Church Attendance Metrics Glossary

Attendance plateau driven by willingness to attend; avg of top 8 weeks in a 104-week lookback.

Physical seating maximum of the worship space.

Realistic growth range: behavioral capacity x 1.10-1.15.

8-week avg / 52-week rolling avg; >1.0 = growing, <1.0 = declining.

Single Sunday exceeds 8-week avg by >=12%; signals church action caused growth.

% of event attendance lift (Easter, Christmas) retained in subsequent weeks.

8-week avg / prior-year equivalent 8-week avg; year-over-year comparison.

Moving average of prior 8 valid Sundays; smooths outliers.

Early morning or late evening services; lower behavioral capacity than mid-morning.

Mid-morning services (9:45am, 11:00am); highest behavioral capacity, primary growth drivers.

Service at >=80% of behavioral capacity AND growth <2%/yr; has hit its max.

70% utilization; the planning trigger point for flagship services.

Service at <=60% of behavioral capacity AND growth <2%/yr; candidate for consolidation.

70% = Watch (begin planning); 80% = Act Now (add service or expand).

<4 Sundays of data; onboarding phase.

4-7 Sundays; early trend only.

8-51 Sundays; 8-week avg + capacity predictor available.

52+ Sundays; full Growth Index + driver retention.

High-attendance Sundays (Easter, Mother's Day, Back-to-School, Christmas) used as retention benchmarks.

Largest single-Sunday spike; often adds extra services.

First Sunday after local schools resume; resets fall attendance patterns.

The standard baseline metric for church size and health.

Week-over-week comparison.

Year-over-year comparison.

Measurable value showing church health.

Planning Center, Ministry Platform, etc.

Calibration adjustment for camera occlusion, hidden rows, partial views.

Resolution hierarchy: manual > model > capture; deduplicates attendance records.