The Value of Indicators

I wonder how you would answer the question 'how are things at church?'

And more importantly, what would you base that your answer on? Would it be based on how many people come to a Sunday service? Or whether people are volunteering to do things? Possibly you'd base it on prayers you've seen answered. Or on the comments you hear people make? Maybe you'd make a comparison with other churches or how things used to be. Or you might base it on a gut feeling. 

Circumstances at St Denys have meant that over the last two years we've needed to be accountable to local and national church bodies and let them know how the ministry and mission of St Denys is going.  And we've needed to find a way to do that. So we've created some indicators that help us give a measure of how things are going. 

And we've discovered that having these indicators has been empowering, inspiring and really constructive. 

The indicators that we have, won't be useful for everyone. However some of the lessons we have learnt might be. So this section of Practical Foundations offers you as a springboard some examples, templates, tips and stories relating to indicators. You'll find them below. And as ever, feel free to use and adapt as you find helpful.