Keep an Eye on Your Keys

Do you desire to see your church thriving? If so, keep your eyes on three key indicators of health.

Average Age of Worship Attenders

Church researchers monitor the average age of a congregation with great interest, since growing churches become younger and declining churches become older over time. It is common to see the average age of a congregation drop fairly drastically when a growth spurt takes place. Some extreme examples are often seen, with a growing church going from an average age of 50-60 years old, to one of 30-40 years old in short order. Consider monitoring the average age of those who attend your church annually. Is your average age going down, holding the same, or going up? What does it say about the health of your church?

Weekly Per Capita Giving

  Another factor examined by church researchers is the average per capita giving of attendees. This is the average giving of every man, woman, and child that attends a church, arrived at by dividing the average worship attendance into the offering income. This is easily done once a year by taking the yearly average worship attendance and dividing it into the total giving received. A church with a minimum $1,000 in annual giving for each person is considered heathy. While income levels in various parts of the country differ, an increase in the giving patterns from year to year signals a heathy church.

The Budget

If you want to know a person’s values, look at his or her checkbook! A budget is really goals, written in dollars and cents. You can learn a lot about a person by looking at his or her personal checkbook. Where or how is money being spent?  The same is true in a church. You can learn a lot by looking at a church’s budget. How does your church spend its funds? What is truly important? What is not? Are the majority of funds spent on inside concerns or on needs and people outside of your four walls? What does your budget tell an interested observer about your goals?

  Churches that desire to be the best for God diligently monitor these and three key factors of church health.

—Dr. Gary L. McIntosh, Speaker, Writer, Professor.  For information about training workshops, seminars, and church consultations email cgnet@earthlink.net.