Keeping Score: How to Know If Your Church is Winning by Dave Ferguson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve been looking for a resource like this! I had to laugh out loud a few times while reading this, because the author described my church frighteningly well (we still have the “register of attendance” board at the front!).
I love stats because I think we can learn a lot by paying attention to the numbers. But I’ve also been frustrated with the stats that we traditionally collect and monitor. They focus on the wrong things, and they don’t say enough. This resource encourages us to monitor the things that matter.
I love the transparency of the author. He fully admits that his system isn’t perfect, and that it won’t work in every context. But I think it is a good starting point. It’s useful in helping church leaders think through the types of questions we should be asking, and the types of stats we should be monitoring.
I think the only thing that could make this resource better is a stronger theological foundation. In my opinion, it’s definitely biblical to give more attention to the things that matter (making disciples, being on mission), but it would have been helpful to have all that laid out better.
I’ll be coming back to this book again in the coming months as I lead my church to think about who we ought to be and what we ought to be doing.