How do you feel about the church’s role in your spiritual growth?
Cally Parkinson reports the latest findings of the REVEAL study, a nationwide church health survey, in her new book Rise. She shares the importance of church transformation and describes healthy attributes for congregations that are thriving.
The REVEAL study wasn’t asking people if they were simply satisfied with their church, it was more about finding out how much their church is helping them grow spiritually.
These 3 factors were found to be a common thread in thriving congregations.
• Helps congregations understand the Bible.
• Helps congregations develop a personal relationship with Christ.
• Challenges congregations to grow and take next steps.
If you answered yes to all of the above, most likely your church falls into the category of being a ‘church on the move.’
“When the congregants are just fired up about how well the church is doing those three things…that’s when the church is really on the move.”
Churches that are ‘on the move’ are more likely to preach the Bible in order to take the church to the next level. Cally explains another way to help transform an entire congregation:
“If the church could only do one thing to help their people grow spiritually, it would be to get them to reflect on scripture every day for meaning in their life. Open the Bible, reflect on scripture, listen to God for meaning in your life.”
Most pastors would say agree! So why aren’t people doing it?
Cally shares more of the results from the REVEAL survey.
“I’ve got churches where less than 5% of the people reflect on scripture every day for meaning in their lives. I’ve got churches where it’s 40%, and that’s about as high as it goes; 40-45 % of the people reflect on scripture for meaning in their lives every day.”
As we take time to reflect the attributes of our own churches, Cally reminds us to think back on the 3 common factors found in churches on the rise.
“It really goes back to this ‘helps me’ kind of attitude related to the churches that have the most thriving congregations. It’s helping me become capable of hearing God’s Word on my own so I can lean into that every day, for every decision and move I make.”
