The success of an apple farmer is measured by the number of apples that grow in his orchard, and not by how big an individual tree grows, according to Geoff Surratt in his book Measuring the Orchard: Changing the Scorecard on Church Growth. Individual trees grow, mature and die. Churches have a similar lifecycle, and it is time we stopped caring about how big individual churches are and cared more about how much fruit there is in the orchard.
No matter how healthy a church might be, there eventually comes a time when its impact is diminished and attendances decline. An individual church does not have to be kept on life support at all costs; what matters is the work of the gospel. Just as the farmer’s job is to work the soil, plant the seed, check the moisture and cultivate the fruit, the pastor’s job is to train leaders, coach other pastors, send seed money, and nurture young church planter and young church planters.
Just like people, churches go through different lifecycle stages, and their measures of health are different at the different stages. During infancy the main measure of health is growth. In adulthood there are a broader range of health measures, including small group participation, numbers becoming mature disciples, involvement in mission, and leadership development and generosity indicators. During the parent stage, health is measured more by the well-being of the children. During the grandparent and senior citizen stage, health is measured by the size and nature of the lasting legacy.
It is a challenging and thought-provoking book, that will no doubt give rise to many discussions amongst church leaders. In my view the author’s proposed measures are quite convincing. The e-book is available for free download from: http://www.exponential.org/shop/measuring-the-orchard