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4 Things You SHOULD Count on Sundays

I had the chance to hang out at my house today with eight incredible church planters from all over the country. We spent the day kicking around some questions they sent me a few days ago, so I thought I’d share some of their questions and my answers here on the blog.

Let’s start with the counting question:

What are some measurable things we need to keep an eye on in the church that we might not currently see value in?

If I were leading a church, I would count four things:

1. Attendance.

It is popular today to say that attendance doesn’t matter, but it does.

If you don’t have people, you don’t have a church.

Bigger numbers don’t mean a better church, but small numbers mean people are going away and there is a reason. So I would track attendance, I’d just resist the urge to brag about it on Twitter. (Yes, that was a shot at you, you know who you are.)

2. Giving.

Giving indicates growth both as a church and as an individual.

If giving is increasing, then there is growth happening, and if giving is shrinking something may be out of whack. Not always, but often.

The two most important giving numbers are the giving per adult (I like annual giving per adult, it’s easier for me to understand), and year over year total giving. Week to week and month to month is meaningless.