Now that most people are "back to church’ in a face-to-face way (sitting on pews, that is), many wonder why bother to continue texting? One big reason is metrics. Part of effective Church Management is knowing the numbers.
As well-known writer Carey Nieuwhof states: “It’s very difficult to lead something you don’t understand." Even if you’re not growing, numbers matter because they are the clue as to why your church isn’t growing. " Let’s look at why texting can give you the data you need.
Our church has already got metrics in place.
Excellent! The thing is, these measurements most likely are looking at pre-2019 factors. Since COVID, many things have changed about how churches are ‘doing business’.
While it is OK to continue to track how many people are showing up, how much they are giving, who’s volunteering, and how the small groups are going, Nieuwhof and others are suggesting that you also include the “new metrics”.
Here are three of these.
Metric #1: Flourishing
When a plant flourishes, it doesn’t just live. It grows and develops in a healthy, vigorous way. Its leaves and blossoms are strong and full of color and energy.
The same can be said about people. Experts suggest that there are five ways in which we can measure how well people are flourishing:
- Financial health
- Physical and mental health.
- Relational health
- Spiritual health
- Vocational health
While your church may not feel it is appropriate to ask about all the above areas, PastorsLine suggests that there are two which should definitely be included in your Church Management: relational health and spiritual health.
Relational Health
How are your people doing in their relationships with family and friends? Do they feel these relationships are satisfying and supportive? Would they be interested in learning about tools which can improve the relationships in their lives?
Spiritual Health
How well is your church answering your people’s spiritual needs? Do they feel you are an essential partner? Have you made their next steps for further spiritual growth clear?
Polls are a great way to get feedback about these important questions.
You can quickly set up and send off a PastorsLine poll on the spur of the moment. You can also organize a poll in advance, and schedule it for use later, during an upcoming weekend service, retreat, or workshop. Polls can have between 2–4 answers and can be sent to mobile phones and/or emails.
Metric #2: Unchurched
How effectively is your church carrying out The Great Commission? How many of the unchurched have you successfully made into disciples?
You will never know unless you ask.
Digitize your welcome (connection) card.
Digital Capture Cards are website forms that can be embedded on your website, added to your email newsletters or sent out via text with a link. You can capture name, email, phone number and birthday; then add those names to internal or external groups and trigger additional workflows.
One of your questions can be a poll about how often they attend church. The answers, for example, could be: Not at all; Several times a year; Once a month; Usually every week. This will give you an excellent idea of who your first-time guests are and how well your outreach is doing.
Metric #3: Baptisms
Even worse than the decline in attendance, churches are reporting a decline in baptisms.
As Nieuwhof comments: “Baptisms are a sign of new life not just in an individual, but for a church.” He suggests that baptisms give an idea of “whether your growth is actual growth from unchurched people or simply more churn from discontented Christians.”
Use a Data Capture to get this information.
A data capture or text bot is an automated series of text messages. Using a few questions that prompt a few quick responses, text bots enable you to capture real time, relevant information for all your needs. As part of your Church Management ‘baptism booking process’, include some questions which will give you the details you need.
But, looking at the numbers is scary.
Many church leaders say that they have stopped looking at metrics because the numbers are depressing. We get that. In comparison to a few years ago, it may look like your church is standing still or even worse, going downhill.
The expert advice is to ‘reset the clock’, so to speak. Take your measurements today and use them as the baseline. This will give a more realistic picture of the progress you are making and/or the fixing you need to do.
