How healthy is your church? That's a tough question to ask and a tough one to answer.  Probing the guts of your ministry can be about as pleasant as probing the depths of your soul. Yet, finding out what is really happening in your congregation is as important as knowing your own heart.

So, how do you find out what is working in worship services, Christian education classes,  outreach and discipleship, fellowship and prayer practices? How do you measure the impact of your ministry on your congregation and community?

Marshall Shelley, editor of Leadership Journal, put a few great ideas together in a recent article, "Can Effectiveness in Ministry Be Measured?"

The answer to the querying title appears to be a resounding "yes." Yet the standards for effectiveness have shifted from the "bigger is better," head and cash-counting approaches of the 1980s. Instead, Shelley says church leaders should be primarily interested in how many lives are changing as a result of church. Forget perfunctory pew-sitting. Church health today is about life transformation.

Granted, that is not easily measured by a head count or an offering number. But Shelley provides four ideas on how to measure discipleship:

1. Pre-Christians in worship services and outreach events (15 percent and up).

2. Church members trained in sharing their faith (25 percent and up).

3. Worship attenders who are part of a small group for prayer/Bible study (60 percent and up).

4. Church members who have identified their spiritual gifts and are exercising them in some way for God's kingdom (60 percent and up).

I don’t know where these percentages come from, except from pastors Shelley speaks with all the time. But I know my own church has a long way to go to meet these goals. For example, in small group participation, we only average about 30 percent.

I don’t know how many "pre-Christians" attend services or events. We don’t tend to count people that way. We do offer classes in evangelism and spiritual gifts. Hopefully that is spurring church members on to talk about their faith with others and get to work for God's kingdom.

That leaves the question: How does your congregation measure up with these four barometers? Do you think this in an effective way to assess a ministry?

Blog here.