On the day of Pentecost, the early church didn't count attendance - they counted conversions measured by baptism (Acts 2:41).
The mission of the church is stated very specifically in the Great Commission: there are elements of going, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching. If you could only count one thing, it would be conversions - new believers.
The measurement of spiritual milestones - such as conversion - are defined differently by different Christian groups. This post is not about the different beliefs and traditions, but instead is to ask you to focus on your particular church and belief system. How committed are you to measuring conversion grow in your church? Where does that conversion growth come from?
First, it has to start at "home". Effective evangelism must start with the church's own children as they grow up in the faith and come to know, love, and serve God. How are you at measuring the number of children in your church who profess faith in Christ and are baptized? Or to take it a step further, what percentage of that number would you establish as your "family" conversion rate?
The second area of conversion growth is logically the population beyond your immediate church family. How many conversions are measured in this group? What are you doing to increase your effectiveness at reaching children, teenagers, and adults who do not call your church "home"?
Beyond these two immediate measurement numbers, is it possible to develop target goals for effectiveness in conversion? William Hoyt suggests that a minimum rule of thumb in this area would be one conversion per ten worship attendees. A church with an average weekly worship attendance of 500 would therefore have a conversion goal of a minimum of 50 people.
On the functional level, that means each existing member of your church would be used by God to help produce one conversion every ten years.
What about your church? How do you measure up in this one most important number?
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