The Gift of Data (Part 1)
As a living being, I generate data. Sometimes it’s quantifiable, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s worth tracking, sometimes it’s not.
Here’s just some of the quantifiable data I could have tracked today:
- When I woke up
- How much sleep I got
- Whether my morning included prayer
- What I ate for breakfast
In the past, I have tracked some of this data using Lift, usually when I want to develop new habits. (I wrote about Lift here.) Right now, I’m not trying to develop any new habits (although I probably could) so I’m not using Lift. I’m still generating data, I’m just not keeping track of it.
Likewise, simply by existing, the church generates data. Each worshiping community, each judicatory, and each national-level gathering, as a side benefit of having a pulse, has data.
In my experience, mostly we ignore it.
Churchworkers tend to think about data only a few times a year: when a denominational report is due, or when a new report comes out. Given the trends we’ve seen lately, data is often greeted with dismay.
In the church, data is rarely seen as a gift, an inspiration, or a blessing.
I’d like to change that.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing a series of posts on data in the church. We’ll cover:
- Why we can’t afford to ignore data
- How to engage data even if it’s depressing
- When to track data, and when not to bother
- How to track data without idolizing it
- Thinking strategically with data
- Presenting data to others: why and how
Data is not God, but it is one of the best tools we have for engaging God’s mission. It deserves better attention than we usually give it (at least in my corner of the world). I hope this series helps the church to serve God’s mission, and I hope it engages us in deeper thought about the data we usually ignore.
If you have a suggestion or question about church data, or you’re interested in writing a guest post as part of this series, let me know!
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What’s your experience with data in the church?
Member discussion