Originally I hadn't planned to share the report summary. But, when I reviewed it, I thought you might be interested in seeing it.
It gives you an idea of the value of a discipleship assessment tool like this.
The aggregate of responses make the individual responses anonymous, but they do give you a picture of the spiritual strengths and growth areas of the people who took the assessment. This can be really helpful for mentoring, group curriculum selection, and for developing sermon series.
Our assessment takers are primarily pastors and church staff, so I expected the numbers and percentage rates to be much higher than the average group or church. They were. But a couple of things still stuck out to me. See if you agree.
Most churches have 3 to 5 or so overarching objectives, like: Belong, Grow, Serve. The defaults in Growthfinder are: Knowledge, Skills, Character, and Perspective.
Here's the summary of Objectives for those who took the assessement last week. That knowledge score is incredible! Pastors and staff know what they believe.
Remember, we measure these objectives by specific results, and once assessed people get to select the ones they most want to grow in. Notice that the top two results people wanted to grow in are Character related - Patience and Joy.
As expected, all of these rating scores are really high compared to the average group or congregation. After people take the assessment they are shown their scores, and prompted to choose the 4 that they would most desire to grow in.
I see these results and I ask myself, "why would one-third of our respondents pick patience and joy?" If I was really digging in, I might call and talk to a few of you for more insight.
But, off the cuff, my thoughts go to the general mood of our culture right now, and the fact that September is always busy for pastors and church staff.
Then my thoughts go to Philippians 4:6-7 on patience.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Followed by John 16:24 on joy.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Then, depending on my role, I would build/find a small group curriculum, or craft a short sermon series on Patience and Joy using these (and other) passages of scripture. And, we would spend time working on spiritual growth in those areas of character.
When we were done with that series, I'd go back to the assessment. I'd notice the scores above on Bible Reading, Gospel Presentation, and God's Will. And, we would focus on those areas.
Discovering where people are in their walk with God and helping them take the next step toward full devotion to Him is discipleship. Imagine the possibilities of using a tool like this once or twice a year to help your group or church become more effective at being and making disciples.
Curious?