It’s the Nazarene Pastor’s Annual Report (APR) time and the all Nazarene pastors around the world shouted a collective “UGHHHHHH!!” As much as pastors don’t look forward to filling out the form (think of it as an ecclesiastical version of the IRS 1040 Form), the APR is an important tool for the denomination. It provides all the statistics of churches, pastors, attendance and offerings. It’s a pained necessity.

But the APR is not perfect. There are some things counted that makes one think the leaders-that-be are still in 1974. For example, why count Caravan* numbers (if you are asking, “what’s Caravan?” You’ve proven my point. For the uninformed according to the Foundry website, Caravan is a scouting—or kids’ club—type of program for children in first through sixth grade… Caravan uses an active, hands-on learning approach to help children grow physically, socially, mentally, and spiritually. Caravan focuses on teaching everyday skills with a distinctly Christian focus). Of the 4417 churches in USA/Canada in 2023 only 196 reported having a Caravan program. Canada only had 3 of their 145 churches report a Caravan program. If over 95% of churches (98% in Canada) aren’t running a program– is it worth reporting? (Note: Haiti and Papua New Guinee love Caravan; they account for 1/3 of the Caravan enrollees).   

If the numbers are meant to show church health, the Caravan program fails to meet this standard. Aren’t there better things that should be tallied? Of course, here are a few more relevant indicators of church health that should be counted:

1. Children’s Bible Quiz. These numbers are not reported but the church thinks highly of this program as evidenced by the “World Quiz” at General Assembly. As far as I know, there is not a quadrennial “Caravan round up” or an alumni gathering of Phineas F. Bresee Award winners.
2. Teen Bible Quiz. While I assume that there are more children quizzers than teens (I know there are more at the church I pastor), still teen Bible quizzing seems like a legitimate statistic to track. Again, there is world quiz meets at GA or NYC gatherings. Teen quizzing can be an important discipleship tool.
3. Youth involvement in church ministries. Getting youth involved in the ministries of the church creates ownership in the church. For there to be a “church of tomorrow,” youth must be involved today. Tracking youth involvement is a key indicator of a healthy intergenerational church both of today and tomorrow.
4. Number of volunteers working in ministries within the church building. Like the previous indicator, this number would track (at least somewhat), the “buy-in” of church folks into the programming of the local church. This year-to-year assessment could show if the ministries of the church are growing or producing more disciples and leaders.
5. Volunteer Hours of the church membership outside of the church walls. This number would indicate both missionally and evangelistically how involved or not involved the church is in the community. Seems like an important number to track.   *Tracking hours could be difficult but following this number year-to-year would help evaluate the strength of the missional aspect of the church. If tracking hours seems too difficult, counting participants could also be done.

There are probably other indicators that could be counted to help determine the health of church. Counting these five areas is a start. 

*Written with apologies to heavenly Rev. Milton Bunker, one of the creators of Caravan and former member of the Flint Central Church of the Nazarene. It’s my contention, Caravan, at one time, was an important discipleship tool for children, but has run its course.