During the recent period when we went to virtual services, the elders used this time to work on a project they’ve been focused on for a while.
It started back a couple of years ago when Bryan Scarbrough (Deacon of Education) came up with the idea of doing a survey to measure the spiritual health of the congregation. He called it the “Spiritual Health Assessment” (SHA). The assessment is divided into three sections: Reaching Up, Reaching In, and Reaching Out. You might recognize that as Central’s mission statement. It corresponds nicely to the tri-fold mission of the church: to glorify God, build up the body of Christ, and seek and save the lost (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31, 1 Ths. 5:11, Matt. 28:19-20).
Each section in the assessment will have eight statements designed to gauge one’s knowledge and activity with regards to the subject under consideration. We will be asked to respond to these statements by using a scale from 1 - 5, where “1” indicates “Does not describe me”, “3” indicates “Sometimes describes me”, and “5” indicates “Almost always describes me”.
For instance, in the first section (Reaching Up), the fourth statement is — “I have a deep desire to spend time with God in private and corporate worship.”
You might respond to that by circling - “1 - Does not describe me”, which would indicate that you feel you do not have a strong desire right now to worship God whether it be at home or in the assembly. Or you might respond (And I hope you do!) — “5 - Almost always describes me”. The point is to be honest.
Please understand: each assessment will be completed and submitted anonymously and the Elders will review them before anyone else sees them.
The Elders will use the responses gathered from the SHA with the following goals in mind:
(1) They will use the information to improve and strengthen our education program. For instance, if the assessment were to reveal that a majority of the congregation did not believe in the authority of God’s Word, the Elders would make that a priority in our teaching program. The goal here is to make sure we are teaching what is needed by this congregation so that we fulfill the command given by Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13 —
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, {12} to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up {13} until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
(2) They will use the information to improve the work of the church. For instance, if the assessment suggested that there are many who wish to be more involved in the work of evangelism but feel that there are limited opportunities, the Elders will add more programs and improve our efforts in this area.
I’m excited about this effort! I think there are times when I have stepped into the pulpit or stepped behind a podium and wondered — “Am I teaching what the church really needs right now? Is there something else I should be dealing with?”
This spiritual survey will go a long way in helping us answer that question.
Beginning Sunday morning, October 10, I will begin a three-part series of lessons wherein we will examine each statement in the SHA and consider its underlying question in light of the Scriptures.