You want to grow your church, but you feel stuck. You feel like no matter what you are doing, there are no fruits to your labor. It might because you're measuring the wrong things.

Too many churches measure the wrong things to show church growth. They also fail to realize this: the results you see are lagging indicators. In other words, the work you put it in weeks/months ago are now paying off, not just one recent viral post.



I want your church to grow, to flourish. If you want that to, read about metrics you need to stop emphasizing and what you should focus on.

3 Metrics You Should Stop Relying On to Define Success

These are not necessarily bad. I don’t think they show successful church growth.

First Time Visitors (FTVs)

I don’t care how many first time visitors your church gets. It’s a vanity metric. FTVs might mean you have:



• a great Google Business Profile
• Decent social media/Google ads
• Solid SEO
• Good signage/location

FTVs are not a good indicator of church growth because there is no evidence of discipleship, new believers, or steps of faith. It shows decent marketing and advertising.

Number of Groups

Come on now. Really? This could show growth. But it really shows interests. It shows how many different interests there are within the church.



I’m all for groups, but they should meet a need. If you have to keep making more Young Married groups because there aren't enough, that is a different story. But more groups for the sake of more groups is unnessary work for whoever manages them.

Social Media Followers/Website Traffic

It feels good to see your social media and/or website traffic go up and to the right. But again, it doesn’t show spiritual growth.

It does imply a good digital strategy. It does suggest you are stewarding those resources well.

But more followers doesn’t anyways equal more disciples. More website visitors doesn’t always mean more believers.



My specialty is SEO, and while I pay attention to growing website traffic, I don’t consider it a metric of success. It’s just a piece of a greater strategy.

3 Church Growth Metrics You Should Start Measuring

If you start measuring the right things, you’ll get more insight on the spiritual condition of your congregation. You’ll be able to have a better comm/marketing plan.

First Time Disciples

What is a first time disciple?

It’s not someone who got baptized. It’s not someone who is a member. It’s not even some who gives.

A first time disciple is someone who is living out what your church defines as a disciple.

What indicates a first time disciple? Well, if they’re baptized and a member it looks like they:

• Join a group and attend it regularly and are engaged
• Started a group or lead Sunday school/youth Wednesday
• Spend time in Scripture and share it regularly (however that looks)
• Started serving in your church or are even leading a team

They bear fruit. Your discipleship metrics can be whatever you’re able to measure--but it has to be measurable.

Prayer Request Topics

Imagine what it would be like to get less prayer requests about “finances” or “job” and get more requests like “to share the Gospel w/ [person]” or “trust God about [life decision].”

Not discrediting the first types of requests. But, in my opinion, a disciple is going to pray more prayers centered around God and his movement in something instead of that thing itself. At least that’s what I try to do. A disciple is going to be vulnerable with their prayers.



Regardless, you need to measure the topics you get prayer requests for because it gives you an idea of the community you’re in. From there you can create resources, tailor sermon illustrations, and more. Pay attention to prayer requests to do more than pray. Take action based off them.

Email Subscribers & Open Rates

What makes an email subscriber different than social media follower?

Well, email is a better tool for discipleship. You aren’t competing with trending videos and other distracting content. In an inbox you’re competing with bills and promotions.

Plus, a subscriber is someone who joined your list willingly, not because you but them in your ChMS. They join because you are creating valuable email content to help them grow spiritually. (Heck, even if to them it’s “to be a better person” that still counts).



From there you can track individual open rates to see who is being fed and tailor your strategy.

What Your Next Steps Can Look Like

What metrics are you tracking that are not actually helping you achieve your ministry goals?

Do a quick audit of everything you measure and ask:

• Do I use this data to make ministry-impactful decisions or just to measure?
• Would not measuring this hinder spiritual growth of church-goers?
• Are the dollars we spend to get this data worth the data itself?
• How can I better use the data?
• Who do these metrics benefit, my ego or God’s Kingdom?

From there, focus on one new metric that matters. Try and test. focus on that and less on vanity metrics. Pray. Watch God move.