“What We Measure is What We Treasure” – A Discussion of the application of K.P.I. (Key Performance Indicators) and Mega-church dynamics in Christian Markets

Abstract

This paper explores the recent trend towards the adoption and incorporation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) measurement methodologies into churches and Christian organisational functions and management methods. Pentecostal churches display a willingness to embrace and utilise various methods of secular economics, and KPIs seem particularly suitable given the complexity of emergent mega-churches. Discussion highlights the historical development of KPIs, and focuses on the implications of Christian use of what is an essential secular business production measurement tool.

Mega-church market dynamics and limitations were considered for what applied KPIs mean in a Christian context, suggesting a Christian specific method and philosophy is needed for their use in Christian ministry.  This discussion also detailed two stages of transformation which KPIs undergo: Ethereal Morphology, and Reification, as well as the risks that emerge for churches in using KPIs, and compared a case study of the Global Financial Collapse (GFC) as a church risk model for KPI driven growth (a concept which has immediacy given the recent collapse of Mars Hill mega-church in America).This paper presented a conceptual and methodological foundation for a Christian specific ‘KPI’ paradigm.