November 2008 AND FOLLOW-ME STUDY

Church-Related Activities Church-Related Activities Are Most Catalytic to Spiritual Growth in the Early Stages Exploring Christianity Weekend Services Growing in Christ Weekend Services Small Groups Serving in Church Ministry Close to Christ Serving People in Need Through my Church Christ- Centered

Spiritual Behaviors With Others Four Spiritual Behaviors with Others Are Catalytic to Personal Spiritual Growth: Spiritual Friendships Spiritual Mentors Serving Those in Need On My Own Evangelism Exploring Christianity Growing in Christ Spiritual Mentors Close to Christ Spiritual Mentors Christ- Centered Serving Those in Need on My Own Spiritual Mentors Evangelism

Movement Between Four Categories  Movement 1  The Earliest Stage of Spiritual Growth. People gain the initial understanding of the Christian faith and accept that Jesus Christ offers the only path to salvation. They move from the Exploring Christ stage to the Growing in Christ segment. It is all about Christian fundamentals. The impact of the church is most significant in this movement stage.

 Movement 2  The Intermediate Stage of Spiritual Growth: People become more active in their spiritual experiences as they progress from the Growing in Christ stage to a more intimate Close to Christ relationship. It is hinged on developing a routine of personal spiritual practices that feed a growing intimacy with Christ. Movement Between Four Categories

 Movement 3  The Most Advanced Stage of Spiritual Growth: A person’s faith shifts from a daily awareness of Christ’s presence and involvement in their life to a redefinition of a person’s identity based on their relationship with Christ, Christ Centered relationship. This is made up of those who have fully surrendered their lives to Christ and pour out their hearts to Him through outreach activities.

Important Catalysts for Movement Three People This is a time of spiritual generosity. Attitudes about giving away my time, money, faith and life increase dramatically in this group’s spiritual growth. This segment has the highest levels of serving, evangelism and tithing. Spiritual growth is stoked internally. They need a high level of encouragement and coaching that calls out spiritual behavior so aligned with their heart. They need the church to engage them as full partners in a divine pact of fulfilling the Great Commission and Great Commandment.

Dissatisfied Segment There is a group that are Dissatisfied saying "My Church Is Letting Me Down” Almost one out of five (17%) in the Total Sample are “dissatisfied” with the role their church plays in helping them grow spiritually. These “dissatisfied” people are most likely to say they are considering leaving the church. They are unhappy with their church and tend to come from the segments that are more Christ-focused. Therefore they are some of the most involved in the church, but they are also ones who are trying to grow in their faith.

Stalled Spiritually Segment  They seem to include people at the beginning of their faith journey who have run into difficult life circumstances or come face-to-face with a personal weakness that is incomparable with following Christ. More than one out of five people (23%) in the Total Sample reported that they are currently “stalled” in their spiritual growth. Virtually all people at all levels say that they were “stalled” at some point in their spiritual development.

Christ Centered Missing the Mark There is a major gap between loving God and loving others in their lives. –Loving God was recorded by 78% of this group –Loving Others only by 30% of this group –The love of God is 2-1/2 times higher then loving others. The good news is 60% of this group serve inside their church with 50% serving outside their church once a month or more. The bad news is that 40% don’t serve the church and nearly 50% don’t serve their neighbor once a month or more. In addition 70% do not serve those in need through their church at least once a month.

What’s Needed for This Group To Move Forward The heart is there but there is a need for an encouraging challenging to serve others by church leadership. They need teaching and coaching how to do this based on what is working and help them be successful. There needs to be opportunities through the church to reach out to others.

What Willow Creek Did They needed to coach people in the next steps. Because people wanted detailed plans with spelled out steps for movement they began to develop on-line courses that fit individuals interest and time needs. They began to include coaching as part of helping their people. They needed to increase the impact of their weekend services. They developed a journal that provide a place for people to record their responses to thoughtful and compelling questions based on the previous’ Sunday message. It also listed reference books and other resources they could use to go deeper.

What Willow Creek Did They changed their mid-week services so that people had a full range of learning activities that met the wide multiple interests of people. All people were regularly encouraged to participate in this broader equipping for ministry. They wanted opportunities for everyone, regardless of where they were on the spiritual continuum, to learn, grown and become more like Christ. They began to offered a broader portfolio of targeted experiences and resources to catalyze movement. They began to different types of activities –To build a Biblical community –Activities to encourage Christ like service.

Application to Neighborhood Transformation Many times the lay people who come to our segmented training are not actively involved in their church in serving. They are people who had not stepped forward to be an usher, Sunday school teacher etc. They seemed to probably belong to Category 3 or 4 in terms of the Reveal study. They seemed to have a spiritual maturity that appeared to be self feeding and not dependent on small groups in their church. On the most part they felt reaching out to people outside of the churches four walls was what was expected of a Christian walking faithfully with God. But they wanted a track to accomplish this.  Most were tired of seeing things done for people therefore they had some desire to empower others.

Application to Neighborhood Transformation NT provides the proven tested approach that equips church people to reach outside their church through their church to begin to serve people in need. It is built on empowering people to do things for themselves built on the assets they have. There is a structured step by step approach that lay people in the 4th category want in order to be successful therefore it becomes fun to do. There are over 1000 lessons that the team reaching out to near by neighborhoods can use so they do not have to create new products. NT is all about putting individuals personal walk with God into action reaching out to the under-served.

Application to Neighborhood Transformation Learning is offered in small bites through segmented training as well as on the web that helps build their understanding and skills. The approach is based on the Bible and deals with the whole person in all areas of their lives; physical, spiritual, social and emotional that transforms their lives. The outcome is not just to change one individual but equips them to multiply what they have learned to others. When individuals in a neighborhood are aggregated together they begin to change their neighborhood from the inside out.