A pastor friend recently noted that he had stopped submitting his church’s annual report to the denomination. He said, “ {They want] metrics that no longer matter and are irrelevant. [The report] doesn’t ask how many Muslims have become Christians, number of internationals reached, Facebook or YouTube views, website hits.” All of these are important metrics in his context and in a post-COVID (?) world but the denomination is not asking about those things. We all know the measures requested in these reports: number of Baptisms, Sunday school attendance, worship attendance, resident members, etc. So, do you include those attending services online in worship attendance? What about the couple who now live in another state but are still members of the congregation and continue to send their tithes to the church? What are the measures of a successful ministry to the unhoused? It is not that metrics—the things we measure—are unimportant. I believe the adage, “What gets measured gets
Comments from a Christ-follower on things that matter to him