Numbers Don’t Lie … Do They?

The end of the year means a variety of things in most organizations – the crunch of Advent in churches, end-of-year giving for any non-profit, preparing for a new year, and hopefully a little holiday rest at some point. It also means closing the books – not only on financials but also on other quantitative measures. When the trend lines are moving up and to the right, everything is good. Right? What should a leader do if he or she is looking at a set of positive metrics, but has a nagging doubt that something isn’t quite right? My short answer is to pay attention to that gut feel. Several years ago, I had a conversation with a pastor who had faced this question about the small group ministry in his mega-church. Participation in small groups was growing rapidly, but he sensed that it wasn’t producing the fruit that the church wanted and needed. So they completely dismantled the small group process and started from scratch. He looks back on that decision as a catalyst for the church’s continued numerical and spiritual growth. Numbers are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. Many leaders are blessed with an intuition about whether or not things are going well in their organizations. Leaders need to listen to that inner voice. That doesn’t mean ignoring numbers, but it does mean looking at more than numbers. It means involving others in the conversation if things don’t seem quite right. It means digging deeper to see if there is evidence that a hunch is accurate. And it certainly means praying that God will bring things to light that may be hidden. As you close out 2013 and prepare for 2014, I hope that you’ll spend as much time reflecting on those intangibles (positive and negative) as you do analyzing the quantitative factors. It’s easy to receive my blogs by email. Just sign-up on Feedburner by clicking here.]]>