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Church Health Survey Options

By charlie worley
There are several options to choose from in selecting a tool to evaluate your church's health. All of them can be helpful for determining the health of a church. In my opinion, three of the better ones are included in the following list:

Church Health Survey Options

 

There are several options to choose from in selecting a tool to evaluate your church's health. All of them can be helpful for determining the health of a church. In my opinion, three of the better ones are included in the following list:

Natural Church Development Survey (NCD) (https://ncdchurchsurvey.org/)

Churches from around the world use the NCD Survey to do a health checkup. It is a reliable and valid tool that takes a snapshot of eight different church health characteristics. They are as follows:

 

Empowering Leadership                                              

Passionate  Spirituality                    

Inspiring Worship                       

Effective Structures                                                               

Holistic Small Groups

Gift-oriented Ministry                                                                                                                               

Need-oriented Evangelism                 

Loving Relationships

 

The EFCA Church Health Survey from the Evangelical Free Church of America (https://nextstepresources.com/product/the-efca-church-health-survey/)

This is a simple pencil and paper inventory that evaluates church health using the following characteristics:

 

Centrality of God's Word                  

Passionate Spirituality            

Fruitful Evangelism

Spirit-filled Worship                          

Great Commission Driven                 

Church Planting             

Leadership Multiplication                 

Stewardship of Resources                  

Loving Relationships

Intentional Disciple-making

 

The Church Health Assessment Tool (CHAT) from Leadership Transformations Inc.

(https://www.leadershiptransformations.org/church-health/)

The foundation of CHAT is found in the book, Becoming a Healthy Church written by Stephen A. Macchia. In that book, nearly 2,000 churches were surveyed to see what sets apart thriving and productive congregations. CHAT researches the following church health characteristics:

 

God's Empowering Presence             

God-exalting Worship            

Spiritual Disciplines

Learning and Growing In Community                                   

A Commitment to Loving                 

Servant Leadership Development

Caring Relationships                    

An Outward Focus                            

Wise Administration and                   

Networking with the Body of Christ

Accountability                              

Stewardship and Generosity

 

Church health evaluating tools work best when they are repeated every year and have a dedicated church health team that develops a strategic plan for implementing and helps

coach individual ministries.

 

(This blog was adapted from an appendix in my new book that will be published soon, Pastor Search Checklist.)

 

[Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash]