How Should We Measure Success in the Church?

Most people measure successful churches by numbers in attendance, balanced budget, size of staff, or impressiveness of facilities.

What if we measured success by:

• The number of cigarette butts in the church parking lot.
• The number of pictures on the church wall of unwed mothers holding their newborn babies in their arms for the first time.
• The number of former convicted felons serving in the church
• The number of phone calls from community leaders asking the church’s advice
• The number of meetings that take place somewhere besides the church building
• The number of organizations using the church building
• The number of days the pastor doesn’t spend time in the church office but in the community
• The number of emergency finance meetings that take place to reroute money to community ministry