Cameron Trimble is the Executive Director of the Center for Progressive Renewal, which seeks to “renew Progressive Christianity by training new entrepreneurial leaders, supporting the birth of new liberal/progressive congregations, and by renewing and strengthening existing progressive churches.” In her article on church metrics in the Spring 2012 edition of New Times she proposes a new scorecard for churches that is designed to more accurately reflect the relative health of congregations.
The scorecard includes two sections: % and #
- %
- of people who can articulate a clear sense of vision and purpose for the church
- of participants active in all areas of the life of the church
- of first & second-time guests
- of active participants below the age of 40
- of diversity in the faith community
- of budget dedicated to ministry compared to building maintenance & mortgage
- #
- of externally focused ministry opportunities vs internally focused management opportunities
- of followers on Facebook & other social networking sites
- of community ministry partners
- of ministry failures vs successes
- of continuing education hours by staff & key leaders
- of entry points into the faith community (p.6-7).
So What?
I have been privileged to be a part of many large and growing mainline congregations. While differing denominational reporting requirements required the tracking of a wide variety of statistical data, none of these healthy congregations understood those metrics as their primary measures of success. Those numbers are helpful primarily in providing basic comparative data. For these congregations, the numbers and percentages that matter most are developed at the local church level with attention to the parish’s unique mission. Empowering everyone within the faith community to be a part of the shared task of living into what God is calling the congregation to be and become includes selecting the right metrics, developing and deploying helpful evaluative mechanisms, communicating the message across many channels and crafting such as a part of the overall congregational culture.
Trimble offers the new scorecard as a starting point, and invites readers to participate in a conversation about it through the organization’s Facebook page.
- Which of the items on the scorecard does your congregation already track? How realistic would it be to track all of the items in 2013?
- Fill in the scorecard to the best of your ability for your local congregation. How would you characterize your congregation’s overall health based solely on this data?
- What items would you add to this scorecard that would likely be helpful measures for most congregations?