Friday, November 05, 2004
the kpi cringe
KPI = business = modernity = vomit.
Yet cringing at the cringe, nose wrinkling in distaste, still begs the question …. what is important? When you pour your life into something, what makes it worthwhile?
If we go organic, and reject modern KPI, surely we are still faced with “what is important?” Bodies do grow. The doctor can, externally, check my internals … take my blood, pump my pressure, ask me to pee into a little yellow pottle. So organic images can still be bodily tied to external indicators.
Such indicators can be harder to assess, but surely they are still part of our discourse, modern or postmodern?
Posted by steve at 11:53 AM
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Is it a bit like being a parent? How do you know if you are doing a good job? Do you only find out when they are Adults? Even then how is it gauged? A well-rounded adult who is brave enough to ask questions (even when the answer seems obvious), who is willing to go against the flow, who has individual opinions that they are happy to express when appropriate, who loves God and the people he has created, who gives of themselves to others, who has respect for his/her parents and others, who is prepared to work hard. And if this doesn’t happen what does that mean – Is it our fault or just the way the cookie crumbles? Likewise in Church how much is just the way society is going and how much is our fault? Lots of questions today, sorry! Thanks for getting me thinking Steve.
Comment by Karen — November 5, 2004 @ 4:32 pm
I think the parent analogy is very helpful. It reminds us that our resourcing is important. It reminds us that spiritual development is to produce adults not clones, thinkers not doctrinal dummies. It reminds us that adults do make their own decisions, and we have to let people go. Helpful thoughts Karen.
Comment by steve — November 6, 2004 @ 5:36 pm
Ok then,…maybe there could be KPI’s of the emerging church. Its just that as soon as you call them performance indicators it wreaks of the ‘modern project’.
To look for some sort of indicator for health you/me/we must first articulate exactly where we expect to be headed and why otherwise the indicators have no terms of reference. On that basis I would include these…
reaching the unchurched,
reaching the de-churched,
reaching subcultures not currently represented in the mainstream church,
service to needy that doesn’t stem from a program but from an individual,
followers that are well integrated into their world, not just living in christian community 24/7,
I’m sure there’s heaps more!
I have said a bit more about this at my blog site recently
Comment by Garth — November 11, 2004 @ 12:54 pm