How do you measure growth in a church? Are attendance and budget the only reliable indicators?
Not in my rural church. We were getting better in many ways, but bigger? Only barely. It got me thinking about alternative ways to measure the growth of a church. Here are some critical factors.
Decreasing average age. During my first year in a rural yoked parish, one church member commented, “We may not be growing, but at least we’re staying about the same as we’ve been for the last thirty years.” She was more right than she realized. Attendance was the same as thirty years ago, literally. The same people attended every Sunday, only they were all thirty years older. There were no resident members under thirty years of age. Today one-quarter of the members are under thirty.
In some churches, the average age of the congregation is so high that even though the pastor is helping to attract new people, overall numerical growth will be slim due to illnesses and funerals among the membership. Such a pastor needs to realize the church is growing in a significant and lasting way if the average age of the congregation is being lowered.
Decreasing average length of membership. A church with no new members is a hard church to motivate for evangelism; the people are likely to have forgotten the excitement of seeing others commit their lives to Christ.
Some churches have seen no new members for decades, except the children of existing members. As the congregation becomes stagnant and ingrown, newcomers feel less welcome. The welcoming of just two or three new members into the church can be the beginning of growth. So maybe we shouldn’t fret if we haven’t doubled the membership of our churches in two years; if we’re moving a few new members toward positions of leadership, our churches will be much more capable of future growth.
One lady who joined our church a couple of years ago was frustrated by the adult Sunday school class. The class had always sat in the pews while the teacher spoke from behind a lectern. I hadn’t heard complaints about the arrangement before, but once this new member voiced her concerns, the rest of the class and the teacher agreed that they were frustrated, too-and changed the seating arrangement and even the class material.
The class is now the scene of vibrant discussions, and it attracts non-Christians every week-all because a new member provided the catalyst to change some unhelpful traditions. A shorter average length of membership indicates that new members are joining the old guard.
Increasing interest in children. Beware of the church with no preschool department. That church is missing the families that can potentially bring new life to the congregation. Churches tend to try to reach people who are like the existing membership, and if most of the church is elderly, the church probably will neglect younger families in the community. I’ve heard people in such churches complain that “the pastor should spend less time with the youth and more with the elderly members.” I try to balance my time among different age groups based not on the make-up of the church but on the make-up of the community.
I remember the Sunday school picnic in my smaller church during my first few years there. It seemed that the picnic-a sit-down meal at someone’s house or the community hall-was more for the older members than the children. We recently began going to a nearby children’s playground and having hamburgers and hot dogs and lots of games. One year we even combined the picnic with a sleepover for the kids. The result is that the kids attend, and so do their parents.
Interestingly, the older members are so pleased to see us reaching so many more people in the community that they enjoy the picnic a lot more, too. One of the best ways I’ve found to minister to the spiritual needs of older people is to give them the joy of seeing the church effectively reaching the community.
Expanding geographic base. My smaller church had never entered the age of the automobile. Eight years ago, everyone who attended the church lived within one mile. Today the majority of our Sunday school enrollment is from outside that area, and two recent additions to the church membership have been individuals who live about three miles away-a major breakthrough in our church.
Getting just one family to attend from beyond our limited area has resulted in others’ being invited to church services and Sunday school who would never have been reached by our church otherwise. By beginning to reach a wider area, we are emerging into other kinds of growth.
Each of these factors indicates a type of growth that isn’t at first discernible. But when we recognize these foundational growth factors, we get a more accurate picture of our true health. And we like the picture.
-Stephen McMullin
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