I'm still tweaking this, but I thought people here might find it interesting for a few reasons.
Most church health conversations focus on attendance numbers — are we growing or shrinking? This tool asks a different question: given the people who are already showing up, does your congregation have the generational balance to sustain itself into the future?
A church can be growing and still be in serious age-related trouble.
A smaller church with the right spread across generations may actually have a healthier outlook than a larger one missing an entire life stage.
A few things that make it different.
- Benchmarks are pulled from real research — Pew, the National Congregations Study, Lifeway, and the Church Answers Health Scorecard — not arbitrary targets
- The age brackets match how churches actually think about ministry (nursery, student ministry, young adults, etc.) rather than generic demographic ranges
- It adjusts context based on region, because a congregation skewing older means something very different in Sub-Saharan Africa than it does in North America
- It's honest about what it can't tell you — it clearly separates generational health from overall growth so you don't mistake a good score for a clean bill of health
- If your church is small, it flags that percentage-based scores become less reliable at low attendance numbers and explains why
- It spits out a letter grade, a color-coded bracket breakdown, a written health report with specific next steps, and a shareable PDF — all designed for a leadership team conversation, not just personal curiosity
Still a work in progress but wanted to share it now.
Would love to hear what you think or what I'm missing?