Church Metrics Gone Bad
Churches use metrics and polling to try and figure out what works, what doesn't, and to gain some insight into the world around them. I'm a fan of metrics. They are a great way to observe what's going on and learn. For metrics to be usable the points measured and the way they are measured is important. This is where I've seen an enormous number of churches go terribly wrong.
Please note, I don't mean to poke at any one church. That's why the comment and stats pointed out here are out of the context of the church and person they relate to. This post it meant to hit the topic in a general manner.
The Wrong Interpretation
In a recent post to this blog a comment added that said:
Over 60% of all those members say they first came because of a road sign (not marquee) or a billboard.
The comment was posting that this is a good thing. But, is it? Really?
What I see here is not a positive. Some of the insights I picked up are:
- 60% of people who came to this church did so without being invited.
- 60% of people who came to this church didn't come because the people had a reputation for serving.
- 60% of the people who came to this church didn't come because of anything the members did other than erect a sign.
What this 60% number is saying is that God directed people to the congregation despite the actions of the congregation. That is a great thing that God has done. But, we are asked to partner with God and go out and make disciples. The 60% who came did not do so from the going out part of the great commission.
The Wrong Questions
Sometimes we ask the wrong questions. Another piece of information posted in that comment was asking the wrong question. The statistic was:
Over 70% of the people that attend our church have either never attended a church before or not since they were children.
Again, this was posted as a good thing.
But, is the goal to get more people to attend a church? Is worship service something we are supposed to be trying to increase?
According to the great commission we are supposed to be making disciples. Are disciples and worship attenders a 1 to 1 connection? The short answer is no.
Look at the majority of people who attend churches. When measured they look no different than people who are non-Christians. They divorce the same amount, they cheat on spouses the same amount, they go out and get drunk the same amount, and so on. How many hours a week does a church attender think about God when they are not at church? If you measured you'd find most people spend more time watching TV. That they are Sunday Christians. They go to church on Sunday mornings and live the way they want the rest of the week.
Are these disciples? I'd argue they aren't. Going back to the metric that means the wrong thing is being measured. Church attendance isn't a good metric. It doesn't relate back to the goal.
Even worse is that by focusing on church attendance growth it's easy to be sidetracked what we are really called to do in order to improve church attendance numbers.
Comments
#1 5 Whys
Hey Matt
Thought provoking article! It reminded me of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys method.
Keep questioning. Your Twitter feed is worth staying subscribed to. ;) I hope I'm doing the same.
Danny
#2 Isn't discipleship a process?
Matt, I hear what you're saying - church attendance is not the ultimate goal so church attendance figures should not be the primary metric churches should look at. But, isn't discipleship a process? And isn't church attendance one step in that process? Therefore shouldn't church attendance be one metric churches looks at?
I'm curious... what metric(s) do you think churches should look at to evaluate how effective they are in making disciples? Baptisms? # people serving? # tithers? Something else?
#3 What's on the outside or inside?
How many people who attend church are actually disciples through the week? How many people who are baptized attend regularly or have a relationship with God? How many people serve because they feel the need to serve and not because of their Godly relationship? I know a lot of people who fall on the wrong side of all of these questions.
I've never been happy with Church metrics in general because they don't provide the insight into someone spiritual walk. This is a problem the church is struggling with. Some churches that think they are doing great aren't doing all that well. Their numbers just look like it.
One example is a church near me. They had an explosion of growth. When I talked to a bunch of people who attend their reasons are for the music, the lights, the charisma of the speaker, and the great coffee. It was more a show to them. When I asked about matters of the heart with God I got blank stares. That church has great growth but the people aren't all that interested in God or his mission.
Willow Creek started something called the Reveal Study (http://www.revealnow.com/). At this point the type of metrics they are trying to get seem to be the best. The goal is to see where someone is in their spiritual walk and express some characteristics about them.
When we did the Reveal Study at my church is revealed some very surprising metrics to many of the people in the church. And, not the kind of surprise you hope for. More like coals in your stocking kind of surprises.
#4 Reveal
Matt, we did the Reveal survey at our church a few years back and I actually attended the Reveal conference at Willow. It's probably the best church assessment I've seen so far. I think it would be great for churches to do something like Reveal on an annual basis. Though from what I remember about Reveal the length of the survey and cost would be barriers for most churches doing it annually.