How Churches Can Measure What Really Matters

What you measure shapes how you act, even in the church. Even in measuring discipleship.

We see this in every area of life. If success is defined by revenue alone, business leaders will sacrifice family time to make sure they hit their numbers. If the goal is higher scores, teachers will teach in a way that best helps students pass the test. If the only metric in fitness is losing weight, people will chase quick results instead of long-term health.

Scoreboards don’t just reflect reality, they reshape it. For example, imagine a baseball game where the scoreboard only shows hits, but not runs scored, and the winner of the game is determined by which team gets the most hits. The entire game would change, from players not trying for a home run when they are at bat to their not running past first base because crossing home plate wouldn’t matter.

Having the right scoreboard can bring growth and fulfillment, but using the wrong scoreboard can deceive, distort and distract. The questions every church leader needs to consider then become “What’s my scoreboard for success? Is it the right one? And what is it measuring?”

At its core, for churches this becomes a measurement problem, but it also is a deeper assumption problem. Most churches measure participation but not discipleship. And those aren’t the same thing. Activity tells part of the story, but not the whole story.

Jesus didn’t say go and gather crowds. He said go and make disciples (Matt 28:19). And yet, for many churches—including ours—the scoreboard we had built tended to track the former while assuming we were accomplishing the latter. 

Most pastors feel this tension. According to Lifeway Research, 7 in 10 U.S. Protestant pastors believe there are ways to measure discipleship in a local church. Yet only 30% say their church has specific methods for doing so, and just 5% strongly agree that they do.

That gap isn’t because church leaders don’t care—it’s because of a lack of clarity. And that clarity won’t come from coming up with a new strategic plan. It only will result from a willingness to question the assumptions we have been leading from all along.