Ministry Metrics

On this episode of the Ministry at Scale podcast, we hear a talk from Josh Kashorek of 5Q. Josh gave this talk at the 2021 Digital Ministry Conference and shared about the impact that metrics can have in ministry.

If we look at the story of when Jesus fed 5,000 people with only 5 loaves of bread 2 fish, we see that even with a small amount of food, Jesus clearly accomplished a miracle. If the small quantity of loaves and fish were not given, there would be a good chance we would miss the miracle that Jesus performed. Using metrics in our own ministries, how can we ensure we are not missing the miracles that God is doing?

There are two questions to consider when sorting through data. 

What is your mission?

What does it look like when that mission is accomplished? 

It’s easy to look at metrics as simply a list of numbers and stats such as the amount of donations received in a month, or how people have visited a website. However, Josh encourages ministries to take those metrics and try to answer the question, “How can we know we’re accomplishing our mission?”

For the Bowery in New York, whose goal is transforming poverty and hopelessness to hope, 429,000 meals served, and 104,000 nights of shelter is their indicator of keeping accomplishing their mission. For GotQuestions.com, whose mission is to answer questions about the Bible, 670,000 Bible questions answered is the metric that shows the accomplishment of their mission. The context of a ministry’s overall goal and mission should drive the way that it engages with its audience. 

To learn more about the impact of metrics in your ministry, listen to the entirety of episode #59 of the Ministry at Scale podcast.