Is Efficiency a Good Metric for Ministry?

The costs of church as a professional event

The shepherd in Jesus’ parable leaves the 99 and goes looking for the 1 lost sheep. Which is kinda dumb when you think about it. A 99% retention rate of sheep in the sheepfold is pretty good. It does not appear to be an efficient use of this shepherd’s resources, time and attention. It’s not a particularly “professional” take on his shepherding duties.

Unless efficiency is not a driving characteristic of this shepherd’s role. Unless the sheep are not merely “stock”, and he’s not primarily motivated by a good Return On Investment. If there is a relational connection with this sheep, then searching for the 1, regardless of how much time, attention and resources are used, is a great investment.*

If this is the characteristic of Jesus, to take slow, relational time to search for and care for the sheep, then this ought also to be the characteristic of his church. And yet, often, our churches are using metrics of efficiency and managerial professionalism to measure ministries and run our even…