What are the key performance indicators for a church?
These must be clearly objective and measurable. They should be as easy as possible to measure and record. And they should be related as closely as possible to the church's core mission of evangelism and discipleship. A couple of measures are needed. Too many would be too tricky and time consuming and complicated.
How do we tell if we are being effective and what is working?
(1) Attendance
(a) average or usual attendance?
(b) Sunday or all events or specific events?
(c) unique visitors or total?
(d) new comers or non-members
(2) Contacts
(a) compiled by church or opt in
(3) Membership
(a) electoral roll
(4) Friends of St So and Sos list
(5) Baptisms
(a) infant or adult?
(6) Confirmations
(7) Ordinations
(8) Financial
(a) income
(b) profit
(c) planned giving
(d) fund raising
(e) outward giving
(9) Ammount of publicity or evangelistic material given away
Sunday, October 03, 2010
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5 comments:
Is it possible for a pastor to preside over a church where attendance is falling, membership is decreasing, there are few if any baptisms and confirmations, no-one is suitable for ordination training, and giving is also reduced, and yet were he to drop dead on the spot, Jesus would say "well done, good and faithful servant"?
If so, then no combination of these metrics can be correct.
There were missionaries who went to remote tribes and laboured for 30+ years and didn't see a single person become a Christian before they died. Were they failures? If not, what performance metrics should they have been using to objectively measure their success?
I can see all that, but I think those circumstances would be exceptional and you would want to try to think about what that is happening.
I suppose the thing is what potentially significant information is it useful to collect?
I agree that falling giving and attendance *could* be the results of a faithful ministry, and maybe often for a time, but I do think that other things being equal (which of course they never are!) we should expect the gospel to grow both in the number it reaches and the depth of commitment produced.
Perhaps the number of volunteer man hours given would also be a useful statistic.
I would still ask: how can a pastor / church tell if they are being effective?
Of course biblical faithfulness is always key. "Success" at any cost is failure!
KPI's are important for any organisation. Generally, these are translated into objectives for individuals, based on that individual's role in the organisation and the extent to which s/he can contribute. Objectives are supposed to be specific, measurable, realistic, achievable, and time-bound, so have to take account of circumstances.
Taking a 'balanced scorecard' approach to KPI's ensures that performance is measured along a number of dimensions. So regular Sunday attendance might be one measure, but others might be: the amount of money given by PCC to charities outside church; the number of voluntary organisations staffed by members of the congregation; and so on.
Russ, yes, thanks.
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