Most churches do a good job at focusing on tracking growth in terms of how many and what %. For example, attendance grew by 10% last year. Our giving increased by 7%. And, that’s great.
Often times though, we don’t look at the in and outs fully. For example, attendance grew by 10%, but 4% of those attending last year no longer are. Or, giving increased by 7%, but you lost 20% of your givers from the previous year.
To the extent you track the attrition or churn rate you have a chance to really reduce the losses.
We all know some will leave. It’s impossible to retain everyone. But if you took the time to track the churn rates we’ll talk about today and understand the reasons behind them, your retention rate will be higher.
Imagine the impact on your ministries, the people in your church, those in your community, even the world – if you retained more of your people.
While having an assimilation process works on keeping people from moving toward the proverbial back door, it’s helpful to look at the back door itself.
Couple reasons:
1. To use as a ministry opportunity to those who are no longer active. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not coming anymore, it means they’ve slipped into what you deem and have predefined as inactive. (For example, attendance rate is 50%). The sooner you know they’ve become inactive, the better your chance of ministering to them and not losing them altogether becomes. Of course, you have to have a system in place to provide you with this information.
2. It gives you an opportunity to discover why people have become inactive (or have left your church altogether). Categorizing the reasons could help you spot recurring themes and address issues.
Let’s look at metrics that look at the back door. These metrics capture how many and %. The key though is to look at who and why. Let’s look at 3 Loss Rate Metrics.
I’d suggest looking at these once a quarter:
1. Small Group Churn Rate – How many and what percentage of people have become inactive as a percent of total active attendance. Be sure to account for transfers between groups.
For the who, you have a list of those who are now inactive. Minister to those on the list as appropriate. In the process, try to find out why they stopped attending or slowed to be classified as “not active”. To the extent they get plugged back in, it’s a win/win. Either way, you’ve shown love and care for those who needed it.
2. Volunteer Churn Rate – How many and what % have dropped out of a serving role. Many times here, you’ll get advance notice as they’ll give you a “notice”. Sometimes not. No matter, try to capture the reason given. Attempt to address their concerns but by all means, don’t guilt them into staying. Thank them for serving. Be sure to account for them serving in other ministries.
3. Giving Churn Rate – How many and what % have stopped giving. You can also look at those whose giving has significantly decreased. Again, the primary intent here is to minister to people. Sometimes there’s a job loss, a medical issue or something else. Sometimes, they’re just upset about something and have withdrawn their support or redirected it elsewhere. These are all ministry opportunities.
Sure, you have to be careful how you approach people here…I mean the last thing you want to say is “we’ve noticed your giving has stopped”. No, just love and care for them like you would anyone else (take them to lunch, meet for coffee, etc.) and give them an opportunity to reveal what’s going on.
Tracking these 3 areas quarterly can serve as an early warning system/ministry tool. Hopefully, by looking at these at least 4 times a year, fewer people will slip out the back door never to come back.
Once a year, capture the annual churn rate. (Annualize the rate each quarter). How many actually stopped attending, stopped serving, stopped giving. Sort/summarize by reason, even if one category is ‘unknown’.
Below are a couple of posts by Thom Rainer you may find helpful in closing the back door:
Let’s take a look at Membership Loss – when it’s too late.