LRM: Spiritual Growth & Community Impact Survey

Spiritual Growth &
Community Impact Survey

The Spiritual Growth and Community Impact Survey will provide your church with a practical tool to measure your congregation's spiritual growth. An important element of the work of Lay Renewal Ministries is to encourage, equip, and engage Christian leaders to make disciples through their churches.

Evaluate your current success in disciple making and chart your course to insure vibrant, new spiritual growth in your congregation.

A practical tool to measure your congregations spiritual growth

The church has been called out by Jesus Christ to go into the world and make disciples. Disciple making involves winning people for the Kingdom and helping them to grow spiritually on a continual band consistent basis. It is the responsibility of "shepherds" or the leaders in the church to oversee the spiritual growth of their "flocks" or congregations. How well is your church doing in encouraging and equipping your people to grow spiritually?

The Spiritual Growth and Community Impact Survey is an excellent tool to measure your congregations on-going spiritual growth. By using this tool, you will no longer have to guess about the spiritual growth of your people. It will allow you to determine your priorities, focus your ministry and realize your effectiveness.

The Challenge	The work of the church is to make disciples. The challenge for leaders in the church is knowing whether they are really helping their members to grow spiritually. A tool is needed that will allow leaders to evaluate their "disciple making" success on an on-going basis.

The Tool	LRM has developed a very simple and very effective tool for measuring spiritual growth. By asking your members and visitors to evaluate their spiritual condition through the use of an easy to understand yet comprehensive survey, your church's progress will be easy to measure from year to year. The tool measures leadership effectiveness in nurturing spiritual growth and progress. The development of this tool was greatly encouraged through a grant from the Lutheran Charities Foundation of St. Louis, MO.

The Process	The Spiritual Growth and Community Impact Survey is designed to be administered to your entire congregation annually. Through the use of 36 straight-forward "yes" or "no" questions and 4 demographic questions, the spiritual condition of your congregation is accurately gauged. 31 of the questions are standard. Your leaders develop an additional 5 yes/no questions which apply specifically to your current situation. You also have the opportunity to ask your members to address one essay-type question in detail. Your members will easily be able to complete this survey in 15 minutes or less. A second version of the survey is administered to your leadership team. This survey asks them to consider each of the spiritual growth areas in regards to their expectations for the congregation as a whole. As an example, Question 5 of the SGCIS makes the statement, "On average I spend 15 minutes or more each day with God in prayer." The respondents are asked to answer yes or no. On the leader survey, the leaders are asked to enter a number representing the percentage of the congregation that they would realistically want to respond "yes" to this question. The analysis of the data captured using these two tools allows the creation of a Data Evaluation Report that generates a huge volume of information relating to: The current spiritual state of the congregation; The leaders expectations in each spiritual growth category and; Clear guidance as to where ministry efforts need to be placed. Through the creation of focused objectives for enhancing spiritual growth in specific areas, effective ministry can be accomplished. In subsequent years, as the SGCIS is repeated, growth progress will be objectively measured and compared to previous years.

The Participants	Your entire congregation should take the SGCIS. It will become an important process in the life of your church. The greater the participation level, the better and more useful the data. This survey is a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of your church's leaders in accomplishing their God-given purpose; to make disciples. It is not an instrument designed to judge an individuals' spirituality. The survey results are totally anonymous, and if administered properly, no one from the church will have access to the data capture sheets, other than the optional essay question. This point must be made very clearly to your congregation. The church leader's job is to oversee the spiritual growth and well being of the congregation. This tool will help you to do just that. Year after year you will see your congregation grow and flourish spiritually based on your newly directed equipping.

The Cost	The cost of the Spiritual Growth and Community Impact Survey is based on the number of surveys processed each year. That cost is $1.25 per survey with a minimum church cost of $125.00. We highly recommend that you commit to this process for a 5 year period in order to maximize the long term impact on your church. Each successive year's use of the SGCIS will include a 10% discount. (There is also a consultation option to the process which can be ordered separately.)
	Sample survey pricing:

Worship Attendance

Yearly Cost

Five Year Cost

100
250
500
750
1500

$125.00
$312.50
$625.00
$937.50
$1875.00

$575.00
$1437.50
$2875.00
$4312.50
$8625.00

	Other Cost Considerations:
	Surveys ordered but not processed: SGCIS Promotional Bulletin Inserts: Additional Data Evaluation Reports:	$10.00 per 100 $10.00 per 100 $10.00 each
	Consultation Options:

	2 1/2 hour presentation to church board 4 hour presentation including priority setting and planning strategies One hour phone consultation with consultant recommendations	$250.00* $400.00* $100.00**
	Travel and lodging expenses for the LRM Consultant are the responsibility of the church. *Phone charges are the responsibility of the church.
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