Quick Assessment Analysis . . .
for The TurnOut Solution Seminar/Workshop

This Quick Assessment Analysis is designed to help you process the Quick Assessment that you have taken following the TurnOut Solution Seminar or Workshop. The brief explanations below will help you determine the best way to make your assessment selections. Once you have completed and scored the assessment, other information will help you understand what your results mean, and perhaps what next steps to take.

Part 1: Based on presentation material including Distinctive Characteristics of
Incline, Recline and Decline, the I.D. of a Church, and the Upside-Down
Church.

Select the phrase that most describes your church:

1. a. A church is future-oriented when it’s looking ahead, making decisions today in light of their implications for tomorrow. The future is never compromised for the sake of the present. This church knows where it is going and doesn’t compromise.

b. A church is present-oriented when it’s making its decisions based on
what it perceives would enhance the ministry of the moment. These leaders would like to freeze time and capture an “eternal present.”
“If only every Sunday could be like this Sunday!”

c. A church that is past-oriented is nostalgically looking back to a former
day in the history of the church when things seemed so much better. “If
only we could go back to the way it was when Rev. So-and-So was here!”

2. a. A church is vision-driven when it has a defined vision for the future and is using that vision as the basis for developing strategic ministries and as the criterion for decision-making and resource allocation.

b. A church is program-driven when it views the operation of programs as
the church priority and measuring stick. The support of those programs is the criterion for decision-making and resource allocation.

c. A church is structure driven when it views buildings, grounds, policies,
procedures, boards, committees, etc., as the priority. Present and future ministry is bound by antiquated structure that, though unproductive, continues to hold authority.

3. a. A church is community-focused when the primary group of people in
view for the focus of ministry is the group of people from the community that need to be reached. The group is given priority in terms of decision-making and resource allocation.

b. A church is congregation-focused when the primary group of people
in view for the focus of ministry is the congregation within the church, the already reached. Community comes second as the first priority goes to
the congregation’s wants and needs.

c. A church is core-focused when the primary group of people in view for
the focus of ministry is a small sub-set of people who have stayed with the church through it’s decline. The smaller the church gets, the more dominant this core becomes.

4. a. A church views money as an investor when it recognizes that stewardship demands that money be invested in ministry. It is a resource that God has provided to fuel strategic ministries that bear fruit for the kingdom, thirty-fold, sixty-fold, a hundred fold.

b. A church views money as a provider when it fails to invest in ministry, but sees money as a resource to keep current programs provided for. Ministry is strategy-based and is measured in terms of outcomes. Programs are activity-based and are measured in terms of operations.

c. A church views money as a preserver when it sees money primarily in terms of preserving the current state of the church, though that state is weak. The goal is survival or preservation rather than creating new ministry.

5. a. A church is growing by conversion when a large share of its numeric growth can be attributed to bringing lost people to Christ.

b. A church is growing by transfer when a large share of its growth can be attributed to the transfer of already Christian people into the church. In this case, the church is “growing” numerically, but the kingdom of God is not. The question is, “Is that really growth?”

c. A church is not growing numerically when no one is coming into the church either by conversion or transfer.

6. a. A church finds its identity in its vision when it thinks of itself in terms of its vision. When church people are approached with, “Tell me about your church,” the response is, “Our church has a vision to . . .”

b. A church finds its identity in its programs when it thinks of itself in terms of its programs. When church people are approached with, “Tell me about your church,” the response is, “Our church has two Sunday morning services, one traditional and one contemporary. We have a children’s ministry, a youth ministry, adult Sunday School, a mission program, etc.”

c. A church finds its identity in its structure when it thinks of itself in terms of its physical plant, its history, its polity, its policies and procedures, its organizational structure, its finances, etc. When church people are approached with, “Tell me about your church,” the response is, “We are the red brick building on the corner of 8th & Main Streets, or, “We are the oldest church in our denomination in the county,” etc.

7. a. A church is right-side up when its vision, strategy and structure are in proper alignment with vision on top and in the driver’s seat, supported by strategy to fulfill vision, and then supported by structure that provides the leadership and resourcing for vision and strategy.

b. A church begins to head toward being upside-down when its allows its vision to fade into the background. Strategy, then, is no longer strategic and evolves into being programs which are, then, supported by a program-driven structure.

c. A church is upside-down when the programs in b. collapse, leaving only structure. Structure, then, sees its role as self-preservation. Then when vision somehow begins to arise, instead of being on the top and in the driver’s seat, vision has to go to structure to ask permission, and structure says, “No,” because vision is seen as a threat to survival and self-preservation.

Scoring - Tally: #a’s _______ #b’s _______ #c’s _______
Given your responses, select the phrase that most describes your church:
a. A church is on the Incline when the majority of answers are a’s.
b. A church is on the Recline when the majority of answers are b’s.
c. A church is on the Decline when the majority of answers are c’s.

Note: If there is a balance between a’s and b’s or between b’s and c’s, that’s an indication that the church might be on the bubble, transitioning from Incline to Recline or from Recline to Decline. If the answers are split between a’s and c’s, labeled “goal-posting,” that’s an indication that there likely are two elements or factions in the church, one that reflects Inclining descriptors while the other reflects Declining descriptors.

 

Part 2: Based on Vital Signs presentation material including Ministry Capacity and the Ministry Capacity Matrix, Cultural Matching, the Activity of God, the Achan Principle, and Future Vision.

1. Select the phrase that most describes your church:
a. A church’s ministry capacity is increasing when, over time, it is doing more and more ministry and is doing that ministry better and better. There is a quantitative and qualitative gain in ministry.
b. A church’s ministry capacity is static when, over time, it is doing the same ministry the same way, over and over with no quantitative or qualitative gain.
c. A church’s ministry capacity is decreasing when, over time, it is doing less and less ministry and the quality of that ministry is compromised more and more. There is a quantitative and qualitative loss in ministry.

2. True or False:
a. A church is a good ethnic match with its community when the people inside the church reflect the ethnicity that is outside the church in the community.
b. A church is a good age match with its community when the people inside the church reflect the same age as those outside the church in the community.
c. A church is a good socio-economic match with its community when the people inside the church reflect the same socio-economic status as those outside the church in the community.d. A church is a good educational match with its community when the people inside the church reflect the same educational level as those outside the church in the community.
e. A church is prejudicial toward its community when it views the community in a negative way. For example, the people of the community are viewed as inferior in some way to those in the church; there is a racial or social bias, or an educational or socio-economic sense of superiority on the part of church people. This can be very subtle, such as seeing those in the community as unreachable, or as not being leadership types, or as in not being able to help the church financially even if reached.
f. A church is a good cultural match with its community when there is commonality with the community in the areas of ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, and educational level, among others.
g. The positive activity of God can be seen in the church when there are occurrences within the ministry of the church that are only, and unmistakably, the hand of God. No other explanation of human effort or enterprise will suffice.
h. There are no unresolved issues of sin in the history of a church when that church has taken care to resolve such issues biblically and in a timely manner. Church discipline is properly being exercised.
i. Church leaders have a defined vision for the church’s future when they can articulate a discerned vision in specific terms, including strategies and timetables.

Scoring:
1. Increasing ministry capacity is an indicator of positive church health.

Static ministry capacity is an indicator of fading church health.

Decreasing ministry capacity is an indicator of negative church health.

2. All True responses are indicators of positive church health.

All False responses are indicators of negative church health.

Given your responses, place your church on the health continuum.

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What does this mean? Where do we go from here?

It is our belief that all churches should be developing or redeveloping all the time. Churches that are Inclining and healthy now need to continue to develop and to keep the vision alive and growing. Churches that are Reclining or Declining need to redevelop, putting authority back into vision and beginning a new season of Incline. Make note of the principle that redevelopment will range from moderate to severe depending on the lifecycle stage of the church. The deeper the church is into the lifecycle, the more severe the treatment.

United Front Ministries offers comprehensive training, coaching and assessment for churches in Incline, Recline or Decline. Inclining churches and churches in early Recline should consider becoming part of a Project 2:47 cluster. Churches in long-term Recline or Decline should consider becoming part of a Project 6:15 cluster.

Whether you use the ministry of United Front or not isn’t the main concern. The main concern is that you find a ministry that is right for your church. You might find what you need outside of United Front, but we are here for you. If you have attended The TurnOut Solution Seminar or Workshop, ask yourself these questions:

Do these United Front people know what they’re talking about?

Does the United Front process of 6:15 or 2:47 makes sense for us?

If you can answer, “Yes,” to these two questions, please get in touch with us so that we can begin ministering to you and your church now. Check out our website at www.unitedfrontministries.com.

If you need additional information or would like to discuss anything regarding the seminar, the workshop, or the Quick Assessment, please contact United Front Ministries today.