Many church leaders have embraced the concept of “intuition” — of simply knowing when something is right or wrong — with tremendous confidence.
In fact, more than half of Americans rely on their “gut” to decide what to believe, even when they are confronted with evidence that speaks to the contrary, according to studies. The concept of intuition has become so romanticized in leadership circles, including churches. So much so that it's now a part of how people talk about and understand the “geniuses” of our generation.
It would be a mistake to base all decisions around a mere gut feeling. While intuition can provide a hunch or spark that starts you down a particular path, it's through data that you verify, understand, and quantify. According to a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives conducted by PwC, highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data.
Decision-Making in the Church World
In the church world, we rely on two other forms of decision-making that may not be the most prudent:
- We have always done it that way. Is that how we want to make decisions, especially about the single largest physical asset most churches own? Forget data, best practices, and what outside professionals say? I think not.
- We will just pray about it. I am not saying we don’t pray. In fact, it would be foolish not to pray and seek God’s plan. But the Bible also talks about being prudent, wise, seeking counsel, etc.
At Smart Church Solutions, we believe facility stewardship decisions are done best when we give data to support decisions. The phrase “data-driven decision-making” is popular among businesses. According to a Harvard Business School article, it is described as the following:
Data-driven decision-making is the process of using data to inform your decision-making process and validate a course of action before committing to it.
Where You Come In — Survey Responses
In 2020, we performed a Church Facility Operations Benchmarking Report. The report has proven to be an invaluable tool for our team and the churches we serve concerning facility stewardship operations. But, while this is an excellent report, it is about three years old.
Therefore, we are conducting a 2023 study and would like your help. Smart Church Solutions is looking for 500+ churches to complete the questionnaire to help us generate data for statistical analysis. Once the responses are all in, our team will compile the data and create an updated report that will be available to you.
Fill Out Our Survey
If you are open to participating in this one-of-a-kind study, please click HERE to start the process. We have also developed some instructions to kickstart the process.
Thank you so much for your help and partnership.
