Ordinary Discussions with Jeremy McCommons
Ep 151 | How to Measure Discipleship (Without Missing the Point)
How do you measure discipleship in your church? Only 15% of pastors say they have both a reproducible disciple-making model and a way to measure it. Studied independently, fewer than 5% actually do. (Discipleship.org and Barna national study). Attendance, giving, volunteers, and the percent of people in small groups are easy to count. None of them tell you whether anyone is actually growing as a disciple, or making one.In this episode, Jeremy McCommons and Alex Rossie walk through why the standard church scorecard misses the mark, what the research says about the gap between what churches report and what they produce, and a practical framework for measuring the thing churches say matters most. It's for pastors and for the church member who wants a better conversation with their leadership. Keep measuring what you measure now. Add what's missing.What you'll learn:- Why "30% in small groups" became the benchmark, and why it is not a discipleship metric (from a former small groups pastor)- What the Willow Creek Reveal study found: the most involved members felt the most spiritually underchallenged- The Nordstrom principle from Mission Drift: measure what you say matters most, even when it's fuzzy- Five areas to measure instead: identity, formation, practice, investment, multiplication- Six metric swaps you can start tracking this year- The two things you'll need to make this work: a feedback system and distributed leadersFREE GUIDE: Measuring Discipleship in Your Church. What churches commonly measure, and the questions to ask instead.[ https://ordinarymovement.com/s/Measuring-Discipleship-Guide.pdf ]Chapters:0:00 Why growth without discipleship is missing the mark0:31 What most churches measure instead of discipleship1:44 What the research shows: fewer than 5% of churches reproduce disciples3:08 Who this episode is for, and a word of grace to pastors 5:55 How pastors answer "how do you measure discipleship?"8:03 Why 30% in small groups is not a discipleship metric12:57 A former small groups pastor on the 30% benchmark14:12 Attendance is a measurement, not the measurement16:16 Measure what matters most: the Nordstrom principle from Mission Drift18:59 About Ordinary Movement (break)20:02 Five areas to measure discipleship: identity, formation, practice, investment, multiplication22:55 The Willow Creek Reveal study25:53 Busy, involved, and spiritually empty: Jeremy's story28:50 Leadership pipelines vs. discipleship pathways30:47 Leadership development is not discipleship35:15 Keep what works, add what's missing38:06 Six church metrics to swap40:40 How to collect discipleship data: feedback systems and distributed leaders42:39 Where to start as a church leader46:45 Next episode: your discipleship questions answeredMentioned in this episode:- Previous episode, What Discipleship Is (and Isn't): [ https://youtu.be/lS35zpEsmc0 ]- Our conversation with Peter Greer on Mission Drift: [ https://youtu.be/PYrJEG9X944 ]- Church discipleship statistics and research: https://ordinarymovement.com/library/church-stats- National Study on Disciple Making in USA Churches (Discipleship.org, Exponential, Grey Matter Research)- Mission Drift by Peter Greer and Chris Horst- Next Wave by Steve Pike- Contagious Disciple Making by David Watson and Paul Watson- Jeremy's book, coming January: [ https://keap.app/contact-us/1336382756194089 ]Have a question about discipleship or how groups work? Leave it in the comments. Jeremy McCommons, Emily Webb, and Alex Rossie are answering common questions on an upcoming episode.About Ordinary MovementOrdinary Movement is a free discipleship process led by ordinary men and women in small groups across 35+ states. No seminary required. The goal is disciples who make disciples. Start here: https://ordinarymovement.com#discipleship #churchleadership #smallgroups #disciplemaking #pastors
