If we had a chance to sit down for lunch this week and I asked, "How healthy is your church right now — really?"— what would you say?
Most pastors I know would give me a feeling. "Things feel good." Or, "Honestly, we're kind of stuck." And I get it. When you're the one carrying the weight of it, you don't experience your church as a set of numbers. You experience it as faces, and burdens, and Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.
But here's the thing. A feeling isn't a diagnosis. And you can't lead your church to where it's going until you get honest about where it actually is.
Know the Condition of Your Flock
Listen to what Scripture says here.
"Know well the condition of your flock, and pay attention to your herds." - Proverbs 27:23 (CSB)
Know well. Not guess. Not assume. Not vibe your way through it. Pay attention.
That verse was written to shepherds who made their living off the health of their animals — and a good shepherd didn't manage his flock on a hunch. He counted. He inspected. He knew which ones were thriving and which ones were limping. Because what you don't inspect, you can't tend. And what you won't measure, you slowly lose.
I wonder if that's where a lot of us are. We love our people. We're pouring ourselves out for them. But if we're honest, we couldn't actually tell you the real condition of the flock — not with any precision. We're leading on instinct and hoping instinct is enough.
Faithful shepherding means paying attention. And paying attention means being willing to look at the real picture, even the parts that sting.
So We Built You a Tool
For a while now, I've wanted to put something practical in your hands to help you do exactly that. So we built it.
It's called the Church Health Audit, and it's free.
Here's what it does. In about ten to fifteen minutes, it walks you through eight systems that make up the health of your church — Mission & Clarity, Leadership & Team, Discipleship & Formation, Worship & Weekend, Outreach & Evangelism, Volunteers & Serving, Financial Health, and Systems & Operations.
You answer honestly. Some of it is real numbers — your attendance, your giving, your volunteer ratio — and the tool quietly compares them against research from healthy, growing churches. Some of it is a gut-level read on things like clarity and discipleship. And when you're done, you get a score for each system and one clean, downloadable report you can put in front of your team.
But here's the part I love most.
The report doesn't just tell you your strengths. It tells you your minimum factor — your single weakest system. Because a church doesn't grow to the level of its best area. It grows only as far as its weakest one will let it. That's the barrel principle: a barrel holds water only to the height of its shortest stave. Most of us pour our energy into the ministries we're already good at, and wonder why the whole thing stays stuck.
This audit points you straight at the stave that's holding everything back — and gives you next steps for it.
Confront the Brutal Facts
Jim Collins has this line I come back to all the time: you have to confront the brutal facts. Not so you can beat yourself up. So you can finally deal with what's real.
Can I be honest with you? This audit might sting a little. You might find out your assimilation is leakier than you thought, or your calendar is fighting your mission, or your giving base is thinner than it feels on a good Sunday.
That's not failure. That's clarity. And clarity is the first gift, because you can't fix what you refuse to face.
The pastors who grow aren't the ones with no problems. They're the ones willing to name the problem out loud and get to work.
Here's Where I Need Your Help
Now let me ask you for something.
This tool is new. And before I put it in front of thousands of church leaders, I want to get it right — which means I need pastors like you to actually use it and tell me the truth about it.
So would you do two things for me?
First, take it. Head to audit.efficient.church, block off fifteen minutes, and run your church through it. Even better — do it with your leadership team in the room and talk through the results together. That conversation alone is worth the time.
Second, tell me what you think. What was clear? What was clunky? What did you wish it measured that it didn't? Did the results ring true, or did something feel off? I read every note, and your feedback will directly shape the next version. You can reach me right through efficient.church, or just reply to this email.
You'd be doing me a real favor — and you'd be helping every pastor who takes it after you.
One More Thing Before You Go
Here's what I want you to walk away with.
Taking an honest look at your church isn't a lack of faith. It's an act of it. Faithful shepherds pay attention. They count the sheep. They know the condition of the flock — and then they do something about it.
You don't have to keep leading on a hunch. You don't have to keep hoping things are okay. You can know. And knowing is the first step toward everything you're praying God will do next.
Go take fifteen minutes. Find out where you really are. Then let's get to work.
Take the audit at audit.efficient.church — and don't be shy about sending me your honest thoughts.
Get Our New Book! 🎉
Ready to get your team in sync? Head to Amazon and get the Kindle version of Ministry Sync Handbook: Ten Decisions That Get Your Church Rowing in the Same Direction. If it helps you at all, please leave a review to help other pastors find this resource. 🌟
