Missional Vital Signs: An Implementation Guide for Congregational Leaders

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1 1 Missional Vital Signs: An Implementation Guide for Congregational Leaders How do leaders know if their congregation is doing what Jesus asked his followers to do? Or if the congregation s sense of mission hasdrifted off course through the years? And how do leaders know if their congregation s ministry is gaining or lossing ground over the last several years? It is precisely to help answer these questions that the Missional Vital Signs (MVS) were announced by Bishop Whitaker at the special called gathering of pastors in October, The MVS have been created to address two purposes: To bring practical clarity to the mission of congregations in their community To help leaders know if their ministry is becoming more or less effective Every congregation has been asked to designate a Missional Vital Signs Reporter. Beginning in early February, 2009, this person will receive a monthly linking them to a website where they can report their MVS for each week during the previous month. Initially, congregations are only asked to report their (1) attendance, (2) the total number of professions of faith and reaffirmations of faith, and (3) the total weekly offering for budget, capital and missional purposes. These are measurements that every congregation is already taking. Then by July 1, every congregation is expected to have begun also reporting (4) the weekly number of persons involved in intentional discipling small groups and (5) the weekly number of worshipers who self-select that they have been salty servants during the previous week. This document will assist congregational leaders to understand the MVS, think through setting up systems for gathering and reporting the MVS information, and use the MVS information to keep their congregation focused on becoming more missionally effective. Why are the MVS of congregations important? Across the United Methodist denomination, conference leaders are clearly speaking out: it is largely in and through congregations in their local communities that the rubber of ministry hits the road of reality. The local congregation is where it either happens or not. And the mission to which Jesus commissioned his followers (Matthew 28) and for

2 2 which Annual Conferences charter congregations (par. ) is: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. But what does an effective disciple-making congregation actually do? A survey of the church in Scripture resulted in identifying five practices that are core to the disciplemaking process. Bishop Robert Schnase reminded us of them in his recent book, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007): passionate worship, radical hospitality, intentional discipling, salty service and extravagant generosity. These are the essential practices of missionally effective congregations because they also describe the essential characteristics of fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. As people mature spiritually, they grow into disciples who worship passionately, extend to others the radical hospitality of God s grace, are intentional about becoming followers whose character and actions are more like Jesus, unselfishly pick up their crosses in salty service to others, and respond to the needs of others with extravagant generosity. A fruitful congregation cooperates with the life-transforming work of the Holy Spirit to mature disciples so that they can have Kingdom impact in the world. These five practices, then, are what every congregation is called do and do well in ministry. But how do congregations know if their ministries are fulfilling these practices well? To be sure, measuring the fruitfulness of a congregation s disciple-making ministry is like measuring the smoke from a burning bush. How can you possibly measure a congregation s growth in worshiping in spirit and in truth, or in extending forgiveness to those who have wronged them, or in being more responsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit or in being less judgmental as they relate to others daily? Still, after significant discussion and prayer, the Cabinet identified one measurement for each of the five practices that gives an indication an imperfect indication, to be sure but a significant indication of how a congregation is doing in that practice of ministry. As the trends of these measurements are looked at over time, congregational leaders can use them to help discern whether they are becoming more or less effective in a particular practice. The numbers will, of course, not capture the whole reality. More subjective indications and other objective measurements, in some cases, will also have to be considered to discern how a congregation s ministry is doing. And then leaders can adjust the ways they are living into the practices, accordingly, to improve their effectiveness.

3 3 What are the measurements for each of the five practices? Brief definitions for the measurement of each practice are given in the box beside its logo. For those who wish to read the fine print, keep reading; for those who do not, skip to the next logo. Passionate Worship The well-spring of a congregation s life together is their worship. Christ calls us out of the world to gather around Him as passionate worshipers. We gather with attitudes of trust and gratitude, of openness and obedience. We gather to be formed as God s people through praise, prayer, Word and Sacrament. While it is impossible to measure a worshiper s openness to the Holy Spirit, we can assume that those encountering the Living Water tend to come back. Therefore, the best measurement for Passionate worship is: The average number of people in attendance at the principal weekly worship service(s). Principal weekly worship service(s) includes any service held on a weekly basis as a primary opportunity for worship. In many congregations this will be the Sunday morning service(s). However, if the congregation has other worship services attended by persons who generally do not attend on Sunday morning, attendance at these services should be included. For example, some congregations have a Saturday night service to which people come instead of Sunday morning. Some congregations have youth worship services on Sunday evenings as part of their youth ministry; this is where youth (and sometimes their family) typically worship each week, rather than on Sunday morning. Attendance at these services should be included. Children who participate in all or part of any such service may be included in the count. This would include children who participate in a children s church service especially designed for them. This would not include infants in the nursery who do not attend a worship service. Some congregations have traditionally included in their weekly count a group of people who are away together on a retreat or mission trip. This certainly seems fair as it does reflect the number of persons in the congregation who are in worship that weekend. Without being persnickety about it, the intention is to count individuals who attend worship only once a weekend. We needn t worry that Grandmother Jones came to three worship services one weekend because her granddaughter was singing at each of them and she gets counted three times. However, if the same 25 member choir sings at all three worship services, it would be a more accurate reflection of the congregation s real attendance in worship not to include them in the count three times. Occasional worship services, such as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Christmas Eve or funerals services should not be included in the weekly count.

4 4 Radical Hospitality As followers of one who gladly welcomed children, tax collectors, lepers, prostitutes, Samaritans, Gentiles and indeed, sinners of all sorts into his fellowship, how can we not do likewise? Hospitality really begins with God s heart towards us and continues with our heart toward those outside our congregation. Radical hospitality goes beyond come and get it evangelism with those people willing to come to our church facilities to check things out. Radical hospitality includes go and get them evangelism (Luke 14:24) that actively and creatively finds ways to reach people who will never otherwise come inside our church buildings. Since the fruit of the practice of Radical Hospitality is a person receiving the gracious love of God offered us in Jesus Christ and committing to being a life-long disciple as part of a particular community of faith, the best measurement for Radical Hospitality is: The total number of persons received into membership by profession of faith and reaffirmation of faith. When reported, the website will calculate the number of worshipers it takes for each profession of faith or reaffirmation of faith. Profession of faith is the first public expression of commitment to Christian faith by an individual in which she or he acknowledges commitment to Jesus Christ and pledges to learn to live as one of His disciples. This may include youth who have gone through a confirmation process and are now joining the church. This may also include adults who have never before been a member of a congregation, but now come to faith and choose to live out their faith as part of your congregation. Reaffirmation of faith refers to persons who have been baptized at some point in their life, made a profession of faith and maybe became a member of a congregation, but have not been actively involved in a congregation for quite some time. Such persons usually are experiencing a renewal of faith and are choosing to live out their faith as part of your congregation. They are not transferring their membership from another congregation.

5 5 Intentional Discipling Church membership is not the same as discipleship. Jesus commands his church to make disciples... and teach them to obey all that I have taught you. Disciples are committed to becoming more like Jesus in their attitudes and actions. Jesus invited people into a community of persons committed to following him where they can assist one another in becoming fully devoted followers. Because Intentional Discipling happens most often in small groups, the best measurement for Intentional Discipling is: The average number of persons involved in intentional discipling small groups. When reported, the website will calculate the percent of the worshipers involved in intentional discipling small groups. So what constitutes an intentional discipling small group? It involves 2 to approximately 15 persons. They meet at least monthly, though their number is only included in the weekly total during the weeks that they meet. They share a commitment to training to follow and to be more like Jesus. During their time together, they read and reflect on Scripture. They explore what it means to apply God s Word in their everyday lives. They share honestly and opening, giving and receiving feedback. And they pray for one another, both during their meeting time and while apart. This means that all church groups are not intentional discipling small groups. There are groups designed for other purposes (for example, fellowship, education or service) that are not intentional discipling groups. A line dancing group wouldn t be; a gathering of men for breakfast while listening to the mayor speak would not be, either. Neither would administrative meetings, such as the Board of Trustees of the Finance Committee. Some large lecture oriented Sunday school classes would be questionable, as they are realistically more like another worship service than a gathering of persons intentionally committed to helping each other become more mature apprentices of Jesus Christ. A Disciple Bible Study group would certainly count. So too would most Sunday school classes, if they are intentional about discipling their participants and not just educating or babysitting them. Alpha groups would count. Many youth groups are focused on helping each other become better disciples. Emmaus reunion groups could also. So might a group seeking to apply God s Word to their marriage or to their parenting or to their financial life. Some choirs during their rehearsal study Scripture, discuss its implications, pray and share a commitment to help one another grow as disciples, as well as prepare to lead their congregation in worship; they would be an intentional discipling group. A team that gathers to do a particular ministry (like making Celebrate Jesus type visits in their community) might, if they took time to read Scripture, reflect

6 6 together and pray before heading out. A Celebrate Recovery group would certainly be. And so would two accountability partners who meet weekly by phone to pray, read Scripture and encourage one another in their walk with Christ. After prayerfully studying the characteristics of an intentional discipling small group, a task force of spiritually mature congregational leaders could review the different groups in the congregation and consider which qualify and which clearly would not. Those groups that are less obvious might be encouraged to study the characteristics themselves and to discern whether they feel called to function as an intentional discipling small group. It may be that some groups will choose to live into these characteristics more completely when challenged to do so. Salty Service Jesus was clear that his followers are to be servants: Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. (Matthew 20:26-28) Service flows naturally and inescapably from the teachings and example of Jesus. Let me tell you why you are here, says Jesus. You re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? (Matthew 5:13 The Message). The best measurement of a congregation s effectiveness in discipling Salty Servants is: The number of persons weekly in worship who say that they have joined Jesus in Salty Service to persons outside their congregation for at least one hour. When reported, the website will calculate the percent of worshipers involved in salty service. Salty Service is defined in terms of any of four elements: Hands-on mercy ministry alleviating the suffering of others; Justice ministry addressing systems that cause suffering; Earth-care as a steward of God s creation; Relationship building to ease the emotional or spiritual needs of others. Unlike measurements for the other four practices, worshipers will need weekly to selfselect whether they have met the criteria of Salty Service. Their self-selection will not be as objectively verifiable as the other practice measurements. But again, the goal is to focus on and encourage Salty Service, not gain absolutely accurate numbers. Many persons will self-select that they have been a Salty Servant this week who were involved in church-sponsored ministries. They may be part of a mission trip, be part of the congregation s monthly volunteers in a soup kitchen or teach English as a second language classes offered at the church. Persons may also be involved in ministries that are not church sponsored. A person may choose on their own, for example, to tutor at a local school, to repair a toilet for an elderly neighbor, to work with the community Red Cross, to take part in an community taskforce planning an Earth Day event, to spend time intentionally cultivating a relationship with an unchurched person or to take part in a beach cleanup day.

7 7 The gathering of this measurement will have to go hand-in-hand with communicating to worshipers what is meant by Salty Service. This will require the pastor and/or liturgist regularly shaping people s understanding about what is meant by mercy, justice, earth-care and relationship building ministries. Local examples will need to be given. Opportunities for people to share how they are being a Salty Servant will create Salty Servant role-models in the congregation. The intent is that over time, being a Salty Servant will become as fundamental to being a normal Christian as attending worship, being involved in an intentional discipling group, being an agent of Christ s love to others, and tithing. Since there are no historical measurements for Salty Service, data will only be reported and graphed on the MVS website as congregations begin to gather Salty Service figures weekly. A retired minister once remarked, The last part of a person s life that Christ seems to gain Lordship over is their checkbook. Jesus taught that we cannot love both God and money. John Wesley counseled disciples: make all you can, save all you can and give all that you can. A lack of generosity, Wesley believed, results in spiritual deformation involving pride, greed and materialism which seriously undermines our love of neighbor and of God. The best measure of a congregation s effectiveness in helping disciples be liberated to live on less so that they can bless others by being Extravagantly Generous is: The total amount given to the congregation for budget, capital and missional purposes. When reported, the website will calculate the total given per each worshiper. The reported total includes all contributions received by the church treasurer for budget, capital and missional purposes. Pledge and loose plate offerings would be included. Funds given for capital debt, building or repairs would be included. Also included would be special offerings to ministries beyond the church; for example: the Children s Home, a youth mission trip, Habitat for Humanity, Storm Recovery or a sister congregation in Cuba or Angola. In short, all personal contributions funneled through the church treasurer should be counted weekly. The funds excluded would be interest income, memorial bequeaths, facility use fees, and income from child-care, adult day-care ministries, thrift stores, pumpkin patches, and similar fund raising endeavors. These do not reflect immediately on the financial generosity of the worshiping congregation. (There is a sense in which memorial funds do reflect the financial generosity of the congregation. However, a single significant gift can also make the whole congregation look extravagantly generous, when in fact, that may not be true.) The Extravagant Generosity measurement is the easiest place to recognize how misleading it can be to compare one congregation to another. A congregation in a

8 8 community where the average income is barely over the poverty level may in fact be more extravagantly generous than a congregation in an affluent suburb, even though the latter congregation is technically giving more per worshiper. (Remember Jesus and the widow s mite?) The best use of the MVS is not in comparing your congregation with other congregations, but in noticing trends in your own congregation over several or more years. How do we create a system for gathering our MVS? Remember, your congregation has been gathering at least three of these measurements each week for decades and will require little or no change in your normal procedures. After several general comments, each of the MVS measurements will be addressed separately. General comments: Data on each practice is gathered weekly and reported monthly. The best Missional Vital Signs Reporter in most congregations may be the pastor s administrative assistant because this person s desk is probably already a central hub for information in the congregation. A simple notebook or Excel spreadsheet can be created for gathering the monthly Missional Vital Signs. The Conference website ( has a sample Word document file and Excel spreadsheet which can be downloaded and used by the Missional Vital Signs Reporter to collect your data. The intent is neither absolute numerical accuracy nor ministerial guestimates! The intent is to create a system for gathering reasonably accurate counts that can be consistently carried out weekly with a minimal of effort. Passionate Worship: Many congregations have their ushers count during the early part of the worship service. Often they have a count sheet form on which totals can be easily entered for different areas of the sanctuary; for example: the choir, chancel area, left side of sanctuary, right side of sanctuary, balcony, ushers, children s church. Then the count sheet is placed in the offering plate for each service. Those who count the offering can then note the weekly attendance in a notebook or an Excel spreadsheet. Other congregations use a notebook in which the ushers list the number of persons in attendance each week. The notebook is kept somewhere in the narthex area where ushers have easy access to it. Some congregations have traditionally counted children in the nursery. While the denominational definition for attendance discourages this, the greater issue is that the congregation be consistent from week to week in how they are counting. Only then will trends in attendance be meaningful. Radical Hospitality:

9 9 Many weeks, the total number of persons joining on profession of faith or reaffirmation of faith is 0. The pastor and membership secretary will be most aware of those joining the congregation from week to week. It may make sense for the Missional Vital Signs reporter to assume that the number is 0 unless informed otherwise by the pastor or membership secretary. Intentional Discipleship: As already suggested, a spiritually mature group of congregational leaders should review the qualifications of an intentional discipling small group. They can then review each of the groups in the congregation and decide which groups clearly qualify and which clearly do not. Those groups that are questionable might be encouraged to study the qualifications themselves and discern whether God is calling them to live into them or not. Those groups that meet at least once a month, but not every week, should be included in the count only during the weeks that they do meet. In some ways, this practice may be the most complex to track weekly and the most different from congregation to congregation. In some cases, group leaders can keep track of their group s attendance week to week and then give an account to the Missional Vital Signs Reporter each month perhaps in response to a monthly asking for their weekly totals. For Sunday School classes and for short term classes, the congregation is probably already tracking attendance that can be added in each week. At least one pastor shared her intention to have worshipers self-select whether or not they have been involved in an Intentional Discipleship small group each week. This seems a possible means of gathering the Intentional Discipling metric, but will require broader and constant instruction on the definition of an Intentional Discipling small group. Still, this may prove a workable way of gathering the data for some congregations. Congregations will need to experiment to find the best way for them to gain a reasonably accurate count. Please remember that absolute accuracy is not necessary, but guestimates are not acceptable, either. Instead each congregation will need to discover a way that works for them to gain a fair accounting in a fashion that can and will be continued week after week after week. Salty Service: Because measuring Salty Service will require the greatest change in thinking and in behavior for congregational leaders, we will discuss the rationale and a way for tracking Salty Service at greater length. The rationale for tracking Salty Service: Imagine going to the doctor for your annual physical and never having your blood pressure taken. Everyone knows that blood pressure is one of the key indicators of our health and of when we are developing a health problem. We would have a seriously

10 10 inaccurate indication of our body s health if this metric were habitually omitted from our checkups. In a way, that is exactly what we have been doing for decades in measuring the Body of Christ s health in local congregations. We have ignored an aspect critical to the missional health of Christ s disciples: their lives should overflow into the world in Kingdom impact. You are the salt of the world, Jesus said in Matthew 5:13 and then warns us not to lose the saltiness of our influence in the world. Historically, we have measured each of the five practices of fruitful disciple making -- except Salty Service. Not surprisingly the number one factor distinguishing healthy congregations from declining congregations is that declining congregations have increasingly lost missional focus on their local community and have become increasingly preoccupied with continuing their beloved traditions, caring for their members and maintaining their facilities. If a doctor never measures her patients blood pressure, would it be surprising that many of them had unrecognized blood pressure problems? Likewise, if a connection of congregations never measures whether they are encouraging their disciples to join Jesus in having a salty impact in the world, should we be surprised if the most common missional problem in congregations is the loss of salty impact in their community? Just as with blood pressure, the point is not gaining an absolutely accurate accounting, which fluctuates constantly, but to get an indication of the general trend line. Furthermore, our intention is to focus the congregation s attention on ministering to the community and to encourage every Christ-follower to bless the community through active involvement in ministries of mercy, justice or earth-care. Counting is just a tool toward this end. Measuring the practice of Salty Service in your congregation Salty Service, like our tithes and offerings, is one of the ways that we act as stewards of the gifts, abilities and opportunities with which Christ entrusts us. Just as in worship we offer our financial resources to God s Kingdom work, so too we can offer our salty service from the past week up to God. During the offering time in worship each week the pastor or liturgists can draw people s attention to a brief statement in the bulletin, such as, A Salty Servant embodies God s love to persons beyond our congregation for at least one hour. After sharing a few words of explanation, persons are asked to selfselect if this is true for them this week and then to indicate it in a way that works for their congregation. If the congregation is small, this may mean simply asking persons to put their hand up and be counted. Congregations that regularly register attendance could ask persons to indicate this as they register their attendance. One member of the Cabinet suggested having tickets in the pew with the Salty Service logo on them; people who self-select that they have been a Salty Servant the previous week can be asked to place one of the tickets in the offering plate to indicate this. (An example of these tickets is available for download on the conference Missional Vital Signs website.) Congregations who take communion each week could also have people bring their tickets forward as they come to receive the elements. The tickets can be counted with the offering and put back into the pews to be used again.

11 11 Each congregation is encouraged to experiment to find the best way for them to obtain a weekly indication of the number of persons who gave at least one hour of salty service as a follower of Jesus alleviating suffering in their community. Instituting the Salty Servant measurement in your congregation: People will need to be taught about Salty Service ahead of time from the pulpit, in the bulletin, and in newsletters. Their new understanding will have to be reinforced on a weekly basis too, both in the bulletin and by the worship leader. Casting vision is like writing in the sand at the beach. About the time leaders are sick of talking about it, people are really just catching on! Modeling is a powerful leadership tool. The core spiritual leaders in the congregation should regularly let the ways in which they are involved in Salty Service be known. If the pastor and key lay leaders consider salty service part of their own discipleship, it obviously means that it is vital to everyone s discipleship. The opposite is also true. Before people believe what we say, they watch what we do. People want to follow leaders who are authentic in saying what they do and doing what they say. Just as your congregation probably gives an accounting of your worship attendance and offering from the week before in your weekly bulletin and/or monthly newsletter, consider also giving an accounting of the percentage of your worshipers last week who self-selected that they joined Jesus in alleviating suffering in the world. In worship, give people the opportunity regularly to share how they are alleviating suffering or blessing others in the community. Be sure verbally to connect the dots between what they are doing and their being a Salty Servant. Don t assume that people will automatically make this connection! In worship, regularly share with people opportunities in which they can be a blessing to the community through a ministry of mercy, justice or earth-care sponsored by your congregation or opportunities to partner with other salty servant groups in your community. Again, be sure to connect the dots between this opportunity for service and your congregation s commitment to cultivating disciples who are Salty Servants. As you can tell from wading through this section, we are after a whole lot more than gaining a number to be part of your congregation s weekly Missional Vital Signs. What we are really after is encouraging every disciple to join Jesus in ministry in the world making a salty kingdom impact. Extravagant Generosity: Of all the practices, congregations are probably already doing an excellent job of tracking people s weekly giving. Each week, the total of contributions given to the congregations for the budget, capital concerns and missional concerns is totaled and noted. Not included are interest income, memorial bequeaths, facility use fees, and income from childcare, adult day-care ministries, thrift stores, pumpkin patches, and similar fund raising endeavors. The goal is to get an indication of the generosity of worshipers in your congregation not the total income your congregation has at its disposal.

12 12 How can we use the MVS to improve our disciple-making? The purpose of the Missional Vital Signs is not institutional compliance, but growing congregational faithfulness and fruitfulness. The MVS is a tool to increase missional integrity and effectiveness. How so? The MVS website provides congregational leaders with quick and graphic access to the previous ten years of data on their congregation. Both the data chart and graph can be printed off and used to assist persons in your congregation in gaining a clear grasp of their current reality. This has been the trend in our congregation over the last ten years. What does this say about the effectiveness of our ministry to the people of our community? Just as most congregations print in their bulletins weekly or monthly totals for the offering and attendance, so they could print a record for all five practices. Leaders will want to experiment with how to communicate most clearly. For example, instead of giving the total number of persons in intentional discipling small groups or who said that they were salty servants, it may make more sense to share the percent of the worshiping congregation involved in each practice. Perhaps it would be more effective to share information about one of the practices each week. This would allow for some space to explain the importance of the practice and how the congregation is strategically seeking to improve it. The offering time can be a time for lifting up the congregation s overall missional faithfulness as a response to all that God has done for us. This works especially nicely when the offering is taken after the sermon (and sacrament of Holy Communion, if celebrated). This is where the offering is taken in the Order of Worship in the front of the UM Hymnal. The offering time can become a time for reinforcing and shaping our whole missional response to God s gracious gifts. Look for ways to celebrate positive trends or improvements in trends. Catching the congregation doing something praiseworthy and letting everyone know about it is a powerful tool for reinforcing missional faithfulness and fruitfulness. In addition to celebrating positive trends, look for positive stories to tell of people who are living into the five practices. Congregations need positive role models that make the practices vivid and communicate hope: if God can do this in their lives, He can do it in our lives, as well! Be sure to connect the dots between what people are doing and the practices they embody. While it may seem obvious to congregational leaders, it often is not for those in the pew. By leaders connecting the dots whenever possible, the congregation s cultural expectations and values are shaped. At church council, leadership council or administrative council meetings, the congregation s Missional Vital Signs could be reviewed. One congregation printed off graphs from the Missional Vital Signs website and passed them out to participants. While attendance, professions of faith and giving per worshiper had grown in recent years, they were amazed to discover that the percentage of worshipers involved in intentional discipling small groups had been consistently declining. They spent time reflecting about what that meant long-term about the

13 13 depth of discipleship in their congregation. They began to reflect about why this had become a trend and how they might reverse it. In larger congregations, staff meetings will be a good venue for looking at Missional Vital Signs periodically. Different ministries may want to review how the MVS apply to them. For example, the children, youth or young adult ministry might track the percent involved in salty service. Or they might want to track the financial giving of their participants. The hope is that all age-level ministries are cultivating disciples of Jesus Christ in a holistic fashion. In looking at the MVS, it is important to use them as only one indication of how the congregation is doing in a practice. For example, it is good that professions of faith are increasing, but do the demographics of the congregation s new members reflect the demographics in the community. If 36% of the families in the community are single parent families, is that percentage of families joining the congregation single parent families? Or if worship attendance is increasing, leaders might reflect why this is happening? Is it the new emphasis on planning worship that encourages worshipers to have a fresh encounter with Christ? Or is it the new dynamite saxophone player on the praise team attracting new people? It s not bad for people to come expecting to hear great music, but worship planers will want to help move people beyond this to expecting to hear Christ? So the MVS is an important tool for congregational leaders, but they must always be interpreted in the context of the congregation s history and community context. Some congregations are choosing to organize their congregation administratively around the five practices. Our Discipline gives congregations the freedom to organize in whatever way best enables them to fulfill Christ s mission. In congregations that have chosen to do this it would make sense that whenever the different practice groups meet, they would review the MVS trend for their practice. This will help them move from running traditional programs (which may or may not be effective in discipling persons) to living into a core ministry practice with authenticity and effectiveness. During annual program planning, congregational leaders can make use of the MVS trends. If one practice seems to be trending particularly downward, the leaders may chose to focus on identifying causes for this in their congregational life and developing strategies for improvement. Focusing on improving a particular practice may become the theme for the year. Finally, it is important to recall that the whole reason for The Missional Vital Signs is helping congregational leaders stay focused upon the mission to which Christ calls us and to give them a sense of whether they are making or losing ground in doing so. We invite congregational leaders to be creative and to experiment in ways that will accomplish these two purposes.