How to Build a Church Leadership Report From Planning Center

Why leadership reports take so long

Planning Center keeps attendance in Check-Ins, volunteers in Services, groups in Groups, and giving in Giving. Each one has its own reports. Putting them side by side usually means exporting files, building a spreadsheet, and copying numbers into a slide deck or document.

By the time the report is done, the numbers are already a few weeks old, and nobody has had time to think about what they mean.

What a good leadership report includes

• Weekend attendance: Average attendance for the period, compared with the same period last year.
• New people: First-time guests and how many came back.
• Next steps: Baptisms, membership, and discovery class numbers.
• Groups: How many people are in a small group, and whether that is growing.
• Serving: How many people serve, and where teams need help.
• Giving: Totals and trends, shared only with the people who should see them.
• Connected people: How many people are in a group, serving, or giving regularly.
• Highlights and concerns: Three or four plain sentences about what changed and why it matters.

Tips for a report your leaders will actually read

• Lead with the story: Start with what changed, then show the numbers behind it.
• Compare fairly: Compare with the same season last year, not just last month, so holidays and summer do not mislead you.
• Use percentages carefully: Divide by the people you actually consider your church community, not every profile ever created.
• Keep it short: Two to four pages is plenty for most boards, elder teams, and committees.
• Be consistent: Use the same layout each quarter so trends are easy to follow.

How Ministry Lens helps

Ministry Lens reads your Planning Center data (read-only) and brings attendance, groups, serving, next steps, and giving into one place. You choose what counts for your church, like which groups are small groups or which statuses make up your community.

From Reports and Insights, you can download a polished PDF leadership package or an Excel file with the sections you pick. Giving stays hidden unless the church owner grants finance access.