We are very deep into the Global Pandemic – Covid-19. When you pause to simply look around the religious landscape, you will see a very different expression of faith in America. That may be stating the obvious since this pandemic was thrust upon everyone suddenly and forcefully due to the spread of the coronavirus. Because I have been a life student of Faith and discipleship for over forty years, I have taken the time to observe the central Indiana faith community weekly. Everyone is digital so that task is not difficult to do. I have observed churches moving from shock at the suddenness of this change, to the online church coupled with its awkwardness, to the restlessness of people wanting to restart their lives, to the reality of restarting a nation and how do we restart our churches?
In all of this transition we are measuring the church metrics through a different lens. According to the Barna Group[1], they state that 32% of churches have served their communities through food distribution programs. Research shows that an additional 35% of churches have partnered with other agencies in community food distribution and assisting the elderly population by means of grocery shopping, doctors’ appointments, etc. Measuring “church attendance” is not as simple as food distribution. Pastors reported that attendance post-Easter increased for 59% of churches; 21% of churches stated their attendance remained the same; and 20% of churches reported a decline. When you examine this metric, you will see a wide variety of how these numbers are arrived at by churches. There are three ways of measuring attendance. First we are counting the number of views to our service, secondly the actual attendance is measured by those who watch the full service plus the “comment engagement” activity, and thirdly attendance is measured by multiplying by a factor of 3x (Average family size) the number of devises that connect to the service regardless of how long they stay engaged.
This all sounds complicated doesn’t it? Perhaps we are making it more difficult than it should be. So, we return to the gospel mandate in a digital world. The mandate has not changed and will not ever change no matter the platforms used to “do church”. Could it be that our efforts to measure unique devises, Facebook engagements, and individual IP addresses is only measuring “Content to Consumer” metrics? If this is what we are doing then we must ask the question, Is the mandate of the church to only measure content to consumers? What if the question was “Are we actually converting views into actual relationships with Christ and community? If that becomes the question then our responsibility in a post Covid-19 world is a 7-day per week responsibility and not just weekend metrics. This measurement would radically change all other measurements.
DISCIPLESHIP matters!
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[1] https://www.barna.com/research/measure-digital-engagement/ – ACCESSED 23 April, 2020.
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