Empty Pews

4 Fast Measurements To Tell If Your Worship Is Going South

A tape measure is the carpenter’s best friend. As the saying goes, “Measure twice, cut once.” Knowing where you are and what you’ve got can go a long way in reevaluating your worship strategy for the future. This might help.

Did you recently start including the children (you know, Sunday School kids) in your weekly worship attendance count?

One of the most obvious signs that a church is slipping southward is the numbers “reorg” strategy. That’s where you start adding numbers on to your diminishing worship figures. A church in Texas has started adding into their weekend “body count” every person who attends an activity that takes place during the week.

While that may seem inappropriate and extreme to you, I assure you that the subtle “institution ego” phenomenon at play here tends not to report sliding numbers. Many pastors refuse to join two “lightly” attended services together because canceling one of them would send the wrong signal to the congregation and outsiders. News flash, dear pastor—the signal was sent a long time ago.

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