Subscribe to our newsletter
Metrics That Matter: The Missing Element In Assessing Small Church Health
Small Church pastors are often told that if our church isn’t growing it’s because we’re not paying enough attention to the numbers.
That’s not true. Small Church pastors are very aware of the numbers – sometimes painfully so.
I’ll admit that Small Churches don’t use metrics the way bigger churches do. But it‘s not because the numbers don’t matter to us. And it certainly isn’t because we don’t want our churches to grow. It’s because of something no one ever talks about.
Metrics designed by and for megachurches don’t work in Small Churches. We need metrics to measure health that don’t presuppose numerical increase.
Growing a Bigger Congregation Is Hard, Rare and [Gasp!] NOT a Biblical Mandate
For four decades, we’ve been told that if your church is not growing numerically, you’re failing. But that denies so much evidence. Evidence that very clearly indicates that growing a big congregation is not inevitable. It’s not common. And it’s not required by God to be a faithful pastor.
In Celebration of Quirky Churches
I like quirky churches. And I’m pretty sure God does, too. Just take a look at the astonishing variety of churches in the New Testament.
Quirky churches don’t mess with the fundamentals. And they don’t worry about passing fads. Quirky churches are the ones that dare to do the bible stuff in a way that works for them and the people God is calling them to reach. No matter how strange it looks to everyone else.
Why Unfriendly Big Churches Are Bad – But Unfriendly Small Churches Can Be Dangerous
Friendliness, warmth and connection are not automatic in any church. Big churches know this. Small Churches tend to forget it. And when we forget it we can hurt people deeply.
An unfriendly Small Church can be a dangerous thing.
Big churches are aware of crowd dynamics, so most of them work really hard at overcoming the pull towards anonymity. Many of them succeed and are very friendly. It may even be one of the reasons they became big.
Small Churches need to work just as hard at friendliness, warmth and connection as our large church counterparts do. Maybe even harder, because friendliness is more expected and needed when the crowd is smaller.
When Church Growth Perceptions Don’t Match Small Church Reality (Infographic)
Church leaders have a lot of ideas about what the numerical growth of a church – and therefore its size – says about that church’s success and value. Many of those perceptions don’t match reality. This infographic addresses some of those misperceptions.
How I Stopped Feeling Embarrassed by My Small Church
One of the ways I learned to be OK with – and now celebrate – the value of a healthy Small Church, was when I started seeing it through the eyes of people who visit Small Churches for the first time.
The front door of a Small Church is not the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia. No one expects that a church which looked small from the outside will magically grow huge once they step inside.
People who come to a Small Church aren’t expecting a big church experience. But they have a right to expect a really good Small Church experience.
Why Doesn’t God Answer All My Prayers? Because Some of Them are Stupid
The point of salvation is not just to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s so that we can enter into a real, ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus.
And the point of ministry is not to have a job that pays the bills and gets us pats on the back. It’s to lead others into an ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus. And the best way to do that is by being a living example of how to have that relationship.
Relationships need regular communication. Prayer does that for our relationship with Jesus. But I’ve never met anyone who said they were completely happy with their prayer life. Including pastors.
Prayer may be the most overlooked aspect of Christian life and pastoral ministry. Even though we know it’s the most important.
We need to become better pray-ers. But how?
Jesus and Crowds – An Unhappy Marriage
When you’re in business to make widgets, you live and die by the numbers. But we’re pastors. We’re not in business. And we’re not making widgets. As John Piper reminds us, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals”.
So yes, we need to count people. Because people count. But people aren’t numbers. And numbers aren’t people. People matter more than numbers.
When we overemphasize how many people came to church, we run the risk of devaluing the unique gifts and needs of the individuals who make up the crowd. Jesus never did that.
We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth?
There are many churches who are following all the principles, but never break through the growth barriers.
There are no guaranteed steps to church growth or health. Because the church is people. And people never come with guarantees.
So, what’s a pastor to do? Here’s the only advice I know.
Stay faithful, no matter the results. Faithfulness doesn’t help us reach our goals. Faithfulness is the goal.
