05 Discipleship Test

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Bible focused Discipleship is critical for Church Health.

Rate Your Church 1-10 on each of the following:

1. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of studying the Bible.
2. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of personal confession.
3. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of petitioning God, through prayer, for ourselves and others.
4. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of reflective disciplines (such as journaling,
5. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of listening to God’s voice.
6. Our church encourages and equips its members to live out the practice of pursuing God’s will.
7. Our church encourages and equips our members in the spiritual disciplines.
8. Our church encourages all to be involved in some element of church ministry.
9. Our church encourages regular church attendance and financial giving.
10. Our Church encourages all to be proactive in sharing their faith.

Meditate on each of the ten questions, give each question a value between 1-10, add up the numbers and if the total is less than 70 then this represents an area for church to focus on improvement.

If you have questions are would like to leave a comment see menu above.

If you test below 70% on a category, it may indicate that you need to focus some time and resources on that category. If you test below 70% on more than three categories, your church needs to be concerned and take immediate action. Based upon the scores you might need to seek outside intervention, because many times the local church leaders are a key portion of the problem.

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08 Evangelism Test

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Church Evangelism is the how we implement the Great Commission.

Rate Your Church 1-10 on each of the following:

1. Our church shows concern lost souls in our community.
2. Our church intentionally and creatively explore ways to make our presentation of the gospel relevant to unbelievers.
3. Our church trains and equips our members to effectively present the gospel to those outside the Christian faith.
4. Our church is passing on faith in Christ to the next generation.
5. Our church demonstrate acts of love, justice, and mercy to people who are in need.
6. Our church attends to the needs of the world’s most impoverished people.
7. Our Church is living out an outward focus.
8. Our church has regular community outreach events.
9. Our church leadership regularly mentions need to evangelize community.
10. Our corporate prayers mention our desire for salvation of the lost.

Meditate on each of the ten questions, give each question a value between 1-10, add up the numbers and if the total is less than 70 then this represents an area for church to focus on improvement.

If you have questions are would like to leave a comment see menu above.

If you test below 70% on a category, it may indicate that you need to focus some time and resources on that category. If you test below 70% on more than three categories, your church needs to be concerned and take immediate action. Based upon the scores you might need to seek outside intervention, because many times the local church leaders are a key portion of the problem.

Free On Line Coaching

09 Stewardship Test

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Church Stewardship is a good indication of a Church’s health.

Rate Your Church 1-10 on each of the following:

1. Our church provides instruction on stewardship (of time, talent, and financial resources) for our members?
2. Our church provides instruction on financial generosity (giving joyfully and sacrificially) for our members?
3. Our church gives generous portions of the annual budget to local and international missions?
4. Our church provides for those in need within our fellowship of believers, including the unemployed, the widowed and single parents.
5. Our church operates within the church’s annual budget.
6. Our church operates with financial integrity and accountability.
7. We are living out stewardship and generosity in our church.
8. Giving of time and money to church ministries encouraged regular by church leadership.
9. All church leaders encourage service and financial support of church
10. All members are visible in service and are perceived to be financial supporters of church.

Meditate on each of the ten questions, give each question a value between 1-10, add up the numbers and if the total is less than 70 then this represents an area for church to focus on improvement.

If you have questions are would like to leave a comment see menu above.

If you test below 70% on a category, it may indicate that you need to focus some time and resources on that category. If you test below 70% on more than three categories, your church needs to be concerned and take immediate action. Based upon the scores you might need to seek outside intervention, because many times the local church leaders are a key portion of the problem.

Free On Line Coaching

10 Worship Test

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Church Worship Service flows from the key elements of church health.

Rate Your Church 1-10 on each of the following:

1. My church consistently teaches/preaches about glorifying God through the discipline of biblical worship.
2. The words of the songs my church sings in worship are biblically accurate.
3. My church’s worship leaders always direct my focus toward God and not the music, musicians, choir or themselves.
4.After the worship services at my church, I generally feel as if I have been in the presence of God.
5. The Bible plays a significant role in my church’s worship services.
6. I am inspired to live for God and grow in my personal worship as a result of participating in my church’s corporate worship.
7.I am completely unaware of time during my church’s worship services.
8. Worship is always inspiring because the center of attention is always God and His glory.
9. My church’s worship services could be characterized by the phrase: “He must increase and I must decrease.”
10. I never allow other events to keep me from attending my church’s worship services because they are too significant to my spiritual growth and inspiration Rate.

Meditate on each of the ten questions, give each question a value between 1-10, add up the numbers and if the total is less than 70 then this represents an area for church to focus on improvement.

If you have questions are would like to leave a comment see menu above.

If you test below 70% on a category, it may indicate that you need to focus some time and resources on that category. If you test below 70% on more than three categories, your church needs to be concerned and take immediate action. Based upon the scores you might need to seek outside intervention, because many times the local church leaders are a key portion of the problem.

Free On Line Coaching

04 Leadership Test

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Biblical Servant Leadership is important for church health.

Rate Your Church 1-10 on each of the following:

1. Consistently teaches/preaches about the need for believers to be equipped for ministry.
2.There is a clear and accessible pathway for leadership development.
3. New leaders are being commissioned for ministry on a regular basis.
4. Mission/vision is consistently being communicated by ministry personnel other than the pastoral staff or elders.
5. Can clearly identify my church’s leaders.
6. know with certainty the role of the leaders in my church.
7. The leaders are actively and intentionally mentoring/equipping others to step into leadership roles.
8. Second and third generation disciples be equipped for and move into significant leadership functions or ministry roles.
9. The church’s vision is clear and I know what my role is in helping to accomplish that vision.
10. I have been challenged by the leaders to be prepared/equipped for a ministry role or leadership function.

Meditate on each of the ten questions, give each question a value between 1-10, add up the numbers and if the total is less than 70 then this represents an area for church to focus on improvement.

If you have questions are would like to leave a comment see menu above.

If you test below 70% on a category, it may indicate that you need to focus some time and resources on that category. If you test below 70% on more than three categories, your church needs to be concerned and take immediate action. Based upon the scores you might need to seek outside intervention, because many times the local church leaders are a key portion of the problem.

Free On Line Coaching

Autopsy of a Dying Church

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The following eleven areas were from a specific church’s autopsy (Post by Jason Micheli – July 2, 2013),  but could be thought of as areas to evaluate a dying or declining congregation to identify areas to repair, much like you would repair a leaking roof.

Here are eleven things that was  learned.

  • The church refused to look like the community. The community  but the church members had no desire to reach the new residents.
  • There was no attempt to reach the community.
  • The past became an obsession at the church. More and more emphasis was placed on the past than the future.
  • The percentage of the budget for members’ needs kept increasing. At the church’s death, the percentage was over 98 percent.
  • There were no evangelistic emphases. When a church loses its passion to reach the lost, the congregation begins to die.
  • The members had more and more arguments about what they wanted. As the church continued to decline , arguments were more frequent.
  • With pastoral tenure grew shorter and shorter.
  • The church rarely prayed together. 
  • The church had no clarity as to why it existed. There was no vision, no mission, and no purpose.
  • The members idolized another era. All of the active members were over the age of 67 the last six years of the church.
  • The facilities continued to deteriorate. Simple stated, they no longer had “outsider eyes.”

If your church seems to fail the above assessment, we recommend that you use our more detailed test that is found from menu above under “Church Health”.

Also we encourage you to submit your questions and comments, either for a private conversation or public posting to encourage others to participate in the discussion.

Click to submit a comment or question.

 

The above summary of the article referenced is to build your awareness of the need for revitalization of unhealthy churches and expose you to a number of free resources to aid a church in its commitment to return to a healthy state.

Church Replant

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Church healt testChurch Replanting has some aspects similar to replanting bush or flower where you move it from an unhealthy situation to a healthy one.  Replanting a church is  moving a dying church from an unhealthy pot (leadership, ministry style, mission, doctrine, facility, location, etc.) to a new pot so that life can resume, fruit can grow, and the world can experience the amazing life a healthy church provides.

Sometimes just as a plant is re-potted in same location put with better soil or larger pot, a church replant can be in the same location or a new one, but sufficient changes are made to improve the health of the church.

 
If you think your church is a candidate for replanting, we recommend that you use our more detailed test that is found from menu above under “Tests”.

Also we encourage you to submit your questions and comments, either for a private conversation or public posting to encourage others to participate in the discussion.

Click to submit a comment or question.

 

The above summary of the article referenced is to build your awareness of the need for revitalization of unhealthy churches and expose you to a number of free resources to aid a church in its commitment to return to a healthy state.
 

The True Church

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The following comments about the “True Church” are taken from a post about the following question:    Why do some churches thrive while others die?

The true church is one where Christ is acknowledged as its Head, the Bible is preached and taught, and the way of salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ’s death and bodily resurrection, the Holy Spirit is obeyed in the leadership and the people, and the Great Commission is being carried out. They were serving one another, and reaching out to those who needed to know the Lord, and the Lord was “adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” This tells us that the church has five purposes:

1) Worship/Prayer – We were created to give God praise and to have a personal relationship with Him through prayer (Psalm 72:15).

2) Learning – We were designed to become like Christ by seeking Him daily in His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

3) Fellowship – We were formed to be part of God’s family (Acts 2:44-45).

4) Service – We were shaped to have a ministry within the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).

5) Mission – We are commanded to share God’s love and gospel (Matthew 28:19-20).

These five areas describe what the true church of Jesus Christ should be about today
If your church seems to fail the above test, we recommend that you use our more detailed test that is found from menu above under “Tests”.

Also we encourage you to submit your questions and comments, either for a private conversation or public posting to encourage others to participate in the discussion.

Click to submit a comment or question.

The above summary of the article referenced is to build your awareness of the need for revitalization of unhealthy churches and expose you to a number of free resources to aid a church in its commitment to return to a healthy state.

Test for Dying Church

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One definition of a dying church is a congregation that will close its doors within 20 years if it continues on its current path that includes a negative direction for variables such as attendance, financial giving, demographic trends, and age of members. Below are some areas for quick evaluation.

Areas to Evaluate: Questions you can ask?

Attendance: Has attendance declined in at least seven of the past ten years or is attendance low or stagnate?

Finance: Has giving declined in at least seven of the past ten years and/or we decreasing our focus beyond the church? Do we have minimal or few tithers? Also does church have money in the bank, saved for a rainy day or an emergency?

Leadership: Is there a Power struggle among the leaders and/or church conflicts significantly more frequent? Is there turnover of leadership, pastor, teachers?

Outreach: Is there loss of evangelistic vision with little or no focus on soul winning in community?

Teaching: Is there a neglect the Pure Gospel of Christ?

Body Issues:

1. Unchecked sinful behavior?
2. Low morale – Pessimistic?
3. balance of age of Members?
4. Little or no volunteers?
5. church is cold and dead to visitors?
6. NO testimony of what Christ is doing in lives?
7. Little Display of Love and Grace?
8. Little or no children?

Community: Does my church look more like the community or less like the community? Is the church focusing on reaching the community where it is located? Are our new members coming from the existing community, outside, or new people moving into community?

Facilities: Are our facilities in poor condition?

Biblical Foundation: Is the church equipping of Christians for ministry?

Change: Is  church is afraid of change, making changes and taking risks? Does church promotes outreach as an option and not a necessity?

If your church seems to fail this simple test (39% or more in the negative), we recommend that you use our more detailed test that is found from menu above under “Tests”.

Also we encourage you to submit your questions and comments, either for a private conversation or public posting to encourage others to participate in the discussion.

Click to submit a comment or question.

The above summary of the article referenced is to build your awareness of the need for revitalization of unhealthy churches and expose you to a number of free resources to aid a church in its commitment to return to a healthy state.
 

Revive a Dying Church – 10 Ways

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Blow are bullets from an article by Theresa Cho which can be viewed at:
10 Ways to Revive a Dying Church   and  How to Revive a Dying Church

There are many examples of struggling churches that have successfully revived the congregation, increased the health of the church, and expanded their ministry. Pastors come and go, but it is the congregants, parishioners, and members that make up the identity, flavor, and, ultimately, affect the future direction of a congregation.

1. Who are you? Figure out who you are as a congregation.

2. Pick the right leader: Knowing who you are as a church and what the current needs of the congregation are is vital to searching and choosing the right leader and pastor.

3. Follow the leader: A good leader needs a good follower. In fact, it doesn’t matter how good the leader is if there are no followers.

4. Everything is outreach: Five years ago, my church developed a strategy on how we would engage in outreach and evangelism in our neighborhood and community.

5. Keeping a pulse on the congregation: Every member should be engaged in participation of some kind when it comes to carrying out the mission of the church.

6. Prepare for the future: Every structure should creatively facilitate and reiterate outreach. Effective outreach and evangelism doesn’t happen unless the structure of the church supports outreach efforts

7. Partner up: Everything you do should be interconnected and communicated. Effective ministry doesn’t happen in isolation, but in collaboration

8. Be thou my vision: Everything done should be visibly clear and understood by the entire congregation. When asking a random church member, they should be able to say in a few short sentences what the mission of the church is, and it should be visibly obvious and evident

9. Move from revival to relevance: Having suggested 1 to 8, here is the kicker. As a church, it isn’t about reviving or redeveloping a dying or struggling church. It’s about being relevant in one’s community — visibly living out Christ’s presence in your neighborhood.

10. Pray! Lastly, be in prayer. It may seem obvious, but in order to discern the direction where Christ is calling, a faith community needs to be in constant prayer for guidance, strength, and faith.

The above summary of the article referenced is to build your awareness of the need for revitalization of unhealthy churches and expose you to a number of free resources to aid a church in its commitment to return to a healthy state.