Counting Heads

One of my conclusions in my study "Untied Church" is that old ways of measuring church size and vitality aren't necessarily useful today. For example, counting "average weekly attendance" is a recipe for depression in many congregations because the numbers only head in one direction -- down. And that downward trend is cause for legitimate worry.

But our church has tracked attendance over three months -- May, October and February -- and found a surprising fact. In every one of those months, about 400 different individuals attended church at least once. And, the biggest month was February -- 429. Who'd a thunk it?

In the early 1980s, my church had a weekly average of about 400. Now, it's about 200. But I have a feeling that about the same number of people are coming, just not as often. I've commented on this before. And I really want to avoid glossing over the reality of the losses, but I also think that we have to start working with what we've got.