The success of Church finances and operations are most often left to chance, and faith that Church members will provide.  Many don't like to address financial concerns, or apply business management techniques to religious organizations.   However, pastors, deacons, treasurers, etc. are responsible for good stewardship of Church resources.  It's not only ok, but essentially necessary, to look at the numbers and assess the current performance of the Church, and predict future results.  

Let's look at how you can measure performance in your Church.  In a business environment, we call these key performance indicators (KPI).  These measurements can address the spiritual health of your Church, as well as, predict the current and future financial health of your Church.

Ten (10) examples of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Churches:

1. Current enrollment as compared to prior periods.  Is enrollment increasing or decreasing?
2. Weekly attendance as compared to previous periods, including averages.
3. Quarterly and annual baptisms, and new members joining the Church.
4. Number of groups in the Church, and number of ndividuals with active participation (Youth Group, Sunday School classes, Senior groups, Men's Group, Women's Group, Missions, etc.)
5. Visitor totals as compared to previous periods, with percentage of visitors ultimately joining her Church.
6. Weekly tithing and offerings as compared to previous periods, including average giving based on numbers in attendance.  
7. Source of giving: worship service, mail-in, Sunday School, online, etc.
8. Website data of visitors and pages.
9. Financial budgets and related spending.
10. Special events and activities with attendance totals.

What are you currently measuring in your Church? What can you implement to provide better data to assess the health of your Church?

If you would like more information, or would like to discuss these with us, we are here for you.