KEY VITALS
In human physiology, vital signs (‘vitals’) are a few key measures that describe the overall health of a body. Further, they tie directly to the stability of the processes that keep a body alive and able to function normally. While simple measures, vitals are sentinels of highly complex processes and are impacted by a myriad of variables encountered daily. The vital signs are primary indicators of the health of an individual at a point in time, under diverse conditions. They are primary indicators that the body is functioning properly in its existing setting. The physiologic vital signs are limited to pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and body temperature. If the body’s mission is to live, the vital signs are primary indicators that the body’s infrastructure is functioning and can support living activity.
In contrast, clinical endpoints are measures that focus on specific variables that support Vital functions. These endpoints usually inform clinicians about specialized functions that maintain the Vital signs within normal (i.e., healthy) ranges. Such endpoints are often used for diagnosing metabolic functions and disfunctions; furthermore, specific clinical endpoints may be impacted by numerous processes and may be inter-related to other clinical endpoints. Examples of broad categories of clinical endpoints include chemical, neurological, structural or physical, and organ-specific measures. The importance here is that clinical endpoints can be tied back to a vital sign or to a combination of vital signs.
By analogy, there are ‘Vital Signs’ that describe the spiritual health of the local Body of Christ (a Church) at any given time. We believe that the Vital Signs of a congregation should be tied to the core mission of the Church as designated by Jesus himself, to ". . . go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Within the great commission we find three "Vitals", winning people to Christ, training disciples, and sending people to reach a lost world.
These vital signs are fundamental expressions of a living Church. Within each vital there are measures - clinical endpoints, so to speak - that help to discern whether Valley Christian Church is meeting the mission given by our Lord Jesus Christ. The following endpoints may be used to evaluate Valley Christian's health with respect to winning the lost, training disciples, and sending people to reach a lost world.
WHAT WE WILL MEASURE
WIN – “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them”
1) Invitations (Are members inviting people to “come and see” Jesus?)
2) Visitors (How many new people are walking through entry points?)
3) Worship Attendance (How many people are hearing the gospel?)
4) Starting Point (How many people are learning to start a walk with Jesus?)
5) Baptisms (How many people are making Jesus Lord and Savior of their lives and how many are men?)
TRAIN – “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”
6) New Partners (How many people are partnering in membership?)
7) Discover Attendance (How many people are engaging in groups and teams?)
8) Small Groups (How many small groups are available?)
9) Group Attendance (What percentage of the average worship attendance is actively studying the Word in a small group?)
10) Giving (What is the total and per capita giving?)
SEND – as you go, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
11) The Church (How many partners and regular attenders worship regularly?)
12) Ministry Teams (How many ministry teams are in active service?)
13) Volunteers (How many individuals are using their gifts to serve Christ?)
14) Servant Leaders (How many servant leaders are actively engaged?)
TARGET
As we strive to obey Christ and to obey His mission, our vision is to see Him change the lives of those not just in the Fargo-Moorhead area, but also in the Upper Midwest, the United States, and even to the ‘ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). The gospel message is not excluded from anyone because the lost are on the heart of Jesus -who came to ‘seek and save the lost’ (Luke 19:10)- and who need Jesus. Because we believe that Jesus specifically invited the young to himself -'let the little children come to me (Mark 10:14)- we will disciple future generations. And because we see that when men believed the message of Jesus, the church grew exponentially (Acts 4:4). We will therefore target our efforts on leading lost young men to Christ.