Podcast Episode #563
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Metrics have a bad reputation in some churches. In others, they’re too much of the focus. Today, we discus why you should take a balanced approach to metrics.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- There is a danger in churches becoming numerically obsessed. There is also a danger in churches neglecting numbers.
- What gets measured gets accomplished.
- Church health and church growth are not in opposition to one another, but they are not always congruent.
- Churches shouldn’t see themselves as “a discipleship church” or “an evangelism church”—every church should be both.
The six reasons we discuss are:
- History has demonstrated the danger.
- It can absolve leaders and members of needed accountability.
- Sometimes it is an act of rationalization.
- Church health versus church growth are complementary, not contradictory.
- Discipleship and evangelism are not either/or choices.
- Churches typically have to err on the side of growth and evangelism to attain balance.
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast
- Church Answers
- Why the Pendulum on Church Metrics May Be Swinging Too Far – Rainer on Leadership #555
- Who’s Your One?
- InviteYourOne.com
Episode Sponsors
The mission at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. The school offers more than 40 different degree programs, including the new Master of Arts in Church Revitalization in partnership with Church Answers and the Revitalization Network. This 37-hour degree is designed to help students move established churches from flatlining to flourishing.
Learn about this program and more by visiting sebts.edu. Where are you going? Southeastern will help you get there.
Vanderbloemen has 12 Vanderbloemen Differences that allow them to serve their clients better than anyone else. One of those is Theology Matters. Vanderbloemen’s staff has more seminary and theological experience than any other search firm with 250+ collective years of church leadership experience.
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Feedback
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In organizations of the Healthcare industry where I work, QAPI (Quality Assessment/Assurance Performance Improvement) Reports are required from each department each month–including from non-clinical departments. Tracked are areas departments’ staffers know need improvement so that patients are served best. What becomes clear as well is that improvements in quantity typically follow improvements in quality. Research involving all of the other industries of the same US economic sector (Service Sector) shows the same–quantity results from quality in those industries too–supporting the idea noted above that what gets measured gets accomplished. In the area of church health and growth, Natural Church Development research during the past 20+ years has shown the same (LifeWay’s similar research by a different title also has seemed to show this).
All of that sounds very wise and insightful, if you’re running the church like a business.
The funny thing is the Church’s competition, whether admitted or not, is business. The common currency of our age is time. If the quality of our church service, however measured, is of lesser value than the next best perceived opportunity the time devoted to church will be spent elsewhere.
Yes, business product and Church “product” are not really comparable but from the perspective of time they are alike.
Must smart people only work in business? Can’t wise people also serve in the church? Enough with the “in business” business, brother!
🙁
Show me the QAPI reports that Paul used.
Nice frowny face btw.
Good balanced advise. For every church that’s overly concerned about growth and numbers, there’s far more that are dying and justifying it by saying “we don’t focus on numbers”. Healthy churches grow. It’s possible to keep a healthy balance of making AND multiplying mature disciples.
I am retiring as a Business Manager of a Baptist Church. Every Church Leader is accountable to the congregation. I am accountabkle to the Pastors and leaders. Hence I track the statistics, the standard deviations, and the mode analysis of giving. They are all tell-tale. However, there is more. For example the average chronological age of the congregation, the zip cope analysis of their residences (i.e. in our case the zip code analysis showed that our congregation was moving towards more affordable areas). I watch the number of Baptisms (and age of those being Baptized), the number of new families, and the status of our church children and the enthusiasm of our youth. Then there is the average attendance to our Bible Studies. I observe how many of our young are declaring their intentions to become a Pastor or a missionary. I watch our outreach efforts and pray for our church compassion and success in Godly objectives , but I am obliged to track our important church numbers.
Thanks, Lee.
Way to go, Lee 🙂 It is perfectly OK to track such quantity/quality-related stats and then to use them prayerfully for improvement and more effective ministry. To do so is not technocratic; not to think so actually is spiritualistic, and not truly spiritual. Let’s just move onward to better ministry, to God’s glory!
I bet during periods of greatest growth in church history nobody bothered with any of that, they just preached the Gospel.
Actually, tracking stats show up early in the church.
Acts 1:14 (attendance)
Acts 2:41 and 4:4 (conversions)
Acts 4:34-35 (process of collecting and disbursing funds, unstated they would have needed to keep accounts to know income/outgo)
Acts 6:3 (tracking increase in volunteers as ministry grows)
Agreed, gospel-centric must govern all, though. And you can tell, interwoven in Acts, the stats were measures but definitely not the end goals. But still, important enough to Luke to record; let’s learn from Luke’s example.
Hello Thom, you mentioned community dynamics being a part of this discussion. I pastor in a small community that has grown about 1.5% each year 2010-2018). What is a reasonable church growth expectation within a community like this?