Does your church feel like it’s “stuck?” In our many years of working with churches throughout the country, we’ve seen churches that have felt this way for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few:
- A church sees little to no spiritual growth among their congregation.
- Attendance has been stagnant or slowly declining for many years, and church leaders haven’t been able to turn it around no matter what they try.
- Most church members seemed disengaged from church life. They do little more than just show up for Sunday services.
- There seems to be a “revolving door” for a church’s lead pastor, with pastors never staying for more than a year or two.
- The same (or very similar) conflicts tend to resurface regularly.
It can be difficult to figure out how to get “unstuck,” especially if those trying to solve problems are those who may have helped contribute to them in the first place.
At VitalChurch Ministry, we spend a lot of time helping churches in difficult circumstances. One of the first things we recommend church leaders do is get an honest assessment of their current situation. In the past, this has meant that we take churches through our thorough diagnostic analysis process, which involves working with our team of diagnostic experts to conduct a comprehensive church assessment. However, we discovered that not every church needs this level of analysis. Some churches could benefit greatly from a simpler church assessment that would give them some basic insight into their congregations. For those churches, our diagnostic team created our Church Vitality Survey.
The Church Vitality Survey is an online survey that is largely self-administered by churches. We have packaged it in a way that makes it easy for just about any church to complete successfully. It includes simple directions for getting it out to the congregation, as well as tips that will help achieve maximum participation. It is a more affordable option for churches that don’t necessarily need a comprehensive church assessment.
VitalChurch Ministry receives all the anonymously completed surveys and then presents church leaders with the results. After the results are received, church leaders can schedule a one-hour follow-up call with someone from our diagnostic team who can answer any questions and provide helpful suggestions for moving forward.
The Church Vitality Survey won’t solve all your church’s problems, but it may just give you that “AHA” moment that will give you some insight as to why your church is in the position it’s in. Many times, churches are surprised by some of the survey results when they point to issues that church leaders never even considered. The response is often, “We wish we would have had this information years ago!”
You can learn more about our Church Vitality Survey here, or you can contact the VitalChurch office with any questions.