Church growth is a touchy subject and can lead to all kinds of questions regarding motive, strategy, and ego. For some in the congregation, they love that they know most (if not all) of the people in their church, and adding new people will change the dynamics – it could ruin everything. For others, it comes down to questioning the motives for growth and asking why we want to be the biggest church in the area. Certainly, more people can equal more problems. But what if, instead of seeing growth as a negative thing, churches viewed it as an indicator that they are fulfilling the “Great Commission” found at the end of Matthew’s Gospel? Jesus said, “19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.
When the church’s motives are pure, adding more people isn’t just a way to stroke egos and build pride within the church; it becomes an intentional part of fulfilling the church’s mission. If that’s true, then what does it take to grow? New people coming to the church every week. These new people are known as guests. According to the Unstuck Group, for churches to grow, it takes more guests per year than the church’s average Sunday attendance. For example, if your church has an average attendance of 250 people every Sunday morning, your church needs 250 guests each year to grow.
Growing churches focused on reaching more people with the Gospel must have developed plans to reach out to guests to help them on their spiritual journey of following Jesus. That’s why tracking guests is vital in a church’s strategy; it requires a process to identify guests and track their progress in entering the life of the church. There are two essential metrics to track: first-time guests and returning guests.
What To Measure
Measuring guests who visit a church is tricky. They often do not make themselves known and are not initially too willing to give their personal information like name, number of children (and their ages), address, email, and phone number. A welcome kiosk or some way to greet visitors and encourage them to sign up for the church’s emails is a great way to help visitors get information about upcoming events or news, but it also helps to gather data. Another way to collect visitor information happens when visitors check their children into a Sunday school class. Parents are far more likely to give the church all kinds of information to keep their children safe. A child check-in system is a data goldmine to identify guests. Regardless of the methods used to obtain this information, it should measure two strategic data points:
- First-Time Guests: Admittedly, capturing this data is difficult, especially for guests checking out church for the first time since many want to remain anonymous. But, to the best of the church’s ability, track each first-time guest through whatever systems the church uses.
- Returning Guests: It is equally important to measure returning guests as first-time guests because, according to the Unstuck Group, about 20% of first-time guests become part of the church. A good child check-in system is perfect for capturing this data.
Measurement Frequency
When tracking essential church data like first-time and returning guests, it’s better to have detailed information the church can consolidate than have too broad of data captured that may be less meaningful. As with many of the other church metrics, it’s best to capture guest-related data at each service or event. Capturing the data per service or event allows the church to easily consolidate the data into weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual sub-totals.
Comparisons
Since capturing first-time and returning guests is so tricky, once the church develops strategies to identify visitors regularly, it’s time to put this data to use.
Annual Comparisons
- How many first-time guests did the church have compared to the average weekly attendance? Did it match or exceed the church’s average weekly attendance?
- How many first-time guests did the church have compared to last year? What strategies did the church employ to bring in guests?
- How many returning guests did the church have compared to last year?
- Has overall church attendance grown since last year?
Quarterly Comparisons
- How many first-time guests did the church have compared to the average weekly attendance for the quarter?
- How many first-time guests did the church have in the current quarter compared to last year?
- Pro Tip: Don’t compare quarters within the same year. For example, comparing October, November, and December to January, February, and March provides skewed results, as churches are more likely to have an influx of visitors in October, November, and December.
Churches should avoid weekly or even monthly comparisons as the results can vary based on holidays and other factors that can easily skew the results.
Measuring first-time and returning guests helps the church identify its progress and develop strategies to share the Gospel with more people. For churches, growth should never be the goal, but it is an indicator that the church is pursuing its mission.
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