A church is a living organism.聽It's natural for an organism to聽grow. And it's natural for a聽church to grow. When a church聽is not growing it is quite likely聽that something is wrong. In the聽United States a healthy church聽will see between 5 - 12% growth聽in worship attendance each year.

There are a number of聽indicators that could be used to聽evaluate whether or not a church聽is healthy. One could analyze聽the budget. The number of聽visitors, and visitors who stay,聽in a church might be a good聽indicator. How many members聽read the Bible and have regular聽devotions could qualify. Perhaps聽the dollars and hours spent in聽local community service聽projects. Or the number of聽corporate hours in prayer could聽be measured. Healthy churches聽usually have a network of small聽groups with a large percentage of聽members involved. They have聽adequate and qualified staff. The聽number of conversions per year聽in a church could (and should) be聽measured. And there are more.聽So, what is the key indicator of a聽healthy church?聽After years of study, it is my聽contention that the indicator of a church's health is聽its worship attendance growth聽rate. A negative rate normally聽means the church has one or聽more problems. A positive聽growth rate indicates that, for聽the moment, ministry and聽mission are likely going well. Of聽course, there will be exceptions聽in either case. But rules are generalizations of what is the聽case far more often than not. In聽general, I suggest the following聽table of growth rates to be an聽indicator of health in a local聽church, a regional, and a national聽denomination body.

  • Poor Growth: 2% per year
  • Fair Growth: 3 - 5% per year
  • Good Growth: 6 - 8% per year
  • Excellent Growth: 9 - 11% per year
  • Outstanding Growth: 12 - 15% per year
  • Incredible Growth: 16 - 20% per year