Do You Have a Ministry Dashboard?

Your car has a dashboard that tells you lots of important things.  It's a big indicator of the health of your car.

It's important to have a dashboard for your ministry.  Key elements that you check each week that help you determine the health of your ministry.

Here are 10 items I have on our ministry dashboard.  I check these every Monday morning.  They are not the only indicator of health...but they are key indicators of kids and families taking significant spiritual steps.

Overall church attendance
Are we growing?
How is our attendance compared to this time last year?
What percentage of the overall church attendance is children?

Children's Ministry attendance
Are we growing?
How is our attendance compared to this time last year?
How is the attendance in each area? (nursery, preschool, elementary, pre-teen, etc.)
How is the children's ministry growth compared to the overall church growth?

Small Groups
How many children did we enroll in a small group this week?
How many total children do we have enrolled in small groups?
What percentage of the overall children's ministry attendance is enrolled in a small group?

Volunteers
How many total volunteers served?
How many new volunteers joined the team this week?
How many volunteers do we have compared to this time last year?
What areas do we need more volunteers in?

New Believer's Class
How many children went through our new believer's class? (parents must attend with them)
How many children have been through the class this year?

Baptisms
How many children were baptized this week?
How many children have been baptized this year?

Kids serving
How many kids served this week as greeters, ushers, praise team, tech team, etc.?

Parent & Child Dedication
How many parents and children have we dedicated this year?

New families
How many first-time families did we register?
How many first-time families have we registered this year?

Returning new families (we have a system to track new families who return)
How many new families came back for the second time?
How many new families came back for the third time?
How many new families have returned this year?

What's on your dashboard?  What other indicators do you check?  Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.