I messed up.  I had every intention of writing a Growth Office Year in Review.  It was going to have the Top Tens of various growth-related things, along with graphs and sparklers.  And then the Holiday Break came and I went head-long into a real vacation with no work commitments. I will not flog myself, as I’m still all chill from a well-rested vacation.  But I will start working on next years…

 

A little ambitious you might think, to start so early?  Actually not.  I suggest you do it, too.  Think about it… How would you measure success in the coming year?  What would that look like? And then how will you tell the story at the end of the year?

 

Here’s a beautiful example of a Year In Review done well.  The Sanctuaries in DC produced an exquisite end of the year brochure.  If you click on that last highlight, Google will take you through steps to download it.  Just know that it is an enormous file.  There are a couple pages I’d like to point out to you that I’d like to see in every End of the Year (Celebration) Report…

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What stood out to you?  Is this a place you’d like to visit?  Stay and build community?

Note their use of visuals.  Conveying the good news and good work is not always best done with words, but in visuals.  What would you visuals be? What would your metaphors be?

 

Rev. Renee Ruchotzke‘s Adaptive Measurements blog post in Growing Vital Leaders outlines some great questions to discern what exactly to measure in a year to get an idea of “Are you doing what you intended to do?  Are you being who you intended to be?”

 

Rev. Erik Martinez Resly is the lead organizer of The Sanctuaries, DC and the mastermind of this brochure. Story telling through visuals is a clearly a ministerial gift of his.  And he’s generous in sharing them, so please do contact him for guidance: thesanctuariesdc@gmail.com

 

The template he gives includes story, testimonies, mission, model, numbers, and moving forward. Go back and look at the Sanctuaries End of the Year Report again, only this time, try to imagine what your congregation’s report could be.  I am already planning for next year…

 

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Rev. Tandi Rogers understands visuals and metaphors better than linear words. And she day dreams of having a Sanctuaries in her neighborhood.  For a treat watch one of The Sanctuaries videos.