Friday, May 29, 2015
Success and Transformation
Ed Stetser:
Secondly is spiritual transformation even a mechanical process. Yes behavior is a part of it, but in many way it is secondary - resultant from much deeper acting my the Holy Spirit in the lives of man individuals. Can we squeeze the Holy Spirit into a survey?
Mentoring, apprenticing, these words keep coming to my mind. I cannot help but think these are where the difference will be told.
church growth tools transformation
Most churches do a good job of measuring what Micah Fries calls the "three B's"— budgets, buildings, and baptisms.This is important and meaningful stuff, but I find myself worried. Those wonderful words are spilled in a effort to sell, "...the Transformational Church Assessment Tool (TCAT)—an 80-question, online survey that looks at a church's spiritual health." I cannot help but wonder if such a thing can be reduced to a single tool of any sort. For one thing such tools produce uniformity, and one must wonder if uniformity is what is needed in this circumstances.
Those are helpful, he said. But they don't always show whether a church is fulfilling its mission to make disciples.
"Every church should ask two questions," said Fries, director of ministry development for LifeWay Christian Resources. "'Are we healthy?' and 'Are we making disciples?'''
[...]
Ballew said that there's difference between success and transformation. A church can grow its membership and still not affect its community.
"You have to decide - are we here to grow a church, or are we here to make a difference?" Ballew said.
Secondly is spiritual transformation even a mechanical process. Yes behavior is a part of it, but in many way it is secondary - resultant from much deeper acting my the Holy Spirit in the lives of man individuals. Can we squeeze the Holy Spirit into a survey?
Mentoring, apprenticing, these words keep coming to my mind. I cannot help but think these are where the difference will be told.
church growth tools transformation
