Our Annual Church Ministries Report is completed and filed. My wife, Stacy, does a wonderful job with administrative duties while I work at my “second” job making money to live on. She pays the bills, files reports, and submits the ACMR.
“What is an Annual Church Ministries Report?”, you ask.
It is the denomination’s way of making sure that it’s churches are doing what churches are supposed to do…ministry. It does this through a series of questions that are designed to measure church growth and success. Questions such as:
- What was your average Sunday morning attendance is 2011?
- How many conversions? Baptisms? Sanctifications?
- What was your annual tithing income?
First of all, I want to clarify that I have no problem with keeping records of church progress and, especially, church income. I can fully understand the need to measure where the church is and if things are pointed in the right direction. But…
Years ago, I used to laugh at the denomination’s Top 10 list of salvations in the monthly newsletter. It was like a contest to see how many people you could get to say the sinner’s prayer. The same went for other markers, such as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I always thought the end of the article should have said, “…and the winner is…”
Can we agree that spiritual growth is not something I can measure and report about? I mean, I seriously doubt that God grades our ministry based on how many people come to the altar at the end of service. What does that mean for churches that do not have an altar? Is there a method of retracting salvations from the record when the person in question decides it was just a phase?
Actually, I have come up with a different standard of measurement that I will share with you now. Answer these questions about your church and I will answer them about mine.
- How many deviled eggs were made throughout the year for church meals? At our church, we think time spent together as a family is vitally important. We love deviled eggs (at least, I do). So, we have had about a bazillion of them. In 2011, Four Hills Church had 11 church meals, with each one larger than the last. When we eat together, we get to know one another. I like it.
- How many times did you dip into the church benevolence fund? Okay, maybe you don’t have a “benevolence” fund. But, have there been people in need and you helped them? How often was this done? Did they return the money or did you take up an extra offering to cover it? The early church members would sell all their belongings to care fo the ones that did not have much. In 2011, we offered assistance to 16 different families in 2011, not including the missionaries or families we served through our Angel Food distribution.
- What is the demographic makeup of your church? Most churches I visit are pretty lopsided when it comes to age groups. You have young churches and you have old churches. You have white churches and you have black churches. It seems that a church should be reflective of the Kingdom of God, as best it can, serving all ages, races, and genders. At Four Hills, we currently have a diverse age mix, ranging from senior adults to babies and we find there are really no gaps along the way. We have fewer men than women (as is typical in most churches), but are making great strides to empower those men. On the race front, we are primarily white and this is a problem. We are currently trying to find ways to become more diverse.
- How many books of the Bible have been read by church members this year? Yes, this one is virtually impossible to know. However, it is a more accurate measure of spiritual growth than you could imagine. We have made strides in the Bible reading department this year and have made studying the Bible an integral part of everything we do. If the people are not reading the Bible, they are not growing. It is as simple as that.
- How many ministry ideas have been thought of by someone other than the pastor? This reflects both spiritual mindset of the people and leadership of the pastor. Have the people been dreaming dreams? Has the pastor been empowering them to accomplish those dreams without he/she being in charge of it? Remember, the idea doesn’t have to end in grand success for it to be a significant sign of spiritual health and development. At Four Hills, we have become a dreaming machine. People on the left and on the right have come to me with ideas about handbells, food pantries, community gardens, playgrounds, neighborhood outreach, men’s ministry, youth ministry and more. Every idea has not advanced. But every idea has been celebrated.
I am sure there are many more things that could be included in this revised ministry report. But, I don’t have to worry about it, because I (actually my wife) already completed the one where you just list how many people sang a hymn (or some other what-not).
It’s a beautiful day to have big ideas for God’s Kingdom. We will report on it later. 
