At what point can you say your church is healthy? In some ways, church health is an ongoing journey. You never really “arrive.” In fact, the healthiest churches are inevitably messy. A healthy church will have many new believers, which means an ongoing struggle to disciple them. This discipleship doesn’t happen instantaneously. The more people you reach for Christ, the more new believers you have, and the messier your church will be. However, there are some key indicators that signal your church has moved out of the revitalization phase and into a healthy church phase. These five indicators are not comprehensive, but they will help you assess how far along you are in the revitalization process.
Indicator 1: Children and students comprise 25% or more of average worship attendance. Your worship attendance is everyone on campus for all worship services. This count includes children, but don’t double-count anyone. You reach a healthy threshold when children and students (those 18 years old and younger) account for 25% or more of your average worship attendance. At this stage, your children’s and student ministry budgets should equal or exceed your worship budget.
Indicator 2: Conversion ratio reaches 20:1 or better. A healthy church will have a conversion ratio of 20:1 or less. The smaller the conversion ratio, the fewer people it takes in your church to reach others. Smaller is better with this metric. For example, a conversion ratio of 1:1 means each person in your church is reaching one person for Christ each year. A conversion ratio of 100:1 means that for everyone hundred people in your church, only one person is reached for Christ per year. The Hope Initiative is an excellent program to help improve this ratio.
Indicator 3: Giving consistently exceeds expenses. Churches in decline often have cash flow problems. They spend more than they receive in gifts and offerings. These deficits are frequently out of necessity — surprise expenses like roof repairs and air conditioning upgrades must be done. Cash reserves can forestall a complete financial collapse for a season, but most churches cannot last longer than a few years on their reserves. A healthy church will reach a point where giving exceeds expenses, and cash reserves are built rather than depleted.
Indicator 4: Deferred maintenance is minimized. Deferred maintenance is the process of delaying needed improvements to infrastructure and assets because of budget and cash limitations. Struggling churches are notorious for postponing necessary capital projects. Revitalized churches have a clear plan to tackle deferred maintenance and include it as a line item in the operating budget.
Indicator 5: The number of people in groups is 80% or more of average worship attendance. A person in a small group is five times more likely to stay in a church after five years than someone who is not, and those in groups give significantly more than those not in groups. A key mark is the 80% threshold. In healthy churches, the average group attendance will be 80% of average worship attendance. These are not the only signs of a healthy church, but they are major milestones on the journey to becoming healthy.
Source: Christian Post
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