My kids were walking around the house the other day with a tape measure. They were measuring the lamps, the walls, and each other. They were curious about how big things were and how they measured up compared to the other things they measured.

In the same way, I am a firm believer that church leaders should measure everything. Not for the sake of pride or comparison with other churches. Instead, it’s nearly impossible to evaluate and improve without measuring key areas of ministry.

Here’s what I mean: 

How do you know if your outreach dollars are well spend? You need to measure your first time guests and see how many people are showing up as a result of your marketing or personal invitation.

How do you know if your assimilation is operating on all 8 cylinders? You measure your 2nd time guests and see how many first timers are coming back.

How do you know if your baptism process is effective? Count up how many people have given their lives to Jesus, then divide that by those who have been baptized. If 100 people get saved at your church in the 1st 4 months of 2014 and 20 of those people have been baptized, then your baptism process is yielding a 20% response. (If you’re interested, 25%-30% is the average I’ve seen for baptism).

Too many leaders are leading based on feeling. Instead, lead with data.

The bottom line is, make measuring your progress a common practice in your church. Make it part of your culture. It will make all the difference as you make better decisions as a result.