One of the hottest topics among church consultants and those who coach church health is the question “How do we measure success in the church during the 21st century?” The last century’s measuring stick was pretty simple: attendance, baptisms, and cash. Those quantifiable standards could quickly assess whether or not a church was growing, but left everything to the imagination concerning those pesky, intangible health issues. Now, the continued shift from attractional models to missional models has increased the demand for a new scorecard.
Brent Clark shared an article with me this week from Leadership Network by Lois Swagerty that discusses the “New Metrics” for measuring and evaluating church growth and church health. In the article, Swagerty cited Pastor Greg Finke of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Houston, TX, (www.gdlc.org) who has developed five diagnostic questions to help his church measure progress. I found them to be excellent and wanted to pass them along to you today.
Question 1: How do you see God at work in your life?
Question 2: What is God teaching you in his word?
Question 3: What conversations are you having with pre-Christian people?
Question 4: What good can we do around here (our community)?
Question 5: How can we help you in prayer?
Those are questions that measure health and progress beyond the old metric which was basically centered around attendance and tithing. Imagine what could take place in our churches if we changed the tone of the conversations with our members through five diagnostic questions such as these being asked at Gloria Dei. Is it possible that a church, regardless of its size, could see past success and begin moving toward significance?
