The purpose of this self-assessment is to determine how effective your church is at connecting with unchurched or de-churched outsiders – especially Millennials – in your community.  In order to receive accurate results from this diagnostic tool, it is imperative that you are brutally honest in your evaluation.  Don’t just score what you wish or hope for your church.  Try to realistically view your church from an outsider’s perspective.  Or even better, interview a visitor or a new member and see how you measure up.

For each statement, give your church a score based on the following criteria:
      1 – Never      2 – Rarely      3 – Sometimes      4 – Often      5 – Always

 

 

Self-Assessment Questions

  • The demographic makeup of our church attenders mirrors that of our community. ______
  • We have viable visitors (from our community) every week.  At least 20% of these visitors become active attenders (1 – 2x per month) within six months. ______
  • At our church, Millennials (youth and young adults) are actively engaged in our services, including serving in up-front leadership positions with decision-making responsibilities. ______
  • Our older members (Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and Builders) are excited to see Millennials worshipping and leading alongside them. ______
  • Our entire leadership team is fully engaged with the vision and mission of our church – not faking it or going through the motions – and they exhibit a vibrant, growing relationship with Jesus Christ. ______
  • Although our goal is excellence – doing the best we can with what we have – we are honest about our mistakes, not just putting a “positive spin” on them. ______
  • Our leaders and people are transparent about both their strengths and weaknesses. ______
  • Our core values, mission and vision are clearly defined.  They are portable (concise) and repeatable (memorable). ______
  • Our leadership team and attenders embody our values, mission and vision, and we consistently celebrate valiant effort and results in each area. ______
  • At our church, all programs or opportunities are put through the filter of our core values, mission and vision. ______
  • We have a strong website/social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) that is attractive to Millennials. ______
  • We actively welcome outsiders, including those from different ethnic/socioeconomic groups and the LBGT community. ______
  • All our visitors are contacted within 36 hours. ______
  • We only use words or phrases that outsiders will understand.  Anytime we use “churchy” words (even in worship) we take the time to explain them. ______
  • Our sermons are geared toward both insiders and outsiders, and focus on the practical application of biblical principles. ______
  • We have a process in place to ensure a visitor’s experience meets our standard of excellence. ______
  • We have a clear discipleship pathway, with simple, logical and sequential next steps that move people from visitors to attenders to membership… all the way into leadership. ______
  • We have streamlined the volunteer process, making it easy for people to serve, including serving opportunities for “beginners” and visitors. ______
  • At our church, people don’t feel the need to ask for permission before taking initiative. ______
  • We have identified specific needs in our community. ______
  • We have mobilized our people into serving teams, with clear leadership, to meet these needs. ______
  • We are actively preparing our people to engage their circle of influence with the Gospel message – as missionaries to their world – including teaching them how to nurture life-giving relationships with unchurched and de-churched people. ______
  • Our people know the expectation is that they do life together in a smaller group setting, and we have a strategic plan for getting our people into groups. ______
  • Our serving teams are also small groups. ______
  • At our church, relationship building always trumps accomplishing a task. ______

 

 

Now add up your church’s total score.  If the score was…

100 – 125    Your church is either actively engaging your community, or there may be a self-awareness problem.  Unfortunately, this is quite common with churches and church leaders.  You may need to have an outsider who knows your church well answer these questions for you in order to gain an unbiased perspective.  The Coming Post-Christian Tsunami can help you streamline your ministry to be more effective in reaching the unchurched and de-churched in your community.

75-99    Your church needs to make some adjustments, but is more than likely headed in the right direction.  The best way to know for sure is to have an outsider who knows your church well answer these questions for you in order to gain an unbiased perspective.  The Coming Post-Christian Tsunami can help you streamline your ministry to be more effective in reaching the unchurched and de-churched in your community.

50 – 74    Your church is heading toward decline.  But there is still time to make the necessary changes.  The Coming Post-Christian Tsunami can help you create a roadmap to turn your church around.

25-49    Your church is in a downward spiral.  At this point only drastic changes will save your sinking ship.  You may require an outside consultant to help you discover where to begin.  The Coming Post-Christian Tsunami can be a springboard for the hard conversations that will be necessary to keep from closing your church doors.

One final thought… each of these statements can also be turned into a question.  You can discuss the questions with your leadership team, but be sure to include younger leaders – and preferably, newer leaders or volunteers – in the conversation.  The questions can be used as stand-alone conversation starters.  But they will be more effective when discussed while working through the The Coming Post-Christian Tsunami together.