The Growth Pipeline: Tracking Your Church's Discipleship Journey
In our first two weeks, we explored how to measure true reach and digital impact. But here's a question that keeps many church leaders up at night: "How do we know if people are actually growing spiritually?"
We discovered something surprising that changed our thinking about measuring discipleship.
The Discipleship Data Gap
When our team started to investigate our data, we noticed something that we knew we needed to work on. We've always done a great job tracking major milestones (like salvations and baptisms), but we were missing crucial data about the journey between these moments. We had the start and finish, but we didn't know how people got from point A to point B.
This revelation led us to develop what we call the "Growth Pipeline" – a way to track and nurture spiritual growth at every stage.
Understanding the Growth Pipeline
Think of your church's discipleship journey like a pipeline. We learned that every person typically moves through several stages:
First Connection
Initial visit (online or in-person)
Connection with the welcome team
First-time guest follow-up
Early Engagement
Regular attendance
Class attendance
Participation in 'community' events
Growing Commitment
Join a small group
Volunteering
Giving patterns
Spiritual Maturity
Leadership development
Mentoring others
Kingdom impact
The Numbers That Tell the Story
As we pushed to understand better what was happening in our church, we dove into metrics that we believe helped to show if things were healthy and growing. Here are just a few of the metrics we focused on:
Salvations to Baptisms ratio (indicating initial follow-through)
Small group participation rates (percentage of people in a small group)
Volunteer retention rates (how long people serve at your church)
New Leaders (how many and type of leadership positions)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) vs. Kingdom Performance Indicators
Remember, we're not just tracking numbers – we're measuring impact. Here's a way to balance both:
Quantitative Metrics:
Attendance numbers (quantity and consistency)
Participation in church programs (how many classes taken)
Giving patterns (frequency and amount)
Volunteer hours (location and quantity)
Qualitative Indicators:
Prayer life development (what do people say about their own spiritual growth)
Scripture engagement (people completing your church reading plans)
Relationship growth (people's self-assessment of the quality of their relationships)
Ministry impact (the testimony of how your church impacts others)
Making It Work in Your Church
Here's a practical framework for tracking discipleship growth:
Map Your Discipleship Journey
Identify key stages in your church's discipleship path (e.g., guest, attendee, member)
Define clear markers for each stage
Create tracking mechanisms for transitions (what action or actions push people to the next stage)
Measure Movement
Track the progression through stages
Monitor time spent in each phase
Identify common sticking points
Monitor Multiplication
Track disciple-making activities (e.g., newly saved to baptized)
Measure leadership development
Monitor ministry multiplication (what is the growth year over year or month over month?)
Real-World Application
One of my favorite projects I participated in was creating the "Saved Journey," an 8-day automated sequence that helped new believers take their first steps. We provided personalized content to people when they were the most interested and fine-tuned the calls to action to help sure people were taking the desired next steps we had prescribed for them. We didn't just track email open rates; we measured actual engagement and the next steps taken.
This Week's Action Steps:
1. Map out your church's current discipleship pathway
2. Identify gaps in your measurement system
3. Choose 3-5 key metrics for each stage of growth
4. Set up a simple tracking system for these metrics
Pro Tip: Create a "Discipleship Dashboard" that shows:
· Current numbers in each stage
· Movement between stages
· Sticking points and successes
· Growth trends over time
Making Data Personal
Remember Maya Angelou's wisdom: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." The same applies to discipleship metrics. The numbers should tell a story of life change, not just track program success.
Quick Win for This Week
Start tracking your "Next Step-Rate":
(Number of people taking next steps ÷ Total number in current stage) × 100
This simple metric can reveal how effectively you're moving people forward in their faith journey.
Looking Ahead
Next week, we'll explore our final topic: "Measuring Local Impact: Your Church's Community Footprint," and discover how to track your church's influence beyond its walls.
What metrics have you found most helpful in tracking discipleship growth? Reply and share your experience – I'd love to learn from you!
Michael Visser
Co-founder, Threefold Solutions
P.S. We assist with coaching, training, strategy, and support.
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