I’ve said before that one of the more challenging aspects of leading a church is knowing what to measure when evaluating how things are going. The two most common metrics are nickels and noses. We count the number of people and we count how much money they give each Sunday. Most churches count these things not because they’re the best indicators of vitality but because they are the easiest things to count. Without diminishing the importance of either one–it’s easy to say it’s not about the amount of money or the number of people until you run out of one or the other or both–I try to pay attention to others things as well that may give a bigger clue as to how things are really going.
One of the most important indicators of a church’s vitality is the number of guests there each Sunday. If week after week after week your church doesn’t have a new face in the crowd your church is going to die. Not overnight, and it may be one person at a time, but eventually it will die for lack of new blood, fresh ideas, and beginners energy.
It’s even better if the majority of the guests aren’t church hopping and shopping. If all your guests are from other churches then it may be a sign that your church is judged to be safe by disgruntled Christians who are fleeing churches that are trying new things. Not exactly the kind of people with whom I want to fill a room. It could also mean that your church is doing some really great things and the word has gotten out among the consumer Christians and they’ve come to check out your church just like they plan on checking out the new Bottomless Buffet restaurant that has just opened up in the shopping center across town. Again, not ideal, but it is a sign of vitality.
Even more important than the number of guests each is week is the number of guests who are there because someone from your church invited them come. This indicates a number of things. People from your church feel good enough about what’s going on there to talk about it with others and extend an invitation. It also means they’re spending time with people outside the church, hopefully with people who are chasing down the answers to some big questions.
Even more important than how many guests you have that have been invited by a friend is how many first time guests who have been invited by a friend come back a second, third and fourth time.
These may be obvious to the rest of you, but I have to remind myself to pay attention to these things.
What other indicators of vitality do you pay attention to?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
How about the number of guests who go home with connected members of the church? Maybe lunch, dinner, dessert, wii, etc. That seems pretty vibrant.
What about if the guests start inviting their friends? That’s pretty vibrant.
I am wondering about counting conversations, contacts, and interactions church memebrs have outside church walls with non church members about life, purpose, spirituality, meaning, etc.
There is a qualitative piece to this as well. Non-coersive and engaging conversations as opposed to imposing and overbearing conversations should be considered as well.
Another interesting study would be measuring the extent to which members are citizens (as opposed to consumers) of the intersection between the congregation and the community. I am not sure how this could be done, but it could be done.
OK, another way to assess a church might be to interview the people who live in the houses and work in the businesses within a half mile of the building.
Do they know you exist?
What is their impression of you?
What are they wishing for or waiting for the church to do?
Ask them to share stories about any experiences they have had with the church over the years.
Ask them, “ideally, what benefit would a church be to its communy?” followed up with a question about how well your church is doing compared to the ideal?
Another perspective would be to interview attenders or memebrs who have been connected to the congregation less than a year and ask them what is the draw.
One thing that makes me feel positive about where we’re headed and what God is doing here is when I hear numerous testimonials that involve personal maturing in faith and discipleship.
I’ve often measured by how many people I meet in the community that have positive things to say about the people I go to church with or, and unfortunately at times, negative things to say.
Good post.
I believe you hit on the real measure, visitors who are invited to come. Our problem, we don’t seem to have any new faces and I personally don’t have any non christian friends to invite. Pretty sad and I am trying to change it, but it is a slow, painful change.
I just don’t seem to get out much of my own routine and don’t meet new people, or people who are searching.
My prayer every day is, “God, send me someone who I can invite to church and needs you.”
I am still waiting!
Godly men who are willing to lead.
I judge it on love of the members.
Them making relationships with others in the community, those they work with, friends and family and having an open discussion about their faith. Most people that don’t go to church aren’t going to wake up snd say, “I think I’ll go to church today.”
I am currently reading and loving Dan Kimball’s book, “They liked Jesus and NOT the Church.”
We need to strive to reach out to emerging generations.
Meeting needs.
Demonstrating Gods love, grace, kindness, mercy, compassion, forgivneness, healing, and acceptance. Above all though love.
Most people new faces in most churches are church goers looking for a church that fits them.
We are living in a post-Christian society that doesn’t go to Church. So, the seeker services maybe for those who are Christians seeking a new Church, while emerging generations stay at home and sleep off the hang overs and enjoy golf and other hobbies instead of going to Church.
Real success should be us trying to reach those who don’t come.
God help us to reach the emerging generations!
Great post, Wade. I’m going to share this with our entire staff at our meeting next week.
We’re amazed at how many folks right here in our area of First Generation Spiritualists (my phrase)…open to the work and person of God, but not in any way that smacks of institutional power games.
In the community of faith I call home (www.journeyifc.com) we don’t count people, we have only a guestimate of how many fill the space. Many Sundays are a mad dash to find more chairs as the place fills to overflow. When we don’t recognize the other, we meet them and greet them. And, more often than not you’ll see those faces again and again (we get shoppers, de-churched, and unchurched). As former CofC folks my family is new to this church and this way of church, but we experience God as never before. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that flows from the stories, the confessions, the tears that lets us know we’ve connected to Him and to each other. So, I guess that’s how we measure vitality in our community.
Awesome post, Wade. IMHO, another indicator of success has to do with how ministry leaders and small group leaders (volunteers) talk about how their work in the church has affected them. Ideally they’ll say that participating in God’s mission here has transformed their character and made them better…more like Jesus. Their affection/zeal/passion for God should be stirred up by what they get to see as a leader. Taking ownership in a ministry should be life-giving.
Thanks Wade for declaring what we need to hear–which is that we need new measuring sticks.
I’d like to add “LANGUAGE.” I like to hear the language of the people as they leave church, especially visitors.
As my best friend Barbara Brown Taylor (though I’ve never met her) would say: “The language in mainline churches is about church growth, outreach, and denominational initiative.” Elsewhere she writes, “In many congregations, the only sins openly denounced from the pulpit are low attendance, poor stewardship, and failure to sign up for the Sunday school rota.”
For me, indicators of vitality occur when you hear people speaking the language of God, the Risen Lord, the power of the Spirit, the work and activity of God, etc. This “language” is assurance that Christ is being formed in the deep places of human hearts.
A great thing that really matters in my eyes is this, Can I invite all of the “leadership council” or governing board or eldership/pastoral team into a room and look them in the eyes and share a common vision that is simple and core to everything.
Is the core team united in the Spirit on what matters most about the existence of the organization and mission.
What matters is that – by nature – that core team will naturally attract from it’s core and will naturally reproduce what it is.
Love & Teaching that promote disciple making that grows to leadership that inspires discipleship and on and on. Always growing(maturing) and changing and reaching.
I think all those things are great, if getting people in your doors is the end goal.
I’m not saying this is a right/wrong issue, ubt maybe a different perspective.
I try to count…
1. The number of ministries being started by volunteers.
2. The number of people being led to Jesus by people other than paid church staff.
3. The number of baptisms, as it shows the desire for discipleship to begin.
4. The number of small groups that are “birthing” others.
To me, these four measurements show whether or not your church is actually living out its mission.
This is a great post, some congregations work at drawing in either of the two groups mentioned.
http://www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org
just a few thoughts.
I’m wondering where the desire to measure comes from and why it’s so important to us. I’m not against measuring, or counting.
I’m wondering about the nature of things and if creation would be a good benchmark for us to use in distinguishing between health or unhealth.
Nature is full of numbers.
2 eyes. 2 ears. one mouth. five fingers. five toes.
But nature doesn’t measure. comparison isn’t how our nature understands itself.
I find myself wondering about the rhythms of creation. seasons. night. day. lunar calendar.
I wonder if this will tell us anything related to how me understand ourselves related to faithfulness.
I also wonder about how scripture describes people and success. I’m not sure there’s a lot of measuring in scripture either. Yes, Jesus fed 5,000 etc. but they weren’t running weekly attendence numbers as far as we know. And Jesus’ ministry was horribly inefficient.
There are lots of stories though.
My inclination is to say we meaure success by the stories we tell and by the rhythm we live by.
but that’s just me.
one more thought.
we measure what we value. if it’s a number, then that’s what we value. plain and simple.
i’m fine with numbers, but I don’t really care much about them… that’s just me.
measuring baptism, attendance, new members and visitors all seems to fall way short for me, because on some level it dehumanizes the very people was say we value.
Tell me a story. Let’s decide if we are successful based on that. then if you want to baptize them, count the as attendance, or whatnot.
just a thought.