In my previous post I introduced two concepts or models that can help us understand how healthy churches thrive. The Vitality Threshold is that level of support (programming, staffing, experiences etc.) in which parishioners experience a quality of spiritual nurture that makes a difference in their lives. The Sustainability Threshold is that level of support that allows the community to be maintained.

Some parishioners have asked me to talk more about both. In this post I will explore The Vitality Threshold more deeply. I will explore The Sustainability Threshold in my next post.

Think of The Vitality Threshold in terms of an ecosystem.

A natural habitat includes all the organisms and minerals that contribute to its ability to generate life. An ecosystem is an interactive whole. Every part contributes to the vitality of every other part. When one organism multiplies beyond the system's capacity to sustain it, it falls back and is restored to proper balance.

An ecosystem keeps an organism within its Vitality Threshold.

The parish is a spiritual ecosystem. Supporting elements (staff, programing, Shepherd Groups, parish leaders, etc) must expand with the parish if it is to remain within its Vitality Threshold. The graph illustrates this principle. A vital parish remains "within the zone." As it grows, its systems must grow with it in order to remain healthy.

Where is our parish on the graph?

We currently have an average of 491 people who attend worship with us every Sunday morning. (This is without the 5:00 PM service.) This represents a portion of our total parish of 1401 people.

Some determine the Vitality Threshold of a parish by counting staff: How many staff are required to support the parish of a given size? One rule of thumb is that it takes one program staff person to support every 100 people.

Another way to think about it is in terms of the minimal necessary functions that must be fulfilled in order for the parish to thrive. For example:

• We operate the premier preschool in Loudoun County. Who cleans it every night?
• We operate one of the only active cemeteries on church grounds in Loudoun County. Who manages the Cemetery?
• We generate a cash flow of $25,000 in revenue each week, and $30,000 in expenses. Who manages the books?
• We receive phone calls all day long about everything from pastoral needs, prayer requests, people in crisis, newcomers looking for a church, parishioners with questions about their contributions, parents with questions about the preschool, and sales people trying to get the attention of a decision maker. Who manages the phone?
• Our facilities require maintenance on the grounds, the buildings, and systems (heating, air conditioning, computers, phone, lights, pest control, etc). Who manages the contractors who maintain our buildings and grounds?
• And we have not yet begun to talking about ministry.

A church of our size requires staff to provide the minimum services that allows us to be here before any ministry is done. How many staff people does our current budget allow us to hire to provide all of these services to our community?

One.

One staff person. And that one is part-time.

So, what should we have this part-time person do? You choose:

• Clean the building?
• Operate the Cemetery?
• Manage the Accounting?
• Answer the phone?
• Maintain the property and grounds?

The Rector can to the rest.

So where is our parish on the graph. The Red Dot represents our current position. Review the budget. We are outside the Vitality Threshold. Our spiritual health is at risk, because we are beyond our material capacity to support it. We will come back into balance one way or another. Either, we will expand our systems to the support our community. Or, our community will fall back to the level that our systems can support.

What is the future of our parish? It will be no surprise to anyone who understands the principle of The Vitality Threshold. We are not powerless to influence our future.

The Lord has given us wisdom to understand what is required of our covenant community. The Lord has also give each of us ample provision to address this issue.

What we need is the will to act.