Five Reasons Why 2021 Should Be a New Base Year for Your Church

I know. The number “2020” has taken a new meaning.

It used to mean perfect vision. Now it means lousy everything. 

But 2021 represents a fresh start. In that context, our team at Church Answers is recommending to church leaders that they use 2021 as a new base year. In other words, comparisons with previous years are apples-to-oranges. We are in a post-quarantine era that behooves us to make comparisons from 2021 forward. It will likely not mean a lot to compare church metrics using 2020 and prior years. 

Numbers and metrics are not our goals. They are not all-important. But they are good indicators of church health. Just like the thermometer we use to measure our body temperature, metrics can be pointers to measures of church health.

We are thus suggesting 2021 become a fresh start for churches, a blank slate if you will. Church leaders have the opportunity to lead their congregations anew. Here are five of the primary reasons we are suggesting that 2021 become a new base year for your church.

1. Because so many things changed in 2020. Your church is not returning to a new normal. It is returning to a new reality. For sure, biblical truth is unchanging, but the way we “do church” will change dramatically if our churches are to thrive, even survive, in the days ahead.