Faith-based enterprises, or ministries, have the challenge of ensuring their activities and assets’ viability, just as commercial enterprises do. Ministries also manage the added complexity of not being driven by commercial goals. Consequently, commercial measures of viability fall short. A viable ministry will be an authentic expression of God’s love or similar, and will sometimes be required to achieve a commercial measure of viability. A ministry which achieves the latter but not the former is not a viable ministry
Arkhart Advisory has pondered this challenge and developed a filter to help ministry leaders identify which assets and activities to prioritise. We started from an understanding that not all assets or activities may be equal contributors to ministry imperatives. We then moved to thinking about how to conduct an initial filter of the status quo, using it to sort existing assets and activities by their relationship to the ministry. We have captured our thinking in a four-faceted filter, with the point of priorisation being to assist leaders in understanding where to focus first.
