Guest Blogger: Paul Mathewson - Assessing Church Health: Are You an A, B, C or D Church?

Assessing the overall health of your church can seem like a daunting task that raises more questions than it answers: How do we go about it? Do we need outside help? How long will it take? What will we do with the results? But not all churches need or have the ability to complete an in-depth, comprehensive church health assessment. Sometimes asking simple diagnostic questions can bring valuable insight into the state of church health and corrective action steps to consider.

With a hat tip to CB Northwest for turning us on to this topic, we present a quick and easy way to make an initial evaluation of relative church health that may prove to be a helpful tool for discussion with your leadership team.

Ask yourself and your team, “Are we an A, B, C or D church?”

“A” churches are Already _____________ (you fill in the blank). These are churches that are already on a specific, well-defined mission that is their version of living out the great commandment and great commission in the place and for the people where God has them. It could mean that they are already planting or preparing to plant a daughter congregation, already involved in a well-defined outreach endeavor into their community, already reaching business people, or school-age kids or some other specific age or stage target. But whatever their unique mission is, “A” churches can confidently say, “We are already actively involved in achieving it.”

“B” churches are Becoming interested in ________________ (you fill in the blank). These are churches that are investigating, evaluating and counting the cost of a major shift in emphasis or embracing a new church-wide strategy for greater ministry impact. They may be becoming interested in a new type of worship service, or planting a church, or a wholly new outreach strategy, or reaching a new demographic target. But whatever gets put in the blank, these are churches that desire to do whatever it takes to pursue their god-given mission and are open to embracing the necessary change(s) to get there. “B” churches are not content with the status-quo.

“C” churches are Change resistant. These are churches that may see the need for adopting new strategies and methods but various factors cause them to be resistant to embracing the necessary change(s) to put them on a more effective ministry footing. They may be stuck in a rut of always doing things a certain way, or they may be so internally focused that church activities are designed entirely for members with no realistic effort or resources committed to reaching new people and leading them to faith.

“D” churches are Dead or dying. As strong a statement as that sounds, some churches have been in gradual decline for so long that, absent an intentional shift in strategy, they will eventually die out. The first step in addressing the needs of a dead or dying church is to acknowledge and own up to their true condition so corrective action steps can be considered.

Why Assign a Letter to My Church?

What’s the value in assigning a letter grade to your church? Knowing where you are is the first step in determining where you need to go. Getting a leadership team to a point of consensus as to whether a church can best be described as A, B, C or D can be an enlightening exercise in and of itself. Once you’ve (hopefully) reached agreement, the next step usually takes the form of asking, “What do we need to do to move to the next level? If we acknowledge we are change resistant, what can we do to put ourselves on a path to become interested in something greater, something new?” What would have to happen to move from “B” to “A”, etc?

Mission Mid-Atlantic can Help

If this exercise sparks your interest and you’d like help working through it with your leadership team, or if you’ve already worked through it and want to discuss possible next steps, Mission Mid-Atlantic is there for you. Contact Associate Director Paul Mathewson, pmath1@comcast.net; 215-407-0227 for more information.