4 Reasons Why Your Ministry Should Put Together a Year-End Report

One of the things I love to do for our ministry is put together our year-end report. It’s a highlight for me because I love organizational stuff but also because it’s a great way to see how God has been working in our ministry over the last year.

Some people aren’t big into tracking numbers. It can make the church feel too cold and corporate. And those are things I don’t think any of us want. But when you track the right numbers in the right way it can help you create a more warm, welcoming, and helpful environment in your church.

Here are some of the benefits I’ve experienced in putting together a year-end report:

1. Shows where we are at
Last year we had a ton of kids accept Christ (twice as many as the two previous years combined) but not very many new families came into our ministry. While my feelings were telling me we were doing great at evangelism the facts were we’re doing great at sharing the Gospel, but we could do better at inviting people to our church.

2. Helps identify trends and seasons
Every ministry has peak seasons. Reports like these are great at identifying when those seasons are and even why they happen. You can also look for trends that have been building over the last several years and what you’re doing that people are drawn to the most.

3. Gives concrete information for evaluation
Once you’ve identified your ministry’s trends and seasons you’ll have concrete information to base decisions on about budgeting, staffing, facilities, programming, etc. Again, we may FEEL like something is working or not working but what do the FACTS tell you?

4. Makes the ministry look professional
There is something about putting a report like this together that makes your ministry look like you know what you’re doing. When someone asks you to give the reasoning behind why you’re doing what you’re doing or why you want to do something you can use the information gathered here to help support your thought process. It also helps the people to see where you’re coming from, which ultimately will help them buy-in to where you feel God is calling you to go.

Click here for a copy of our year-end report.