Tony Kummer put this on his facebook and it got me thinking.

What kind of attendance numbers do you track in your #kidmin? Just say this post from Henrietta Mears that got me thinking. She said, “Don’t be afraid to count numbers. Numbers stand for people for whom Christ died. Count them!”

I have a love hate relationship with numbers – (Yes I was horrible at math growing up but that’s not what I am talking about) I believe that in order for things to grow you have to evaluate them. You can only evaluate what you mesure so weather you admit it or not you have a system of measurement.

There are the extremes out there. Those people whose worth is connected to the size of their ministry so they count everyone twice. Then there are those out there who react to that guy and don’t count anything and say numbers don’t matter.

They are actually both right and both wrong,for me it’s all about motivation with numbers – We need to know because each kid matters to God, not because my worth is tied numbers. The interesting thing for me is that in the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 the shepherd left the 99 and went out after the one. How would the shepherd know 1 was missing if he never knew he had 100 sheep?

The amount of kids that come is not everything but it is something. I think the bigger problem in the church at large and definitely in children’s ministry is we are not good at is creating measurable goals for our leaders. As a result of that we default to the easiest measurable goal out there, who came. I think obsessiveness over numbers is a sign of week leadership. If we create a culture that is gospel focused people will come and people will grow.

The problem I have is what should I be measuring? Because what we mesure is what we get. How do I give ownership to my team by giving them specific mesurable goals to help them know that what they are doing is significant?

What do you mesure and why?