Oftentimes, also, the projects burned-out their volunteers because of poor internal planning, design, implementation, and support, including a lack of spiritual support.
From January, 2015, to July, 2018, Frohman and Evinger field-tested a set of topical workbooks and a workshop setting with six pilot congregations in different locales and of different sizes: Covington United Presbyterian, Pavilion; First Presbyterian, Batavia; First Presbyterian, Chili; First Presbyterian, Pittsford; Central Presbyterian, Geneseo; and Dining Room Ministry of Third Presbyterian, Rochester. Their evaluations and feedback significantly improved both the design of the workbooks and the workshops.
Results
There are a number of tangible benefits for the participants. Representative comments include:
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- Deeper communication: “In my six years here as the Pastor, this is the most honest and open discussion of mission in our congregation that I’ve seen. It gives me new possibilities.”
- Insight: “I think we really started to ‘get it’ by the end of the 6th workshop. It does take time to absorb and trust this process.”
- Significance: “We provide two buildings for use by non-profit groups serving our town. We charge each $1/year to make it legal. Until this discussion, we never considered that our in-kind support had significant dollar value.”
- Identification of a barrier: “I look at all our many mission projects and the high percentage of our members that volunteer. No wonder we are tired and no wonder it’s hard for each project to find new volunteers!”
- Awareness of volunteer motivation: “As we interviewed people about their motivations to do mission, we realized how different those motivations are [from what we expected].”
- Paradigm shift: “As a result of this series, I see mission in a whole new perspective.”
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At the series conclusion, people are prepared to complete a structed process regarding their social mission projects and choose from six options: 1) Retain the project as is; 2.) End the project; 3.) Combine the project with another one; 4.) Improve the project; 5.) Expand the project; 6.) Start a new project.
History – The Most Recent Congregations
From September, 2018, to June, 2023, the following congregations have participated in the series (and each has contributed to improve its quality and effectiveness): First Presbyterian, LeRoy; Irondequoit Presbyterian, Irondequoit; York United Presbyterian, York; Summerville Presbyterian, Irondequoit; Perinton Presbyterian, Perinton.
Measuring Mission workbooks
We are committed to transparency, accessibility and accountability. Click on the workbook links below to open the PDF documents.
To explore your congregation’s participation in our Measuring Mission series
As of August, 2023, contact Rev. James Evinger or Rev. James Renfrew (see the PGV directory). We’ll gladly discuss your interest, questions, and hopes for faithfully loving our God, our neighbors, and our neighborhoods.
