Measuring Disciple Making

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Work together to craft your church’s own succinct definition of what it means to be a disciple. Simplify it. Then create the metrics to measure it.


Most church planters and church leaders I meet work very hard—in many cases, probably too hard. The majority of them are well prepared both theologically and practically for ministry. But here’s the problem: Most church leaders—wherever they are in the planting process—don’t understand how they can know for sure their church is advancing the cause of Christ. They just don’t know how to keep score. In fact, for many, the idea of keeping score is a mystery.

I hear more and more pastors questioning, “Is just keeping track of attendance and offering enough?” It seems like there should be more or different measurements. What about community transformation? Justice issues? Sending missionaries? Should church planting count? Should I stop keeping track of attendance? Do I dare not keep track of finances? Ultimately, how do we know if we are accomplishing Jesus’ core mission to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10)—making disciples who make disciples?

Sometimes in our frantic hurry of ministry, we get disoriented. We try to do the stuff that makes an impact, but one look at the scoreboard tells us we’re falling further behind.

I’ll be the first to say that faithfulness is the sole measure of winning. But that begs the question, “Faithful at being and doing what?”

If you’re creating a scoreboard for the first time, start with a disciple-making measurement. It may take you several months or even a couple of years to develop an accurate gauge. Get this first measurement correct and you set yourself up for future wins. Keep reading