What Gets Measured Gets Managed

Dear Pastors

What Gets Measured Gets Managed

Before you click to the next email please give me a few minutes. I know this topic is a ‘hot potato’. I know that there are diametrically opposing views on this. From the ‘work of the Spirit’ cannot and must not be measured to the opposite view of basically measure everything that moves and everything in between.

‘What gets measured gets managed’ is a well-known phrase in business and organisational leadership. It has also found its way into the vocabulary of many a church . The idea seems sensible enough: if something matters, we should measure it. We need to know whether our ministries are healthy, whether our finances are sustainable, whether people are being reached and whether the resources entrusted to us are being used responsibly. Is this not, at least to some degree…..perhaps to a large degree a stewardship issue? Yes it is! That said there is an important question we need to ask more often: What happens when the things we measure begin to determine what we think success looks like?

When our measures in church life especially our quantitative measures are bandied about it can quickly become the sole ‘measure’ of success. If the graph goes up and to the right we are very happy…..it’s high fives all round. If on the other hand the graph is tracking down or even flat lined we can quickly become discouraged even depressed. It’s absolutely a normal human response. Pastors (and Elders) are not immune.

In business measuring stuff is absolutely critical for survival let alone for success. Afterall the numbers don’t lie. Further doing a deep dive into the numbers is super important. Accountants call it ‘analysis and interpretation’. In other words what are the numbers telling us? How do they compare to the budget? How do they compare to last year’s results etc.

So, what might be a ‘balanced’ approach when it comes to church life in 2026 in New Zealand.

1. Be clear about the difference between quantitative and qualitative measures. Both have there place. In fact as Pastors we do an informal quantitative measure most every Sunday if only privately in our heads. “Where is everybody today? How much was our offering this week and did it hit budget? Goodness so few people signed up to volunteer for our Christmas Community event etc.” Let’s be honest we do this all the time. And in my view it’s important we do. If nothing else it should provide a useful conversation amongst our leadership team.
2. Quantitative measures are relatively easy but there is so much more we need to consider in this conversation. And in church life qualitative measures are really important. However, they are usually much more subjective and subject to people’s opinion.
   It is easy to count people sitting in seats. It is much harder to measure whether those people are becoming more loving, generous, forgiving, courageous, prayerful and Christlike.

It is easy to count the number of programmes a church runs. It is much harder to determine whether those programmes are actually helping people become disciples of Jesus.

It is easy to measure income. It is considerably harder to measure generosity.

It is easy to record baptisms. It is harder to determine whether those baptised are continuing to grow in faith over the next five, ten or twenty years.

And perhaps most difficult of all, how do we measure whether a church is becoming a community where the lonely find belonging, the broken find healing, the outsider finds welcome and people encounter the living Christ?

This does not mean we should abandon measurement. Quite the opposite.

Good leadership requires honest evaluation. Shining a light on all we are doing and asking the simple question, how can we improve can lead to some of the most fruitful conversations in local church life. If attendance has been declining for five years, leaders should not simply spiritualise the decline and pretend everything is fine. If young people are disappearing from our churches, we need to ask why. If a ministry consumes significant resources but produces little fruit, we should be willing to examine it.

Blessings
Alan

P.S. Going forward I plan on adding most fortnight’s an approximately 100 word opinion piece called – Off The Hip!

Death of the Pastor's Wife is a three-episode Netflix documentary series released on August 26, 2026, that examines the life and tragic 2024 death of Mica Miller and the coercive control exerted by her husband and (so called Pastor) John-Paul Miller. Jeanette and I watched it last weekend. It is too sad for words. It is also the portrayal of a very sick and unbelievably perverted and depraved man (JP Miller). Let me say that again….He is a sicko. Though this story is extreme it certainly raises some very important questions not least of which, how did he get away with this for so long? In my opinion Miller should NEVER be allowed in a pulpit ever again.