You beat me to it…I’m going to post tomorrow on swerve that it will launch sometime next week. We just opened up the beta test to about 100 churches and will open it up to everyone next week.

Justin- this will be a free hosted webapp. No plans as of right now to move it to a self-hosted model.

Yeah @SteveBradley nailed my concern. Bobby and I corresponded about the “creepiness” I felt and I said…

“Specifically it was counting salvations. I know the heart of LifeChurch.tv and I know that you guys see people and not numbers, but the concept feels very old school. Focusing on numbers, not people. I think your app is a fantastic idea and it will help Ministry leaders make better decisions. But it could also help bring back the competitive ‘my numbers are bigger than yours’ mentality that churches are just now starting to see past.

I write web apps also and I can say that business requirements aside… yours looks excellent. Good job there. I’ll certainly take it for a spin when it hits beta.”

A less creepy application would be one that facilitates an organization to better evaluate the efficiency of serving people in need. A free app that helps non-profit organizations (churches and non-churches) measure similar metrics. Such as number of volunteers, donations, number of people impacted per event, etc.

This would be the sort of app that could impact cultures perceptions regarding our motives. It would say to the world, “I want to make the world a better place, oh and by the way I’m a Christian.” Instead of the message, “I’m a Christian and I want to help make more Christians.”

These are subtle and very subjective thoughts I have. I’m honestly not trying to dump on you or your project. I was an atheist for 10 years and consequently it is very easy for me to be hypersensitive to a non-Christian’s perception.

peace|dewde
http://dewde.com

Thanks. I’m sure we’ll be looking for help with Spanish and the rest, but need to get the app launched in English first.

Just to clarify though…this is not a church management system like arena, fellowship one, etc…churchmetrics is designed to track basic church stats and provide reporting. It doesn’t keep track of individual member data.

Bobby and team - great job…our church looks forward to using it. (btw…need anyone to translate it into spanish?)

Steve, we may have other categories in the future. Right now we tried to keep it relatively simple. As far as you second question goes…we actually measure many, many things. We are still looking at several ways to better measure our missional impact

One comment re: the “creepiness” that dewde referenced earlier: I’m wondering if that has to do with the sensitivity so many folks have in trying to “quantify” spiritual growth and effectiveness?

While I’m certainly a fan of “Clarifying the Win” and missional measures, I understand the heartburn some folks have when things like Attendance and Giving are held out as evidence of growth or effectiveness (wrote a post on that earlier today: http://blog.visionnavigator.com/2008/09/how-do-you-measure-churchs-success.html).

That’s why I appreciate your inclusion of Salvations and Baptisms as well, since these are certainly important measures of success for any church that takes the Great Commission seriously.

A couple of questions: Do you guys have plans to include other categories? Are there other ways you measure your success or missional effectiveness as a church in making disciples?

Thanks again for all you guys do, and for your openness to share what you’re learning on your journey…

Blessings