To count or not to count: Churches have been debating the wisdom of measuring “nickels and noses” – now known as “metrics” – for a long time.
I’m sure I’ll never convince everyone, but I’m going to make a case for keeping track of a few metrics as part of the process of revitalizing a congregation.
To re-set the stage: I’ve been writing a revitalization playbook since March 8th, sharing plays (strategies) which church leaders can prayerfully and carefully choose from in their quest to see their congregations transformed from dying to thriving.
Our foundation is the wonderful willingness of God to revitalize, not just replace, ailing, ineffective congregations.
“…I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it…” F/Matthew 16:18
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet, you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Revelation 3:8
Let’s begin with,
A few thoughts on tracking metrics:
- At the risk of using a cliché, it’s legitimate to “…count people because people count.”
Every person brought to faith in Christ has been snatched from the Devil’s kingdom and born into God’s glorious kingdom. We do still believe this, don’t we? The holy angels rejoice with God over every saved soul (Luke 15:7, 10). Shouldn’t we?
If one individual’s new birth is worth celebrating, isn’t the new birth of a dozen persons, or one hundred persons, worth celebrating all the more?
It goes without saying, of course, that the Bible has a book called Numbers, numerous instances of crowd sizes are given in the four Gospels and we have an ongoing record of the growth of the first church in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:15, 2:41, 47, 4:4, 5:14, 6:1, 7).
- The fact that some of us have been guilty of keeping track of metrics (usually attendance numbers) for the worst possible reasons – like pride and competitiveness – doesn’t mean that all counting is wrong.
King David was guilty of numbering his fighting men, not because God was against the numbering of fighting men – something which is pretty important if you’re going to war – but because in the one particular instance found in II Samuel 24 and I Chronicles 27:23,24, his motives were singularly prideful. Even the crude and violent, Secretary of Defense, Joab, was against this particular exercise in arrogance.
The malice and competitiveness of some of the Christian preachers of Rome (see Philippians 1:12-18) did not keep the Apostle Paul from rejoicing in the fact that they were proclaiming the gospel.
- Keeping track of some metrics helps us to evaluate our work.
Jesus told us to make something: Disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Devoted, growing, followers of himself. By telling us to make something, Jesus invited comparison to the worlds of manufacturing and education:
- Truck driving schools make truck drivers. If they don’t, they’re failing.
- Medical schools make physicians. If they don’t, they’re failing.
- The factory in which I worked for several years made microwave ovens. If we hadn’t actually made any, we would have been failing.
The context of the four gospels shows us clearly that in this process of making disciples of Jesus, our “raw material” is not pre-existing Christians borrowed from other churches and remanufactured by our superior ministries. Nor is it only our own children – though of course we want to see our own children become disciples. The raw material is lost, unsaved, unregenerated, ungodly, sometimes mean and nasty people.
I say this as one who is guilty: Ineffective churches which are not actually making disciples out of the raw material of lost people find it tempting to disdain the use of metrics to avoid facing their own failure. It’s not “faithfulness” to endlessly teach the same group of people, none of whom are reaching unbelievers for Christ.
If, on the other hand, our hearts are right, keeping track of some metrics helps us to determine if our current methods for disciple-making are succeeding or failing. It’s a risk isn’t it? It’s “safer” to be so “spiritual” that we forbid the tracking of metrics.
- Tracking several metrics is much better than tracking one metric.
Besides not counting anything at all, our most common mistake with metrics is probably tracking only one metric. The “one metric” is usually our Sunday morning attendance. Obviously, there are all kinds of problems with tracking this number only.
But worship service attendance does matter. We certainly would rather have more people – for whom Jesus died – in our building, than fewer people. I don’t know any pastor who would rather have fewer people next Sunday morning than he had last Sunday morning.
But no physician performing an annual physical exam would be satisfied with seeing only one metric, such as body temperature. Every doctor I’ve ever known considers a variety of vital signs to get a well-rounded picture of how I’m doing.
In a church, it is good for the leaders to talk and pray and then settle on a few metrics which fit the mission, vision and values of the congregation. And just as physicians might change their minds about which vital signs to track, changing congregations in a changing world will need to consider the possibility of adjusting their metrics over the passage of time.
A few good metrics to choose from:
(1) Worship service attendance. Of course. See what I shared above.
(2) Worship service attendance frequency. Almost all churches have seen declines in worship service attendance frequency over the past few years, with this trend significantly accelerated by the COVID shutdown. This metric should always be factored in when measuring #1: “raw” worship service attendance. Low numbers in either of these categories are disconcerting while high numbers are encouraging. But to see what’s really going on, we need to know both numbers.
(3) Giving. As above, it’s certainly a mistake to use this as a congregation’s only or most important metric. Many observers have noted that this is a “lag measure” in the sense that the significance of rising or shrinking finances tends to lag behind both church growth and church decline. This is because new believers typically have not yet become strong givers and during times of church decline, the best givers will typically remain faithful to a declining congregation the longest.
But it is significant, and it should be tracked.
(4) Professions of faith in Christ. Since we are seeking to make something – disciples of Jesus – and since being a disciple begins with placing one’s faith in Jesus, it only stands to reason that we will keep track of initial professions of faith.
The details will vary from church to church of course: in one congregation people profess their faith by filling out a card, in another church it’s done by raising a hand, walking an aisle, being baptized, praying a prayer with a counselor, or some other method.
(5) Gospel (evangelistic) conversations. Depending on your church’s theology, you may prefer to track “acts of evangelism” in addition to or instead of professions of faith. Some congregations ask their congregants to report their attempts at sharing (1) their salvation stories (“testimonies”), or (2) their attempts at sharing the gospel message with non-Christians.
The value of this approach is that these are “lead measures” rather than “lag measures” (as mentioned above). That is, while we cannot control the number of individuals who are actually, supernaturally, converted to Christ, we can control – at least to a certain extent – the number of times we share our faith.
This metric can be a more encouraging alternative to measuring professions, especially for a church which is just get started (or returning to) every member evangelism.
(6) Again, the theology and the practice varies from church to church, but we all can agree that in the New Testament, baptism followed conversion so closely that we have been debating about the relationship between regeneration and baptism ever since. By all means we should be practicing, encouraging, measuring, and rejoicing in, baptisms.
(7) Not-so-random acts of kindness. Again, if your church has only begun to progress toward vibrant evangelism, this might be a good place to start. Churches simply ask their people to report their acts of kindness performed during the week (see Titus, chapters two and three). It’s that simple, but it’s oh-so-joyful and quite naturally leads to enhancing the reputation of Christians and churches and some great gospel conversations.
(8) Small Group involvement. A strong correlation has been noted between small group involvement – or perhaps we should say smaller group involvement, to make room for Sunday School classes, Adult Bible Fellowships, etc. – the personal relationships which are formed as a result, and long-term commitment to the church. Depending on the discipleship strategy of your church and the commitment of church leaders to small group involvement – which varies widely – you may want to track small group involvement.
(9) Prayer meeting attendance. I’m not talking about the traditional Wednesday night prayer meeting which is mostly Bible study and “fellowship” with a smattering of prayer at the end. I’m talking about gatherings which are all about serious, great commission-focused, gate-crashing, Devil-assaulting prayer. This number is worth counting!
(10) Congregational or community service. An even stronger correlation has been tracked between serving in a church ministry and long-term church attendance. We were born to serve God. It is oh-so-good for us to do so. Our hearts follow our treasure (Matthew 6:21). When we invest ourselves in a congregation through ministry, our hearts are knitted to the work of the church.
Similarly, when we invest ourselves in our communities, we change our own hearts for the better, we form potentially redemptive relationships and prepare people to hear the gospel and visit our churches.
(11) Mission trips. Again, depending on the mission, vision, values and strategy of your church, you may want to track the number of persons involved in short-term missions trips.
(12) Leadership development. Since disciple-making is usually understood to involve winning people to faith in Christ, building them up in the faith and equipping them to serve, and since church leaders are called to “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:11,12), some churches choose the training or deploying of new leaders, at every level of the congregation, as a significant metric.
(13) Radical acts of loving obedience. This might sound like something new and different, but think about it: If we want church members who are passionately in love with Jesus and profoundly committed to each other, maybe we should start counting and celebrating things like:
- Radical acts of loving obedience to God, like Noah building an ark, Abraham offering his son, Mary offering herself, Joseph’s willingness to complete his marriage to Mary, etc. We all have known wonderful Christians who have made such decisions, starting with those who say “yes” to God’s call to a sacrificial, Christian ministry. They might be a bit difficult to track and publicize, but they are at least worth celebrating by church leaders.
- Radical acts of love for each other. Consider the couple who adopt four children, the seniors who informally “grandparent” fatherless children, the dad who forgoes the big promotion to stay available to his family, the mom who works three jobs to keep her kids in a Christian school.
Conclusion of the matter:
I recommend that you take the making of disciples very seriously because it’s what churches are for. I recommend that you pursue this serious mission with great joy, knowing that your work will result in the creation of parties in heaven. I recommend that you take this joyful work seriously enough to keep track of some metrics, to guide you in the identification of the methods which God blesses in your part of the mission field (Matthew 9:37, 38, 13:38).
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
- What has been our church’s philosophy on the tracking of metrics? Has it been a deliberate strategy or have we merely followed the traditions of the past?
- Which of the above thirteen metrics might be helpful and practical for our congregation?
- Are there “starter metrics” which we could introduce quickly, with more challenging metrics to follow later?
- Who will implement the use of these metrics?
