Is your church truly healthy?

It’s a question every pastor should contemplate. Yet many leaders are unsure how to evaluate the fitness of their congregations.

Health assessments of any kind can be challenging. A physician’s first question during a patient’s annual checkup is often, “How are you feeling?”

That’s only the starting point, though. There are follow-up questions, measurements, observations, vital signs, and test results to consider.

Even if a patient feels well, a closer examination might detect a problem.

Church health can be just as complex. Perhaps weekend attendance and giving are on target, but there are lingering concerns about the congregation’s overall trajectory.

What diagnostic tools should we use to assess church health?

Pastors often rely on attendance and offerings to determine how their ministries are doing. However, these are not accurate measures of impact and effectiveness.

Rather than merely counting what your church has, consider what it’s doing with those resources. Assess congregational health by starting with six areas of inquiry.

1. Conversion Ratio

How many people did it take to lead someone to Christ last year?

Regardless of your church’s size, you have a mission to reach people with the gospel. How is your congregation doing with that?

There is a simple calculation for answering this question. Divide your average weekend worship attendance by the total number of people who chose to follow Christ during the past year.

For example, if the weekly attendance average was 60 last year, and 12 people accepted Christ as Savior, that’s one convert for every five congregants.

A 45-year study of U.S. Assemblies of God churches showed that local congregations that see one person come to Christ for every five (or fewer) attendees are evangelizing at a healthy rate. These churches are likely to remain strong for years to come, regardless of size.

For those not reaching people at such a rate, future health is less certain.

2. Water Baptisms

Are new converts following up with water baptism?

Water baptism is an important milestone in the discipleship journey. To calculate the share of people taking that step, divide total annual salvations by yearly water baptisms.

While every believer should personally experience this ordinance, the actual percentage of water baptisms provides important information for leaders.

According to the AG study, a healthy benchmark is at least one water baptism for every three reported conversions.

This is a measure not only of discipleship, but also relationship building. After all, new converts are more likely to grow spiritually when they become involved in Christian community.

3. Return Rate

Are visitors coming back?

Every leader likes to think his or her church is a friendly place, but this metric helps reveal how others see it.

Local congregations that see one person come to Christ for every five (or fewer) attendees are evangelizing at a healthy rate.

Just because regulars greet one another warmly each week doesn’t mean newcomers feel welcome.

Track the number of people who visit your church over a period of several months (excluding those from out of town). Then note how many returned at least once.

This requires paying close attention to visitors, but that’s a good practice anyway.

Congregations that welcome newcomers and cultivate an inviting, inclusive environment should see at least half of local guests return.

If a church counted 14 local visitors over the past six months, with only four of those individuals attending more than once, that’s a guest return rate of just 29%.

A return rate below 50% is a sign that hospitality efforts need closer examination and a plan for improvement.

4. Guest Retention

What percentage of those who visit become part of the congregation?

This question has to do with assimilation efforts. A healthy church should see people building relationships, attending small groups, and connecting with meaningful serving opportunities.

Again, this requires keeping careful records and following up with newcomers.

Take a look at guest cards annually or biannually and calculate the percentage of newcomers who are now actively involved in the church.

Guest retention means people not only visit, but they also become part of congregational life.

A local church generally needs to retain at least 10% of first-time local guests just to maintain its current size.

Inevitably, some people will leave the church, move from the area, or die. Amid these losses, there are only two ways to keep attendance numbers steady or growing: births and newcomers.

Vibrant, healthy congregations retain at least 20% of first-time local guests, integrating them into the life of the church.

5. Spirit Baptisms

Are new believers experiencing baptism in the Holy Spirit?

In the Early Church, the apostles placed a high priority on equipping every believer for the work of proclaiming the gospel and making disciples. That began with empowerment from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2; 8:14–17; 10:44–45; 19:1–7).

This equipping remains critical for today’s Church as we pursue Christ’s mission together.

Pastors can calculate progress in this area by dividing conversions by the number of Spirit baptisms each year.

The AG study concluded that healthy churches report at least one Spirit baptism for every three to four conversions.

For example, a church with 12 conversions this year should ideally see at least three Spirit baptisms within that same period.

This metric can offer a couple of different insights. First, if a church sees too few Spirit baptisms, that might indicate a discipleship problem.

We need to teach and preach Pentecostal distinctives, encourage congregants to seek Spirit baptism, and regularly pray for people to receive the fullness of the Spirit.

If we consistently notice a high number of Spirit baptisms relative to conversions, there may be a different issue to address.

A strong number of Spirit baptisms is certainly encouraging. But the more Spirit baptisms a congregation sees, the more people it should be reaching with the gospel. After all, baptism in the Holy Spirit provides empowerment for witnessing.

When the ratio is skewed heavily toward Spirit baptisms, perhaps we need to spend more time mobilizing these Spirit-filled congregants to share the good news of Jesus.

Sadly, some congregations of Pentecostal people aren’t effectively advancing Christ’s message and mission in the surrounding community. That is certainly not healthy.

6. Kingdom Workers

Is the congregation multiplying Spirit-empowered Kingdom workers for Christ’s global mission?

Making disciples is the assignment Jesus gave us (Matthew 28:19–20), so any evaluation of church health must consider how we are doing on this front.

We believe every Christ follower has a role to play in this effort, but we can still measure a local church’s contribution to the missional workforce.

One way to do so is by comparing the number of vocational Kingdom workers the congregation has launched to the number it currently employs.

For example, a church with a full-time senior pastor and part-time children’s pastor that has sent out four congregants as full-time missionaries has made a net positive contribution to the harvest field.

There are many smaller churches that have launched dozens of Kingdom workers, despite never experiencing significant local growth. Such ministries are making healthy and extraordinary gospel impacts.

Certainly, there are other measures of church health beyond these six. The percentage of a congregation attending midweek prayer, memorizing Scripture, or volunteering in the community can speak volumes.

Any metric that directly relates to the Church’s mission can help us better understand congregational health.

We need to ask good questions about the effectiveness of our ministries if we want to keep them moving in the right direction.

Of course, we must remember that the kingdom of God isn’t about numbers, but stories. And every story of life change makes our efforts worthwhile.

Yet numbers can tell stories, too. These are the data points that help us see where God is working, how the Spirit is leading, and what the local church can do to become even healthier.

This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of Influence magazine.