| Chapter 6
Introduction If the goal of reproduction at every level (disciples, leaders, congregations, networks of congregations, church planters and church planting teams) is to be achieved, then we must keep moving forward in all our efforts. To develop individuals as well as teams, we have found it helpful to establish an evaluation process that uses Hard targets. Hard targets may be for individual team members or the team as a whole. Hard targets are goals that need to be achieved within a certain time frame. We would liken this to archery where a bow and arrow is used to hit a target. The goal or in archery is to hit the target. There are a number of activities that will enable you to achieve this goal. The ultimate goal is to hit the middle of the target. Hard targets should not be soft targets (not measurable such as "we will witness better") or targets that are easily achieved or nonessential to the primary task of church planting, but targets that are God-sized so that our dependence is upon the One who supplies the power, strength, and direction necessary to fulfill the goal. Jesus in Matthew 10 gives the twelve a hard target and then sends them out "...go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." Jesus not only gives them a goal to achieve but also gives them some activities that will help them achieve their target. "...preach as you go, saying 'The kingdom of God is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons." Jesus, as He sent them out, set a pattern for such activity in the future. If one reads the letters from Paul to Timothy and Titus, members of his team, one will find them filled with Hard Targets. A valuable exercise is to go through these letters and outline Paul's hard targets for these church planters. Hard targets are like education's behavioral objectives (BO) which state the expected behavior of students at the end of a given teaching unit. For a Physical education teacher, an example of a BO for the students could be playing a basketball game by the end of the quarter. The activities that would help achieve this BO would be shooting, dribbling, passing skills as well as learning the rules of the game. So also with the hard targets of a church planting effort. A hard target might be to have a covenantal community established at the end of six months. The activities listed would be developed and utilized in order to achieve the hard target. Hard Targets are strategic in nature, that is, what are we going to do directionally. Activities are tactical in nature, that is, how are we going to get there. Hard Targets strive to extend the kingdom by establishing the church. Hard Targets should be reproductive in their scope. Most hard targets are not administrative in nature. Administrative tasks consume time, energy, and effort and usually do not move the church planting team toward establishing healthy, reproducing churches. Hard Targets should be three to six months in length for short term and one to five years in length for long term.
Hard Targets are Written with Three Areas in Mind 1. Individual Movement: Example: "We will share the gospel with five new people a week." Hard targets can be written for individual growth in character with respect to ministry. Example: "I will have my week organized in terms of work, study time, evangelism and discipleship by Sunday evening and track progress on my use of time during the week." They can also be used to track growth in character relating to family. Example: "I will create a family mission statement with my wife, develop behavioral expectations for my children around these, and implement a system of rewards and discipline reinforcing these." All of the above reflect real hard targets which have been set by our teams and team members. 2. Team Movement: Example: "We will develop an effective team life which will sustain our walk with the Lord and enable our families to grown". 3. Church Planting Movement: Example: "We will have an evangelistic Bible study in a home within the next six months". For more help in setting hard targets for #1,2 above we would encourage the reader to refer to the Manual for House Church Planting in Networks, Chapter 16 as well as appendices 16 and 17. Setting hard targets for #3 begins by assessing where you are in your church planting efforts and where do you need to be. An effective tool used by the FCP has been the Church Planters Checklist (Appendix 6), which lists five hard targets as five distinct stages and gives a menu of activities to achieve these hard targets. Time frames for achieving these will vary widely and we encourage teams to pray for specific guidance from the Lord as to appropriate time frames. Frontiers has developed 7 phases from the list which they use to track teams progress and help them through barriers. Evaluation is an important tool if the work is to go forward. Evaluation must be on a regular basis in order for hard targets to be effectively reached. Our experience has been that weekly or monthly evaluation is sufficient with a final review at the completion of the allotted time for the hard targets. Because of the need to cut down on administration, a simple evaluation form is used for those pursuing hard targets. This form asks the following questions: 1. What are your present hard targets? 2. What activities have you engaged in to attain these hard targets? 3. What progress or success have you experienced? 4. What barriers have you encountered? 5. What are the next steps (activities) you need to take in order to overcome these barriers? We have found that reviewing these evaluation questions monthly helps facilitate team accountability, interaction, brainstorming, support, and prayer. Worksheet 1. Set up Hard Targets for the sub teams you have formed, including your own sub team. How often will you evaluate progress? What will be the reporting procedures? 2. Should you put this in a covenant form with the sub-team leader? What should be some of the elements that are included in this covenant? This could later become a basis for a mentoring covenant. Back |