Church Growth Inventory
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4. Church Growth Inventory

National Church Evangelism

Our FamilyNational church evangelism supports the local church and equips it to reach out. Local evangelism is less expensive than national church evangelism. If you invite a friend and his wife for dinner, they come not because of some highly decorated invitation card but because you are their friends. They like your company in your workplace and therefore know they will feel at ease in your home. You don't need to invite a national team, and no large hall is required. Your home is the auditorium, your friendship is the attraction, your Christian witness is the appeal, and your local fellowship is the follow-up.

Friends Ease

Highway SignNational church evangelism does, however, have its place. Very often, the leaders in a denomination are the only ones to have a vision for evangelism. When the small bodies fail to grow, the central body needs to take over and do the best it can. However, if national church evangelism is to succeed, outreach must begin in the local neighborhood. We first need to look at our congregation to identify the spiritual health of our church. We could do this by completing a Church Growth Inventory.✞

Living Christian Faith

Light In HandTo complete this Church Growth Inventory, choose a representative group in your church, ten active people selected at random from your congregation, and ask them the following questions below. Have them answer either "yes" or "no," "maybe" is not allowed! Add up the positive answers out of ten each time and enter the result in the space provided.

Church Growth Inventory Questions YES NO TOTAL YES
A. Were you raised in the church you now attend?
B. Is the minister one of the significant reasons you come here?
C. Did you find a living Christian Faith in this church?
D. Have you been a member of any other congregation in the last five years?
E. Do you attend any midweek meetings, Bible studies, or prayer meetings?
F. Have you recently invited any friend or neighbor to worship with you?
G. Would you insist that your children attend services after the age of twelve?
H. Have you brought any Christian friends to your church recently?
J. Have you spoken of your faith to anyone this week?
K. Have you welcomed a stranger in your church this week?
TOTALS (Add up columns)

Church Growth Scores

Find out your church growth score from the inventory and discover the extent of biological, transfer, fatness, or evangelism growth present in your congregation.

ADD SCORES FOR TYPES OF GROWTH✞

A + C + G =..............BIOLOGICAL GROWTH
B + D + K =..............TRANSFER GROWTH✞

E + H + K =..............FATNESS GROWTH
C + F + J =..............EVANGELISM GROWTH✞

THE MAJOR TYPE OF GROWTH IN MY CHURCH IS ............................................................✞

Top Scores

Church Growth SignThe Top Score determines whether growth in your church is Biological, Transfer, Fatness, or Evangelism. The highest church growth score of the four groups indicates the type of development that predominates in your fellowship.

THE DEGREE OF ACTIVITY IN MY CHURCH IS .................................................................✞

The scores indicate a very active, active, or barely active church, depending on your average church growth score. The average score of the four groups suggests the degree of activity in your congregation.

Answers

Tree With CrossThe Church Growth Score is a useful instrument to use with different groups in a congregation to see whether a definite trend is visible. However, it is not an end in itself but more a tool by which a parish or congregation can analyze how well or how badly it is doing. If the church growth score makes any group seriously consider its spirituality, it has achieved its purpose. Now that you have completed the numbers, and drawn the general conclusions, let us look at Biological Church Growth and the various other types of growth.

"Church Growth Inventory"
by Ron Meacock © 1982-2021

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