Assess the Spiritual Vibrancy of Your Congregation
You already measure the tangibles of your congregation's life, how do you measure the spiritual vibrancy of your congregation and your leaders? Moving toward a missional perspective starts with understanding the spiritual vibrancy of your congregation. Leadership Praxis™ possesses a tool kit of assessments designed to leverage discovery of how your congregation views its mission and its relationship to Jesus as Lord. In keeping with generally accepted qualitative and quantitative research methods the Leadership Praxis™ model of exploration is designed to maximize the vibrancy of your congregation. We have found that the very act of exploration is encouraging. Why? Aren't assessments designed to find deficiencies? Discovering the gaps in how a congregation approaches its mission is an outcome of investigation but assessments also affirm the aspects of the congregation's DNA on which to build for the future.
Leadership Praxis™ utilizes several different assessments. The use of our assessments is defined by the needs of the congregation discovered in our initial interview with the leadership of the congregation. Why is this the case? Assessments are designed around unique questions or criterion. In other words, what a congregation discovers about it self in an assessment is determined by the criterion questions the assessment uses. Simply put; ask the wrong questions and one will get the wrong answers to that situation.
m-PULSE Missional Assessment
mPULSE is a unique online assessment measuring the missional nature of your church or organization. It can be used as a stand-alone assessment; however, it is specifically designed to assist in applying concepts found in The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch’s seminal book on missional movements. Based squarely on the Apostolic Genius model (the six elements of mDNA described in The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch), mPULSE provides an overview identifying the missional strengths and weaknesses of a church, church plant, missional movement or organization. mPULSE also provides the respondents with a report, and a suggested action plan to aid strategic planning and implementation.
When combined with the Leadership Praxis™ missional church discovery workbook the mPULSE can be used as a diagnostic to aid in transition from traditional church growth models of ministry to the more organic missional ministry style. The m-PULSE is designed to take the missional "pulse" of your team/congregation. You may invite up to 30 people including yourself to take the assessment in order to achieve a sample of your congregation's perspective. The m-PULSE is available through Leadership Praxis™.
APEST
The APEST assessment is a profiling instrument designed to assist you in finding your ministry style in relation to the concept of the gifts Christ gave to the church as noted in Ephesians 4 (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers). The APEST does not equate the functions of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd or teacher with positions in the church. It is a descriptor of how the unique gift mix of individuals find expression predominately throught a combination of these functional perspectives. Regardless of your theological perspective this assessment is a useful tool in identifying the missional impulse of your congregation identifying the way people put their skills and abilities to work. The APEST has emerged from 10 years of practical application of this model in various ministry contexts.
The APEST is an online, formative, self-assessment designed to solicit an individual response to a series of questions. APEST is a subjective assessment, offereing questions that may solicit more than one applicable answer. APEST measures an individual's current ministry motivation and expression in ministry settings. As a result, APEST leads one to new areas of learning and integration for increased ministry engagement. APEST provides a quantified result to identify one's current place of influence within a larger community.
Use the APEST 360 to further enhance your understanding of how you influence the larger community in a missional approach. Vocation is a mixture of personal identity, God’s calling, the Spirit’s gifting, and community discernment. We only really know ourselves and our ministry impact in relation to others. So we believe that the best way to know your ministry is to somehow assess its impact on people around about you. So while you can easily do the individual profile, we really recommend that you consider doing the 360 degree test as well. This is a great tool for communities and leadership teams as a whole as it will allow you to ensure that you have a more complete ministry mix necessary to be missional church.
The Transforming Church Index
The Transforming Church Index (TCI) is an online assessment of 5 Key Indicators of churc health. The TCI was developed in conjunction with Georgetown University to ensure the validity and reliability of its measurements. In some cases the Leadership Praxis™ team will recommend the use of the TCI as a way to gain a foundational understanding of your congregation's overall health and its core DNA. The TCI results in ta 55 page comprehensive report of the 5 Key Indicators. When will we recommend the TCI?
- When your church has just hired a new pastor
- When you are contemplating building or changing locations
- Before making major strategic decisions
- When trying to assess your congregation's health and spiritual growth
- When conflict or unresolved issues arise
- When wanting to develop a plan for growth
What are the 5 Key Indicators measured by the TCI?
- Member Contribution: Are we partners in ministry or are we consumers of the church's products?
- Assimilation: Do our members own the values and mission of the church?
- Trust In Leadership: Is leadership a shared function?
- Community Impact: Does our church have an inward focus or outward focus?
- Healthy Growth: What is our church's capacity to embrace change?
Click here to begin your journey of discovery.