Ministry Mapping Inventory (MMI) Instructions:
Every church has a ministry model that can be visually mapped. That is, every church has a set of core activities it executes, and strategies for obtaining the necessary funds. Often, such activities and funding strategies are not well articulated.
The first step in making the ministry model explicit is identifying the church’s core ministries and mapping their impact on promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A robust way of considering relative impact is to look more closely at the components of impact.
The following four criteria have been selected:
- Alignment with Core mission
- Excellence in Execution
- Community Building
- Leverage
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the highest, please rate each of the following 9 ministries on the four criteria listed below. As you complete your assessments, remember that there are no “right” answers, and take into account all the information you have from your experience with the ministry. Please circle only one for each question.
Ratings:
“1” not much impact: “2” some impact; “3” very strong impact; “4” exceptional impact
Please know this process is not about deciding which ministries are good and which are bad. Rather, it is about acknowledging and collectively thinking through which ministries have relatively more Gospel impact than others. Therefore, ministries cannot all be at the low end or high end of the impact spectrum.
Ministry Mapping Inventory (MMI) Purpose:
This assessment process will provide a visual picture of how well the church’s day-to-day process tasks reflect the stated vision of core ministry activities toward promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The culminating Ministry Map will place core ministries onto a visual map consisting of four quadrants (also see images below):
“The STAR: High Gospel Impact, High Financial Viability”
“The INTERVENTION SIGN: Low Gospel Impact, Low Financial Viability”
“The HEART: High Gospel Impact, Low Financial Viability”
“The MONEY TREE: Low Gospel Impact, High Financial Viability”
The purpose of assessing the Gospel impact and financial viability of ministries is to encourage alignment among ministry efforts and foster congregational learning opportunities in stewardship knowledge and practice.
This assessment will aim to identify perceived deficits in two stewardship categories: Gospel impact and financial health. It will provide a method of assessing a congregation’s current state of ministry and stewardship effectiveness with their future stated goals for vitality or needs for sustainability.
We expect the beneficial results of this project to be to:
- clarify mission and vision.
- align resources according to God’s mission and the ministry vision.
- provide a pathway for church and school partners to speak intelligently and honestly about congregational stewardship challenges.
- promote discussions on how to effectively address the congregational stewardship problems in a comprehensive and integrated manner.
- motivate church leaders and ministry teams to partner and collaborate on congregational stewardship decisions.
- identify strategic imperatives: that is which ministries to grow (“The Star”), to contain costs (“The Heart”), to increase impact (“The Money Tree”), and to renew, revitalize, redevelop, or give a redemptive death (“The Intervention Sign”); and
- encourage church and ministry team partnerships to adopt, as routine practice, the use of the Ministry Mapping Inventory in monitoring and reporting mission progress in each ministry.
In summary, the ultimate desired outcome will be improved participation in God’s mission to feed the sheep, reach the lost, and leave our Church and ministries in a better condition than what we have now.
MMI Data Analysis and Interpreting the Results:
Findings and conclusions will be presented to Zion’s church leaders to help organize and interpret the data into achievable goals and recommendations for the congregation. The results of the Ministry Map will provide a visual picture of how our church’s ministries work together and how they may be best aligned with the church’s mission to seek and save the lost, while leaving a blessing for future generations. The Gospel Imperative Decision Table which will be provided, will help congregations make those hard decisions necessary for realignment, or to move resources elsewhere.
Inventory Questions:
Findings and conclusions will be presented to Zion’s church leaders to help organize and interpret the data into achievable goals and recommendations for the congregation. The results of the Ministry Map will provide a visual picture of how our church’s ministries work together and how they may be best aligned with the church’s mission to seek and save the lost, while leaving a blessing for future generations. The Gospel Imperative Decision Table which will be provided, will help congregations make those hard decisions necessary for realignment, or to move resources elsewhere.