HomeDigital MinistryTool of the Week: Church Metrics

Tool of the Week: Church Metrics

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looking at churchmetrics.com website

 

If you can count it, you can track it.

With ChurchMetrics.com, you can get a completely free cloud-based tool that lets you see aggregate reporting of ministry activities.

Campus pastors will like this tool to use in their weekly or monthly workflow.

5 TYPES OF DATA TO KEEP TABS ON

This tool allows you to see KPI's (key performance indicators) all in one place:

  • Attendance – you can track Sunday attendance, but also for various events and activities.
  • Salvations – Church vitality is measured by many ministries through the number of salvations or baptisms experienced by the church community.
  • Giving – Most giving software allows for reporting, but pulling separate reports can be tedious.  This solution integrates the giving metrics side by side with other important data points.
  • Volunteers – The church largely wouldn't exist without its volunteers.  Helping people put their faith into action is a critical ministry strategy in most churches, so better understanding the health of the volunteer programs is important.
  • Custom data reporting – you can track other types of data too – for example, you can track baptisms in the dashboard.  Or how many cars are in the parking lot every week. It's custom, so you can build your own reporting tool.

 

Church Metrics reports on Attendance, Salvations, Giving, Volunteers and Custom categories

SIMPLIFYING THE KEY METRICS AND PRESENTING THEM IN ONE PLACE

One of the largest benefits is a metrics dashboard that you can see across the 5 pillars of data categories, all at a glance.  They call it the Hillsong Health Report – it displays five dials calibrated to reveal the true health of your service, campus, or church.

metrics dashboard

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RELEVANT REPORTING INSIGHTS

It was pleasantly surprising to see that the Church Metrics team was thinking through what the actual pastor or church leader thinks about when looking at data.

For example, if you've been on church staff anywhere, you know that weather can definitely impact attendance numbers on any given day.  Whether it be a storm or bad weather, or just the opposite, extremely good weather, it's hard to see that reflects in a Google Sheet full of columns and rows.

This tool has weather integration so that you can see weather details where it would help with interpretations – on reports and dashboards.
weather integration example on laptop

 

The Life.Church team has an overview video that gives you a good basic introduction to the tracking tool.

 

THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT

Of course, there are apps for iOs devices like your iPhone and iPad.  And don't worry, there is an app in the Google Play app store as well.

app store page for churchmetrics

NOT A CHMS DATABASE

Church Metrics was built to track overall data in your church, not individuals.

Just note that this is a platform that should not be confused with a Church Management Software system like CCB or Faithlife Equip.  While those do offer data collection and reporting in various ways, this tool aims to provide a simplified view of basic health metrics for the church as a whole.

For those that are part of a denomination, network or if you have multiple campuses as part of a multi-site campus strategy, then Church Metrics gives you added reporting so you can see what's happening across your entire network.

Sample dashboard for a network or denomination to see aggregate data metrics

 

DO MORE WITH THE API

Church Metrics does offers an API so you can extend the use beyond their website interface.  You can go to GitHub to find the latest functionality available, etc.

https://github.com/lifechurch/churchmetrics-api

GitHub page for Church Metrics

 

MISC FEATURES AND BENEFITS
There are more great facets of this tool including:

  • You can create user accounts for your team members and volunteers and choose different roles and permissions for each one of them.
  • If you have legacy data you want to see in the reports, you can import data in a spreadsheet.  It takes a .CSV file easily.
  • You can add notes so that others who view the data and reports after you can see the insights you are adding to the picture.
  • Since it is a SAAS (software as a service) offering you don't have to worry about updates.  You'll be sure to use the latest version of the tool whenever you log in.

DO YOU USE CHURCHMETRICS.COM? WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH IT? THUMBS UP? THUMBS DOWN?

Kenny Jahng
Kenny Jahnghttps://www.kennyjahng.com
Kenny Jahng is Editor-In-Chief at ChurchTechToday.com. He's also the founder of AiForChurchLeaders.com. Kenny is a Certified StoryBrand Copywriter Guide and founder of Big Click Syndicate, a strategic marketing advisory firm helping Christian leaders build marketing engines that work. You can connect with Kenny on LinkedIn, TikTok, or Instagram.

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