Tupperware, Success, and Metrics

It was the evening of our weekly gathering, and as person after person entered without knocking, I noticed something: everyone was walking in with Tupperware.

As we welcomed one another, hugged one another, and mingled with one another, the Tupperware began to exchange hands.

The containers told the story of generosity as they were used to share leftovers with one another. The containers told the story of compassion as they were used to feed those in our community who were sick and given a meal. And the containers told the story of Monday-Saturday life together as they represented meals shared and memories made.

I smiled as I thought about how Tupperware has become a quirky metric versus all the other metrics that are often equated with “success” in the church.

That’s the dissonance in what we can often measure.

Metrics often used to define success don’t measure maturity or health.

And metrics used to define success cannot capture love.

You can’t measure discipleship numerically.

You can’t quantify love through disembodied measures.

And, you certainly can’t gauge maturity through event attendance.

Ultimately,

What we measure is what we celebrate.

And what we celebrate is what we value.

And what we value is how we mature our lives and how we manifest the ministry.

So as we, the church, are looking for ways to gauge health, vitality, and growth - I’ll keep an eye on the Tupperware.