Tag Archive - metrics

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Increasing Innovation at your Church through Quick Feedback Loops

Great organizations and great churches adopt a pattern of constant change. They intentionally organize themselves to allow for nimbleness, flexibility, and responsiveness. They tweak, tinker, build on islands of strength and innovate. They quickly turn vision into reality allowing them to get to the next iteration faster.

Making the right change, however hinges on having the right information. I’m not simply talking about having the right metrics. It requires the Sr. Leadership Team to actually know what’s working, what’s not, and why. This kind of information requires creating quick feedback loops, from the right sources, so Sr. Leaders have access to front line information so better decisions can be made faster.

Here are a couple of examples of what that looks like in church-world where I live.

Weekend Evaluation Meetings: First thing each Monday morning Campus Teams run a quick 15 minute conversation about what worked, what was wrong, what was confusing or what was missing. They solve what they can on their own and communicate core issues that need to go back to the Central Service Team. By Monday afternoon I have a pretty firm grasp on what happened on each campus.

Campus Pastor Gatherings: Monthly lunches with Campus Pastors with no agenda but to stay connected to the Sr. Leadership Team allow for casual unfiltered conversation that consistently leads to identifying islands of strength and opportunities for improvement.

Millennial Coaching Group: A monthly leadership-coaching group with millennial lay leaders allows for fresh input, interesting new insights, and core assumptions to be challenged.

Staff Lunches: Annually Sr. Leaders have lunch with Staff from each individual Campus at a time. It’s a relaxed no holds barred, ask anything environment. It gives front line employees access to Sr. Leaders and allows those same Sr. Leaders to know first hand what challenges the team is facing, what their concerns are, and what their needs are.

Campus Score Cards: When Central Service Staff attend a campus on the weekend they fill out a simple online survey about their experience that weekend. Those results go right to the Campus Pastor on Monday for direct feedback from fresh eyes.


Posted in Leadership

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Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It

A few years ago, Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group set out to help pastors get a clearer understanding of the health of their churches, believing access to a better scorecard for ministry would show pastors where they were making an impact and where their churches might be stuck. That desire led to the first edition of Vital Signs.

Tony has just released the 2016-2017 edition of Vital Signs: Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It. And here’s why I think you should grab a copy:

When you can honestly and accurately acknowledge unhealthy areas of your ministry, you can address them to move forward. That’s what this eBook is all about; bringing your leaders together around reality so you can improve it. This new edition includes updated benchmarks based on a research pool of 200+ churches across the country, a new metric, and stories of what some of the Top 10% churches are doing differently. If you happen to have read the 2014 edition of this resource, you’ll find plenty of new content in this updated edition.

Here’s what the Vital Signs eBook can help you accomplish:

  • Assess the full health of your church with 14 key metrics
  • Discover which aspects of your ministry fall within the Top 10%, Average, or Bottom 10% ranges based on 200+ churches
  • Unite your leaders around a shared definition of your church’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Move from diagnosing health to setting new direction for your church

If you’re ready to understand the true health of your church, I hope you’ll grab a copy of Vital Signs: Why Church Health Matters and 14 Ways to Measure It. I really believe it can provide the perspective you need to assess your health, establish your starting point, and build a plan for the future.

Click Here to Get Your Copy of Vital Signs

Also, included with the eBook this time around is a FREE Vital Signs Report — This customized report will automatically calculate your metrics and provide a summary of your results. It’s the first step for every client of The Unstuck Group and a $199 value on its own. But it’s free when you purchase the eBook.


Posted in Leadership

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A Church’s Health Cannot Be Determined By Its Size

It is easy to become obsessed with church growth. Attendance is a number we can quickly see, measure, and compare. But we should never mistake attendance for more than what it is: a measure of the number of people attending, not the overall health of the church.

A church’s health cannot be determined by its size alone.

The health of your church should be more fully understood through things like:

  • The level of participation in biblical community
  • The degree to which people are using their gifts to serve
  • The generosity of your congregation
  • Whether or not you are reaching unchurched people
  • How well you’re connecting with young families in your community

And those are things you can actually track. I think we get hung up on attendance because we all want to be about leading more people to Jesus. But determining how to measure spiritual next steps and real life-change is a deeper conversation.

On Wednesday, November 2, Tony Morgan and The Unstuck Group will share a better way to measure church health in the free webinar, Vital Signs: How Healthy Churches Think Beyond Attendance Alone.

The team will share The Unstuck Group’s most recent research on church health built around 14 metrics that together give a fuller picture than attendance alone. And, they’ll talk about how to use these metrics make better decisions.

Click Here to Register for the Vital Signs Webinar


Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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New eBook: Vital Signs – Meaningful Metrics That Keep a Pulse on Your Church’s Health

I’m excited to announce a new eBook to help churches get unstuck. It’s from the gang over at The Unstuck Group, the consulting group that I work with. The book is called Vital Signs – Meaningful Metrics That Keep a Pulse on Your Church’s Health.

Churches can become so consumed with all the things they have going on that they assume they are healthy as a by-product of activity. But, how do you actually know if your church is healthy in every facet? This eBook by Tony Morgan and Ryan Stigile shares proven tools that have worked for more than 50 churches across the U.S.

You will find this is a practical guide for determining the true health of your church so you can focus your energy on the areas that need it the most.

Vital Signs provides step-by-step insight into:

  • How to gain an understanding of your church’s strengths and weaknesses.

  • How to set better goals and know if you’re reaching them.

  • How to identify early warning signs that your church is unhealthy.

  • How to chart a clear path forward for good health in the long run.

Some people fear using numbers and statistics in the Church, feeling that we shouldn’t approach something so organic like a business. But metrics don’t turn a church into a business any more than a check-up turns a body into a machine. They give you the raw data you need on a macro level to make the adjustments you need on a relational level. Remember: Every number has name, and every name has a story. Learn how to read them.

Vital Signs is available today from Amazon and Barnes & Noble Nook.

 


 

This is a guest post by Tiffany Deluccia. Tiffany serves as the Social Media Strategist at The Unstuck Group. Tiffany graduated from Clemson University and has spent the last four years working in public relations with major national retail brands, nonprofits and churches on content creation, strategic planning, communication consulting, social media and media relations. She also founded and writes for WastingPerfume.com, a devotional blog for young women and teen girls.


Posted in Leadership

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November’s Top 5 Posts on Helping Churches Make Vision Real

Thank you! You made these the most popular posts on “Helping Churches Make Vision Real,” during the month of November!

#1 5 Reasons we Started from Scratch with our Website

At Sun Valley we recently just completed a ground up redesign and launch of our website. Here are 5 reasons why we did, and you might want to as well.

#2 Measure What Matters

As churches are in the middle of evaluating 2012 and planning for 2013 there are a 4 critical principles about measurement that we need to keep in mind.

#3 Join me at Ignite 2013

Ignite 2013 is right around the corner and early bird pricing ends in just a month! Ignite is intentionally designed for Church Planters, Planting Teams and Pastors who want to explore planting daughter churches or launching multi-site congregations.

#4 Soul Care and the Leader

We’ve all heard the statistics. And what the statistics are telling us is that beneath the surface of appearances, a majority of pastors are hurting and discouraged. Do a quick Google search on “pastor burnout” and you’ll easily find the following statistics and more! But are we supposed to do about it?

#5 The Blame Game

Catch my interview with Rick Calcutt about his new book “The Blame Game.” It’s a great resource for developing a clear creative process at your church!


Posted in Leadership
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