Feb 65 min read

8 (Internal) Ministry Metrics that Matter

I often hear the question from church leadership, "What metrics should we measure?" In a data-saturated Information Age that often feels overwhelming to decide which metric to pay attention to and make decisions based on, we're left longing for simplicity. Despite having a mass amount of data unlike any generation of ministry prior, feelings of inefficiency and ineffectiveness arise within you. To clarify, here are eight metrics that matter for your ministry in the coming year.

INTERNAL METRICS

1) Monthly Unique Individuals

How many monthly unique individuals are on your church campus for some scheduled event? The average attendance for attendees is around 1.3 times per month, depending on your ministry context. Measuring monthly allows you to better understand who is actively participating in your church. Here are some examples:

How many attend...

...the weekend worship service(s)?

...a Bible study, life group, or equipping class?

...youth group?

...kids ministry or Sunday School?

Seeing how many monthly unique individuals participate in some area of your church's ministries shows you who to shepherd and care for spiritually.

2) Ministry Attendances (Worship, Groups, Youth, Kids)

Overall, taking attendance in all of these types of ministry areas is essential. Not only does this let you know unique individuals that are on your campus monthly. In addition, it also informs you what activity level people have in fulfilling the fundamental practices of the Christian life. Attendance in these ministry areas doesn't equate to spiritual maturity or growth; however, it does reveal a possible increase in one's trajectory to grow in spiritual maturity.

Counting attendance at weekend worship services is not enough.

Counting attendance at weekend worship services is not enough. It must be for ministries that reflect a next step and deeper commitment taken by individuals.

3) Generosity (Not just $$$)

Generosity is not about increasing overall giving financially to increase the church budget. Rather, it reflects everything Christians offer: time, talent, and treasure. For some, time is more valuable than money. With others, offering one's talents or giftedness to serve others is a means of charitable generosity towards another. Lastly, generosity is a disposition one person may have towards another. "He was generous towards his aggressive remarks."

Generosity is important because it reveals a person's heart. We measure generosity to call people into obedience, count the cost of ministry initiatives, meet the needs of the poor benevolently, and plan for mission expansion. Giving resources, time, or talent that a church doesn't possess isn't generosity; it's sinful irresponsibility.

For motivational clarity, your church could have a large budget from a few large givers or a small budget from many faithful givers. Generosity isn't about the amount of your budget but the obedience of the congregation's hearts.

What can you measure in regard to giving...

...overall giving in comparison to budget.

...total number of givers.

...number of new givers.

...resources (non-monetary) donated.

4) Volunteers

How many people are serving in your church? We measure what matters, what's measured is sharable, and what's sharable is what we broadcast in celebration of what God has done. Service is an essential step in one's discipleship journey. How will you know who needs aid in taking their next step. Hence, it must be measured to faithfully steward souls.

What you can measure for volunteers....

...% of volunteers serving compared to total members.

...% of volunteers serving compared to unique monthly individuals on campus minus first-guests.

...% of volunteers missing in a given ministry (Ex: total current volunteers divided by total volunteers needed = capacity of volunteer needs satisfied or met)

5) New Leaders/Volunteers

Measuring new leaders and volunteers joining the ranks of living on mission is noteworthy to celebrate. When people move from consumers to contributors, it is a big step in their discipleship journey and should be celebrated and communicated as a normative step of obedience not just for the super saints. Celebrating new leaders and volunteers builds a culture that encourges service and sacrifice. People are inspired by seeing how many new leaders and volunteers step up. They may even recognize one or two of them and think to themselves, "Why couldn't I do this too?"

What you can measure for new leaders and volunteers...

...how many new leaders joined a specific ministry.

...how many new volunteers joined compared to total number of volunteers and show the teams increase

...show a % of growth for how many new leaders and volunteers began serving in a ministry.

...show a total number overall to the entire church of how many new people began serving in the past 6 months and again at year end review a 12 month number.

6) New Members Joined

How many new people are deciding to join your spiritual family? Did you have 200 first time guests and not gain any new members who commit themselves to your local congretation? If so, that's concerning. You would want to ask questions like, "Why aren't people joining?" "Are we communicating who we are well enough?" "Are we a welcoming inclusive church (hospital for sinners) or an unwelcoming exclusive church (museum for saints)? Depending on your geographical context, new members divided by first time guests gives a metric that can help measure how welcoming and loving you may be to guests and attendees that come to your church.

7) First Time Guests

First time guests can be measured through guest cards filled out or families checking kids into your church management software system. Other means help collect first time guest names and information that will be discussed in another article. WiFi Presence is the best new service I am aware of that offers a unique ability to help you know when first time guests come on your campus (email Adam@buildgroups.net to learn more)

8) Salvations & Baptisms

Last but not least, measuring salvations and baptisms are highly necessary metrics to keep track of so you may celebrate new life! How many new people surrender e their life to Jesus this past year? How many were baptized? Baptisms can help determine how many of your salvations took the next step in their faith journey to publicly identify with Christ!

What you can measure....

...total salvations

...total baptisms

...total baptisms divided by salvations informs you of how many took a next step and maybe were or weren't followed up with to be discipled in the proper direction.

These are 8 internal church ministry metrics to help you steward a healthy ministry of souls for the sake of the Kingdom. I hope this is informative and helpful to your ministry efforts!

AUTHOR

Adam Erlichman

Senior Consultant and Author at Build Groups in Dallas, TX. Adam has served in Executive, Discipleship, Groups, Young Adult, and Youth ministries. 5-time best-selling author of Christian leadership and discipleship resources. See more about Adam's consulting services to help increase your ministries by 30-50% in 6-12 months on the following topics:

WANT MORE . . . ?

If you enjoyed this article, you can find more great content by subscribing to our blog and checking out Adam's newest book, "Group Leader Training: A Biblical Manual for Group Leaders and Teachers in the Local Church." Or, share a comment, question, concern, correction, or compliment below.