We had a fairly big milestone last week with the Sellwood Faith Community. People came to the Tazie worship experience who we had never met before. They saw about us on Facebook and came along because they were interested in being part of a church starting out. It is a sign that we’re growing as a community beyond the personal connections that Jeff and I have with people and it’s exciting. It counts as a step in the right direction. And that’s what I’m thinking about today, what we count and how we count it. Which of course leads me to Count von Count, the one who taught many of my generation how to count things.
The video above reminds me that when we observe things our observation can effect those things. How we count and what we think about that number effects the way we view our organization. I could be bummed that worship on Friday was only 8 people, or I could celebrate that 4 new people joined us. If I’m bummed maybe I’ll cancel worship or do a shoddy job of planning. If I’m excited maybe I’ll schedule more events or work harder at learning the songs.
As I work on our quarterly benchmark reports for the new start initiative I’m glad that there is a space for narrative in our reporting, but I wonder how my focus on money and people affects the way we are choosing to live out this ministry. We do need to be held accountable as we make a sustainable community. It would be easy to just sit around all day eating bon-bons and watching Days of Our Lives. It would also be easy to become discouraged by the sometimes slow pace of this work (which also leads to bon-bon eating.) However, I think that if I’m mindful of how I count things and that what I really seek to find is the way the Holy Spirit is at work in and through us then, unlike the Count, I can assess things without drastically changing them.
-Eilidh
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