This will be my last regular newsletter until January 2. Yes, that’s right. I dare to take off the day after Christmas. However, in addition to this newsletter, I’ll be publishing a special book recommendation post later this week. In anticipation of the new year, feel free to email me (jacksonwatts@hotmail.com) or leave any comments concerning topics you might like to hear more about in 2023.
How Well Did We Do?
It’s December. The most common association with this month is Christmas. (Had I more Jewish readers, I’d say Hannukah.) But for anyone motivated, intentional, or serving in a leadership role, this month signals a time of evaluation and reflection. We want to know how well we’re doing—and how well we did in 2022.
There are many ways to characterize this way of looking at the year. Sometimes we call them “highlights” and “lowlights.” Sometimes we describe them as the steps we took forward and those we took backwards. Or we think in terms of goals reached and goals unattained.
The language can change depending on the specific context. For example, if we’re performing an employee evaluation, generally we try to be more specific than “good job” or “not too great.” If we’re reviewing specific goals, we use different language to denote if they were reached relative to how concrete the goals were. A goal to lose 10 pounds is a bit easier to evaluate than a goal to be more physically active.
Most of us are smart enough and honest enough to acknowledge some of the vagaries associated with evaluation. Indeed, I’ve noticed in ministry circles (both local church and parachurch ones) a lot more rhetoric about “measuring what matters” and developing the right “ministry scorecards.” Amen and amen. We’re all guilty of more heavily weighing some things than others, or just overlooking some things altogether. So it matters that we are paying attention to the right things in our assessment.
On a related note, we must ensure we’re using a fair and appropriate standard by which to evaluate. Most would say that mission fulfillment should be the standard. It’s not enough to celebrate what the world celebrates, or moan when one or two numbers are lower than we’d like for them to be. Can we reasonably say that the person, practice, program, or other phenomenon under review is propelling the mission—whether our personal calling or organization’s purpose?
I want to introduce an additional insight into this discussion. It’s not especially distinct from these concerns above, but it may help us as we evaluate ourselves and those enterprises to which we belong. Let me express it this way: we need to ask not only the right questions, but better questions.
Are We Asking Good Questions?
Asking better questions is more than simply asking the proper (right) questions that someone in our position should be asking. If I run an ice cream shop, one of the right questions is, “How many ice cream cones did we sell in 2022?” We can easily list others: “How many ice cream cones did we sell in 2022 relative to 2021”? “What was our bestselling flavor?” On and on one could go, whether they know much about ice cream or not.
We could do the same when it comes to personal goals. Say my goal for 2022 was to finish 52 books. The right sort of questions would be, “Did you read this many?” “How many did you read?” “How many should be on your list for 2023?”
Let’s take both those examples and try to ask even better questions.
“Why do people choose our ice cream shop over the one across the street? What are we doing that they perceive as more desirable? What’s the most likely reason that our sales are up (or down)?”
“Did you construct a reading list where such a goal was achievable? Did the fact that you weighed the list down with too many exceedingly thick books have any bearing on you not reaching the goal? Given the fact that you took your time with certain books and better processed the arguments, are you actually disappointed that you didn’t get through all 52?”
One can observe a few differences between these kinds of questions and those earlier. First, they are not only specific, but very specific in terms of looking at dynamics and the “whys” behind what happened. Second, they take a slightly sharper look at human actions and motivations. Some might say that what I’m doing is making the move from quantitative questions to qualitative questions, and I’m sure that’s present here. But even those words seem a little too bland and mechanical. What I’m really hoping to help us arrive at by asking better questions is discovering what we care about most.
I suppose there are many situations where a quantitative question is indeed what we also care about most. How many children were converted through Vacation Bible School? If the sole intent of your VBS is evangelistic, then discerning and counting conversions makes complete sense. However, if what we care about most is helping people become wise readers of Scripture, then considering how many people read through the Bible in a year may be a relevant metric to document, though it won’t ultimately tell whether wise readers were developed.
The right questions matter, but I think it might be better to think in terms of “best questions.”
Final Questions
As we look ahead to 2023, where do you want to go? Should you want to go there? How will you go there? What will be the consequences of getting there? Of not getting there? How will past successes and failures inform the shape of your effort? What obstacles do you anticipate? A list of meaningful questions could begin with these but extend even further.
My simple hope for myself, others, and Christian organizations (especially churches) is that we not only ask the right questions, but the very best questions that will lead us to thrive.
Follow-Up:
In a recent guest post by Chris Talbot, we were reminded of some facts about Francis Schaeffer that we may have forgotten (or never knew at all). For those very last-minute Christmas shoppers, you can find many of Schaeffer’s works here for purchase. Crossway has done a nice job updating the covers of many of his classics.
Currently Reading:
Paul Miller, The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong with Christian Nationalism?
Quote of the Week:
Scripture and tradition, therefore, tell us something astonishing about our embryonic brothers and sisters currently being kept in frozen storage: they are a vulnerable population that perhaps demands our attention the most. Captives, orphans, and little children deserve and have received special consideration from the Church. So too do those deemed “less than full persons” or “non-persons” by the culture. Now imagine a human being who is a captive, an orphan, and a (quite) little child that the surrounding culture deems a non-person all in one.