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ãFall 2017 VitalChurch. All rights reserved. 1

DEMOGRAPHIC

ASSESSMENT Final Report

41 Stevens St.

P.O. Box 325

E. Taunton MA 02718

cccfamily.com

By Dr. Chet Ainsworth

VitalChurch Diagnostic Team Lead Analyst

with

Rochelle Ainsworth (M.A. Ed.)

vitalchurchministry.org


VitalChurch is a US-based Church Resource Ministry (CRM) sub-team that fuels missional

momentum in churches and their leaders through bringing restoration to churches in transition by

returning churches and leaders to a place of intimacy with God, community with each other, and

missional ministry.

Church Resource Ministries (CRM) empowers leaders to revitalize the impact of the Church, take

new ground beyond the reach of the Church, and bring transformation among the poor, so that

communities are transformed and disciples are made among the nations.

VitalChurch accomplishes strategic and effective ministry through three divisions:

1. Church Diagnostics (Gregg Caruso, VitalChurch Partner and Diagnostics Team Leader)

2. Intentional Interim Pastorates (Dave Miles, VitalChurch Partner and Executive Director)

3. Pastoral Coaching (Dave Brooks, VitalChurch Partner and Pastoral Coaching Team Leader)

4. CEO Mike Merwin

VitalChurch Office: (314) 603-7668

Admin Assistant: Laurel Schumacher

vitalchurchministry.org


Table of Contents

I. Introduction

How to Make the Most of This Report ......................................................................................... 5

A Biblical Basis for Ministry Assessment .................................................................................... 5

The Diagnostic Team ........................................................................................................................... 6

II. Executive Summary

Definition of Terms .............................................................................................................................. 6

Introduction/Overview ...................................................................................................................... 7

Findings from the Survey ................................................................................................................... 7

Strengths to Build On ....................................................................................................................... 14

Critical Issues with Recommendations ..................................................................................... 17

1-Page Overview of Core Issues & Recommendations ...................................................... 21

III. Appendices Database with Initial Analysis ..................................................................................................... 22

Section 1: Who Are We? (Internal Demographic Data) .................................................... 22

Age ................................................................................................................................................... 22

Generational Groups ................................................................................................................ 22

Average Tenure .......................................................................................................................... 25

Normal Tenure Development ............................................................................................... 26

Gender ............................................................................................................................................ 30

Relational Status ........................................................................................................................ 30

Membership ................................................................................................................................. 32

Demographic Summary ........................................................................................................... 32

Section 2: Shared Pilgrimages ................................................................................................ 33

Years a Christian ........................................................................................................................ 33

Status When You Came ........................................................................................................... 34

Historic Church Backgrounds ............................................................................................... 35

What Keeps You Coming ........................................................................................................ 36

Miles to Church ........................................................................................................................... 37

Came as a Christian/Rate of Adult Evangelism .............................................................. 38

Influenced to Attend ................................................................................................................ 39

Shared Pilgrimage Summary ................................................................................................. 41

Section 3: Ministry Potential ................................................................................................. 42

Missionality ................................................................................................................................. 42

Non-church Attending Friends ............................................................................................. 42

Close Church Friends ............................................................................................................... 43

Church Involvements ............................................................................................................... 43

Who Attends Each Service ..................................................................................................... 45

Why Not Small Groups ............................................................................................................ 49

Confident to Share the Gospel ............................................................................................. 50


Spiritually Growing .................................................................................................................... 50

Regular Financial Contributions .......................................................................................... 51

Welcome and Include Visitors .............................................................................................. 51

Interrelatedness ......................................................................................................................... 51

Conclusions on Ministry Potential ...................................................................................... 52

Section 4: Quality of Fellowship ........................................................................................... 53

Belonging and Acceptance ..................................................................................................... 54

CCC Data ....................................................................................................................................... 55

Factors that Influence Acceptance and Belonging ....................................................... 60

Conclusions from Quality of Fellowship ........................................................................... 65

Section 5: Looking at Relational Gender Differences at CCC ..................................... 66

Differences in Gender Expectations .................................................................................. 67

Differences in “Experienced” Acceptance and Belonging ......................................... 68

Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 76

Strategy to Change Relational Culture ............................................................................. 77

Section 6: Other Questions .................................................................................................... 79

CCC a Safe Place to Share What is Going On in Your Life ......................................... 79

Current Feelings about CCC ................................................................................................. 79

Vision, Plans, and Goals ........................................................................................................... 80

CCC’s Potential for Growth ................................................................................................... 81

Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 82

Section 7: Theology ................................................................................................................... 82

Understanding of the gospel ................................................................................................. 82

Assurance of salvation ............................................................................................................. 83

Evangelistic mandate ................................................................................................................ 84

Section 8: Full SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................... 85

Section 9: The “High Expectation” Church Model ........................................................... 89


I. INTRODUCTION

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THIS REPORT This ministry assessment report will be a mirror back to the church reflecting what the

people at Christ Community Church (hereafter CCC) have said. The report is organized in

three sections:

1. Begin in this Introduction by reading the biblical basis for ministry assessment. These

are for both personal and corporate consideration.

2. Next, read the Executive Summary, which is the “heart” of the report and identifies the

key strengths CCC can build on as well as highlighting strategic conclusions with specific

recommendations made in response to the issues discerned from the survey. This section

brings up issues of both concern and opportunity and also offers practical

recommendations for addressing the highlighted issues. Taking these recommendations

to heart will assist both leaders and congregants of CCC to make the most of this

transition season.

3. Then, study the Database with Analysis section. Charts and graphs tell some of the

story of your church. As mentioned above, they mirror the responses you gave in the

initial data collection. This database and analysis section will help you better understand

core issues and recommendations. Each section of the Database with Analysis has a

summary.

A BIBLICAL BASIS FOR MINISTRY ASSESSMENT If Jesus visited your church, how would He evaluate CCC? If Jesus took five minutes to

speak to you, what might He say? These are sobering questions for any church. They are

questions that you would do well to consider. When Jesus addressed the seven churches

in the book of Revelation, He spoke both affirmation and rebuke. The objective of this

report is similar.

1 Timothy 4:15-16 (NASB) is one passage of Scripture that provides a biblical reference

point for this assessment. The Apostle Paul, as a father in the faith, is instructing young

Pastor Timothy in pastoral responsibilities by saying:

“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” --1 Tim. 4:15-16


These two verses offer a context for ministry evaluation. Note that the stated goal is not

perfection, but progress (v.15) and that consistent and thorough evaluation of yourselves and

your message leads to a furtherance of the gospel (v.16). This process requires courage

because you must be willing to consider and confront the facts of your current reality,

whatever they might be.

THE DIAGNOSTIC TEAM Two individuals were responsible for the preparation of this report.

Dr. Chet Ainsworth (M.Div., D.Min.) VitalChurch Lead Analyst, Diagnostic Team. Chet is married to Rochelle and lives in Mountain Center CA. Chet has a D.Min. in Church

Growth. He is a Senior Birkman Consultant, coaching ministry teams and individuals as

well as helping pastoral search teams make good choices. Chet specializes in diagnostic

analysis with the VitalChurch team.

Rochelle Ainsworth, (M.A. Ed.) VitalChurch Editor and Collaborator. Rochelle is married

to Chet and serves as editor/collaborator for Chet’s projects. Rochelle is a retired

educator and has Advanced Birkman Certification doing church leader individual

coaching, and team building with her husband.

II. CCC EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A. Definition of Terms

Vital and Recurring Terms in this report include:

• New Attenders: those who have attended this church for five years or less

• Intermediate Attenders: those who have attended this church more than five

years, but less than 20 years

• Pioneers: those who have attended this church for 20 years or more

• Teens: people less than 20 years of age

• Millennials: people who are currently 20-37 years of age

• Gen-X: people who are currently 38-52 years of age

• Boomers: people who are currently 53-71 years of age

• Silents: people who are currently Seniors between 72 and 92 years of age

Note: Most of the analysis and graphics in this report were generated in Excel. Excel

tends to remember the numbers before they were rounded off. As such, occasionally the

total of the numbers in the graph can vary slightly by plus or minus 1%.


B. Overview/Introduction

Two hundred seventy-six (276) people participated in the survey that is the basis of this

report. Given the actual number of people who consider CCC their church, this is a limited

sample especially since nothing was in place to ensure that this was a representative

sample. However, it is a big enough sample to do a reasonable job of detecting trends at

CCC. The report will tell what the survey says. The assumption is that this data will be

useful to the leaders at CCC and, if some items are truly not representative of the whole

church, local leaders will be able to make appropriate adjustments.

Christ Community Church is in many ways an exceptional church. Its size alone makes it

exceptional. That the church has had periods of exceptional growth makes it exceptional.

That it has twice run smack into a brick wall and survived makes it exceptional.

This report is limited in its scope. The report addresses two issues: “Who is coming?” and

“How are we connected?” CCC already has Gregg Caruso as its intentional interim. A

number of issues will be addressed by his presence. There is already a recognition that

CCC needs to redefine its vision, plans, and goals. It is already recognized that church

leadership needs training and better job descriptions. A “Transition” Leadership Team is

already in place. This report will not attempt to address the vision and leadership issues.

One of the specific goals is to determine what needs to be done to strengthen the small

group program at the church. A number of specific goals for improving small groups is

included in this report.

What follows is a concise list of the findings of the survey.

C: The Findings from the Survey

Interpretative Note: The role of the executive summary is to present the objective

findings from the survey analysis as a basis for making the recommendations. In the case

of CCC, it is also important to understand the appropriate church model that actually

seems to be operating in the church. CCC seems to fit what Lyle Schaller calls a “high

expectation” church. This differs significantly from most churches that Schaller would call

“low expectation” churches. This church model is helpful because it provides the

framework for understanding why CCC has been effective in reaching such a diversity of

people. Section 9: of the Appendix (at the end of this report) examines this model.

Attraction: Who Is Coming?

CCC’s attraction model is continuing to attract people even without a senior pastor. CCC

attracts people who expect to do something because of their faith. They want to be part


of something significant for the Kingdom of God. Only eight percent (8%) of current

attenders cite that they primarily come to CCC because it is the “right thing to do.” Forty-

two percent (42%) of current attenders have started attending in the past five years. Of

those who took the survey, 8% of survey participants have begun attending in the past

year. CCC is continuing to attract people even while not having a senior pastor in place.

It does need to be recognized that CCC has historically reached those that are now

Boomers most effectively. Almost half of all current attenders (46%) are Boomers.

Another third (32%) are Gen Xers. The remaining 22% are divided between Millennials

(12%) and 5% each Teens and Silents. There is evidence that CCC is not doing as good of

job reaching Millennials as it has the next higher age groups.

The current trend of New Attenders is slightly modifying the historical make-up of the

church. The largest number of New Attenders are Gen Xers (40%), though Boomers (37%)

are not far behind. Most of the rest are Millennials at 15%. Therefore, we are beginning to

see a shift toward those with somewhat lower ages.

If we look specifically at what groups are actually changing in size, we see additional

trends. Two groups are increasing in proportional size. Both Millennials and Gen Xers are

made up of 52% New Attenders. Over half of them have started in the past five years.

The criterion for growth is 40% or more of New Attenders (the number generally needed

for a group to add more than it typically loses over the same time period). By the 40%

New Attender criterion, both the Boomers (34%) and the Silents (21%) are losing ground.

CCC is increasingly reaching younger adults better than it has historically done. That

pattern needs to be supported and encouraged.

However, there are two red flags in this picture. One involves the Millennials and the

other involves the Boomers. Both will be discussed in the “Four Red Flags” section that

follows.

How are We Connected? The second goal of this report is to look at how CCCers are connected. They are

connected in many excellent ways. One of the most amazing ways, given the diversity of

religious backgrounds at CCC, is that attenders have a common understanding of basic

Biblical theology, especially the Gospel. Another outstanding connection is the quality of

fellowship among the men that is exceptional. Also, the church is united around the idea

that being a Christian means doing something for the kingdom of God. That 14% are

directly involved in outreach programs is truly amazing. The outreach is unusually good.


The church is reaching people of all age groups for Christ. The church is made up of new,

middle, and long-term Christians who are making the journey of the Christian life

together. There is a reasonable level of participation in small groups. The list goes on and

on. A good listing of what connects the people of CCC is found in the “strengths” section

of the SWOT.

However, related to goal of how CCCers are connected is the question: How can CCC be

better connected? What are the bottlenecks that keep CCC from being all that it can and

should be? Four major issues (red flags) show up in the survey data. All involve quality of

fellowship.

It is important to understand what quality of fellowship involves. It is best explained at

the beginning of Section 4: Quality of Fellowship. In briefest terms, quality of fellowship is

a measure of the degree that a church provides a family-like relationship for its members.

Lyle Schaller uses the words “acceptance and belonging” to describe it.

Four Yellow Flags: Connectedness Issues

Overall, CCCers desire a slightly below average level of acceptance and belonging

(45%ile) compared to other churches (50%ile) where VitalChurch has been.

However, the desire for acceptance and belonging in the church is not uniform across

either the tenure or the generational groups at CCC. Tenure groups range from very low

for Pioneers to slightly above average for Intermediates as a group. The Millennials (and

Teens) want to experience a very high level of acceptance and belonging (94%ile). At the

other end, Boomers clearly want a much more limited degree of interpersonal

involvement at 19%ile.


(1) The first yellow flag involves the Millennials. Millennials are known for their

relational-ness. They expect to share what is going on in their lives in ways that older

generations find hard to believe. The problem is that most Millennials are not finding the CCC organizational structures to provide the close relational support that they feel they need.

They are considerably disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing

(two thirds of the available scale lower than what they said they wanted). If CCC expects

to reach this age group effectively, adjustments need to be made to remedy this situation

so that Millennials feel fully supported and become more involved in the church. A helpful

book about Millennials is The Millennials, Connecting to America’s Largest Generation. 1

Interpretative Note: Millennials at CCC present a very complex picture. There seems to

be three distinct groups of them.

• New Attending Millennials who participate in small groups are satisfied with their

relational experience at CCC, but those who don’t participate are dissatisfied.

• There is a very small group of Pioneer Millennials whose relational expectations

and experiences are average and who are satisfied with their relational experience.

• The third group is made of all Intermediate Millennials and New Attending

Millennials who do not participate in small groups. This group is extremely

disappointed with the relationships that they are experiencing at CCC to the point

of crisis. This is also the most diverse group with mostly female members and many

of the women are “never unmarried.”

(2) The second yellow flag involves the Boomers. The Boomers as a group do not

prioritize personal involvements and most are, for the most part, satisfied with limited

interpersonal relationships. The situation is actually more complicated than this and is

discussed at length in Section 5. However, it is a fair statement to say that Boomers as a

group have gotten into a long term, deep rut of minimizing interpersonal relationships.

There are Boomers who want to be relational, but are not getting their way.

This resistance to being relational creates a problem. Future potential Boomer attenders will want to find a meaningful level of relational support at CCC that does currently exist in their age group. In all probability, this is the reason that the Boomers only have 34% New

Attenders.

(3) The third yellow flag is a product of CCC’s interrelatedness. CCC is 38% interrelated.

Often this level of relatedness will turn a church into an effective clan from the

perspective of newcomers and tends to make non-related people feel left out. People

1Thom S. Rainer and Jess W. Rainer (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2011), 288 pages.


with relatives in the church tend to not need other relationships in the church to the same

degree as those without family. Those with family in the church often do not make the

effort to effectively include new people who lack family. Data in the survey clearly shows

that interrelatedness is having a negative effect on those who lack family in the church,

especially New Attenders. New Attenders with family in the church tend to find the level

of acceptance and belonging that they desire while those without family in the church are

significantly disappointed (disappointment gap of 33%ile). Newcomers to CCC without family need a higher level of support when they first come to CCC until they are fully assimilated.

(4) Yellow Flag number four involves the women of CCC. CCC presents the unusual

situation in that men and women start with the same expectations regarding acceptance

and belonging but experience totally different outcomes. Men, as a group, are

experiencing an exceptional quality of fellowship while women, as a group, are

significantly disappointed in the quality of fellowship they are experiencing.

There are two groups of women that need to be considered. The first is the New

Attending women of all generations who come with high hopes of finding a family-like set

of relationships. In general, the Intermediate women (those attending more than 5 years)

are used to a much lower level of interpersonal involvement. The interaction between

these two groups leads to disappointment when New Attending women discover the low

quality of fellowship being offered by more tenured women. Currently, there is a serious

mismatch of expectations between the two groups.

The second group of women to be considered are the Intermediates, themselves. Even

though they have lower expectations, they are significantly disappointed in the quality of

fellowship that they are experiencing. Intermediate Gen Xer women idealize a 19%ile

level of relationships, but only experience a 6%ile level (less than a third of what they said

they wanted). Intermediate Boomer women idealize a 25%ile level of relationships, but

are only experiencing a 4%ile level (less than a fifth of what they said they wanted). The

data strongly suggests that even Intermediate women are ready for a change.

Two variables seem to be present in the current relational disappointment of women.

One is small groups. Participation in small groups is a major positive factor, except for

Boomer women. Boomer women do not seem to benefit significantly from their

participation in small groups. The reason is unknown.

The second factor is the degree that women feel “safe to share what is going on in their

lives.” Surprisingly, it is New Attending women who feel most safe in sharing. As a group,


Gen Xer women feel safe to share. However, Intermediate Millennial and Boomer women

feel less safe in doing this kind of sharing. One has to ask why so many women who have

attended the church for years feel like that they cannot share what is going on in their

lives.

There is a serious potential for changing the quality of fellowship of women at CCC.

Virtually all New Attending women would be pleased. Almost half of Intermediate women

would be pleased. It is time for women who want meaningful relationship to push for

what they want and overcome the rutted, low expectations of the past.

An Opportunity

Sixty-five percent (65%) of New Attenders come from non-Evangelical backgrounds.

Most of these people have never experienced true Christian fellowship. CCC has a unique

opportunity to show these people the benefits of being part of the supportive family of

God.

One of the goals of this survey was to find ways to increase involvement in small groups.

The “red flags” section has defined a number of focuses that would be helpful in

accomplishing that end.

Evangelism and Outreach In some ways, looking at evangelism and outreach belongs in the “who CCC is reaching

section.” However, even at CCC, most people are coming from some variety of church

backgrounds. What is distinct about CCC is that reaching people through evangelism is

exceptionally high and, for that reason, it deserves separate consideration.

Evangelism is clearly an area where CCC shines. Among those who took the survey, 14%

are products of the evangelism effort of CCC. Ten percent of current attenders have been

Christians five years or less. At CCC, there is an amazing mixture of new, medium, and

long-term Christians. The following graph shows excellent results are across the board.


The graph above is fully explained in the report. Our current focus is on the bottom line of

the graph, the rate of evangelism. Fourteen percent of New Attenders are new Christians.

Twelve percent of Millennials are also products of CCC’s evangelistic efforts, though not

necessarily in the past five years. All groups except Silents show a substantial rate of evangelism.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the evangelism picture at CCC is the presence of a

substantial group (14%) that are active in “outreach Mid-city and other.” CCCers are

active in their outreach efforts and the results are evident.

However, at the same time, CCCers seem to be weak on inviting people to their church.

At least 66% to 90% of visitors to the church should be coming because of being invited by

church people or because of some relational reason. The actual rate among those who

have been attending five years or less is 40%. CCCers need to be encouraged to invite people to their church. It needs to be said that CCCers are good at welcoming new people (79%). New Attenders

agree that they were well-welcomed (80%). The level of “welcoming” is good, but

effective assimilation is weak especially among those without family in the church.

Other evidences of the evangelistic activity include the kinds of people that CCC is

reaching. Twenty-four percent (24%) of New Attenders report that they were “not

attending any church” when they came to CCC. Some of this group are new converts and

some are “recovered former church attenders.” Both are important.


It is significant that the largest group of New Attenders come from Catholic backgrounds

(35%). “Other Protestant” (18%), or even “No church background” (10%) shows that

significant new Christian commitments are very common at CCC. Sixty-five percent (65%) of New Attenders come from non-Evangelical backgrounds.

Given this diversity of backgrounds, it is amazing the consistent level of evangelical

understanding of what being a “Biblical” Christian means. Ninety-five percent of current

attenders know that salvation is the gift of God by faith in what Jesus accomplished on the

cross. Ninety-four percent have assurance of salvation. Ninety-nine percent understand

that a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith. An amazing 84% of current

attenders feel confident to share their faith with non-Christians. New Attenders show an

amazing degree of understanding and acceptance of the gospel message that CCC is

offering to its area of ministry. Finally, 90% of New Attenders say they are “growing in

their faith.” The “high expectation” model is working well. People are getting the message

clearly and are being transformed by it.

Vision—Defining the Goals and Objectives If CCC is a “high expectation” church, the vision, plans, and goals are more important than

ever. Many “low expectation” churches are content with “being” the people of God with


almost no action requirement. Not so at CCC. CCC needs to very specifically know its

objectives and know how to measure progress towards accomplishing its goals. Without

defined goals to be accomplished, CCCers are going to be bored and will waste away. Of

first importance, well-define goals must be set before the people. CCCers want and

expect to be challenged to do something for their faith. This expectation is what most

people who come to CCC find attractive.

C. CCC STRENGTHS TO BUILD ON:

Strengths

1. Generations

a. 46% Boomers

b. 32% Gen Xers

c. 12% Millennials

d. 5% Silents

2. Excellent Tenure Analysis

a. 42% New Attenders

b. 49% Intermediates

c. 10% Pioneers

3. CCC has continued to attract new people even between pastors (23 survey

participants started attending in the past year)

4. New Attender Pattern

a. 40% Gen Xers

b. 37% Boomers

c. 15% Millennials

d. 3% Silents

5. Proportional Growth (% of increase of New Attenders)

a. 52% Millennials

b. 52% Gen Xers

c. 34% Boomers (Boomers are largest, but not doing best in attracting and

assimilating newcomers)

d. 21% Silents (low growth group)

6. Wide variety of historic church backgrounds being reached

a. Catholic 39% Overall; 35% New Attenders

b. Evangelical (Bible-centered) 28% overall; 30% New Attenders

c. Other Protestant 20% overall; 18% New Attenders


d. No church background 6% overall; 10% New Attenders

e. Pentecostal/Charismatic 5% overall; 6% New Attenders

7. Status when people came to CCC

a. Other local churches 57% overall; 53% New Attenders

b. Did not attend any church 22% overall; 24% New Attenders

c. Moved into the area 18% overall; 22% New Attenders

d. Began attending with parents 3% overall; 1% New Attenders

8. Relational Status

a. 76% Currently married

b. 12% Never married (long term group—over half have attended 5+ yrs)

c. 8% Divorced (long term group—over half have attended 5+ yrs)

d. 3% Widowed

e. 1% Separated

9. Many New Christians (11% of current attenders less than 5 years)

10. What keeps people coming to CCC

a. Good balance between “sermons” (38%) and “relationships” (34%)

b. 14% supporting in-church ministries

c. 8% right thing to do (usually low)

d. 4% music

e. 1% supporting outside church ministries (those involved in outreach seem

to have picked either sermons or relationships)

11. Good rate of adult evangelism 13% Overall



c. 26% Pioneers

d. 12% Millennials

e. 13% Gen Xers

f. 13% Boomers

12. Three worship services and live stream video of service

13. Fair level of participation in small groups (54%) for a large church




c. 56% Pioneers

d. 58% Millennials

e. 49% Gen Xers

f. 56% Boomers

g. 79% Silents

14. Assets for Evangelism and Inclusion

a. 14% involved in Outreach Ministry (really good)

b. 84% confident to share their faith (high)

c. 79% say CCC welcomes newcomers (New Attenders rate this at 80%)

d. 79% growing spiritually

15. 87% contribute financially on a regular basis to support CCC

16. Reasonable Acceptance and Belonging overall (some problems with specific

groups)

a. 45%ile “idealized/wanted” level of acceptance and belonging (good for a

large church)

b. 37%ile experienced acceptance and belonging

c. 8%ile disappointment gap—acceptable during pastoral transition

17. Good understanding of basic theology

a. 95% understanding of the gospel

b. 94% assurance of salvation

c. 99% imperative to share faith

18. CCC perceived positively

a. 88% Say CCC has a good potential for growth

b. People feel good about their church (63%)

D. Critical Issues: Recruitment/Assimilation/Quality of Fellowship Within the defined scope of this report, all weaknesses fall under the headings of

attraction and assimilation/quality of fellowship. All recommendations will fall under

these headings.


Attraction CCC is continuing to attract new attenders even though the church is between pastors.

Eight percent (8%) of current attenders have started attending CCC in the past year.

Forty-two percent (42%) have started within the past five years. Two weaknesses in

recruitment warrant attention: failure to reach Millennials and the slowdown in reaching

Boomers.

Issue 1: Historically, CCC has done best in reaching those who are now Boomers and

secondarily Gen Xers. The church has been chronically weak in reaching young adults—

Millennials who currently only make up 12% of current attenders. At present, the rate of

reaching Millennials is increasing. However, it is apparent from the data that programs at

CCC are not currently meeting the felt needs of Millennials.

Recommendation 1: Have appropriate church leaders look into what can be done to

better attract and meet the needs of Millennials. This effort should include reading The Millennials.2 Focus groups/forums with Millennials would be helpful to find out what is

missing or not helpful in the CCC approach to ministry to this age group.

Issue 2: CCC has historically reached those who are currently Boomers best (46% of

current attenders). However, the proportion of New Attending Boomers being reached is

second lowest of the generation groups behind only Silents at 34%. This not a high

enough rate for the group to be growing in size (growth requires 40% rate of New

Attenders). One of the probable causes for this low rate of additions is low priority that

Boomers put on quality of fellowship. A specific factor that needs to be addressed is that

especially among Boomer women, small groups are not producing acceptance and

belonging that participation should. There are probably other factors, but this one can be

addressed.

Recommendation 2: Have appropriate church leaders look into what can be done to

better attract and meet the needs of new Boomers. Fifty-six percent of Boomers

participate in small groups (overall average at CCC is 54%). The addressable issues

include rate of participation but more importantly how the small groups are run. The

small groups that Boomers tend to participate in seem to have a weak relational focus.

Perhaps some new groups or retraining of leaders may be needed.

Issue 3: Finally, CCCers seem to be weak on actually inviting people to their church.

2Thom S. Rainer and Jess W. Rainer, The Millennials, Connecting to America’s Largest Generation (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2011), 288 pages.


According to well-known church consultant Lyle Schaller, 66% to 90% of new attenders

should be coming for a relational reason. Only 40% of New Attenders cited a relational

reason for giving CCC a try.

Recommendation 3: Various communication sources at CCC including from the platform

during worship services need to encourage CCCers to invite their friends and relatives to

give CCC at try. People should be invited to all kinds of activites, not just the worship

service.

Assimilation/Quality of Fellowship There is a close relationship between assimilation and quality of fellowship. Often

assimilation is best facilitated or prevented by the quality of fellowship a person

experiences in the church. Quality of fellowship often involves participation in small

groups but can be facilitated by a number of activities in which relationships are

facilitated. One of the goals of this diagnostic was to look at ways to improve the

participation and effectiveness of small groups at CCC. The data reveals numerous needs

in this area.

Issue 4: CCC is 38% interrelated. That is almost twice the percentage (20% is criterion)

that it is expected that will interfere with the inclusion of newcomers. It is demonstrable

that interrelatedness is interfering with New Attenders feeling included. This is probably

a “hospitality” issue as well as a small group issue.

Recommendation 4: Have those in charge of hospitality become aware the people

coming to the church that do not have family in the church and provide the extra care

needed in finding appropriate involvements in the church. This may be a factor in

suggesting what small groups might be most appropriate based on a person’s relatedness

status.

Issue 5: For whatever reason(s), women as a group are highly disappointed in their

relational experience at CCC. They are experiencing fully a third (33%) of the scale less of

acceptance and belonging that they said they wanted while men report experiencing an

exceptional quality of fellowship. Several problems seem to be contributing. As is typical,

New Attenders come hoping to find a high quality of fellowship, but they are not finding it

within CCC family. The historic normal held primarily by Intermediate women for

fellowship at CCC is much lower that what the New Attenders are hoping to find. This is

the biggest and most significant source of relational unhappiness with the women of

CCC—the disappointment of the New Attenders.


However, even those women who are used to a lower level of acceptance and belonging

are also disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing. For some,

but not all generational groups of women, participation in small groups makes a significant

difference. Especially for Intermediate Boomer women, small groups are not making the

difference in quality of fellowship that they should make. The way small groups are run

for Boomer women needs a complete overhaul since both New Attending and

Intermediates Boomer ladies are dissatisfied with current results.

Recommendation 5: Assign a group of leaders to identify and suggest remedies for

whatever the issues that are currently causing women at CCC this level of relational

disappointment including retooling the small group program to have a more relational

focus especially for women.

Issue 6: The data from the survey suggests that meeting the relational needs of CCC

participants has not been a priority. A number of other segments of CCC were examined

for their effectiveness in providing acceptance and belonging to its participants. “Never

marrieds” come to CCC hoping to find a family-like acceptance (67%ile) but are not

finding it (40%ile disappointment gap). Divorcees have lower expectations than Never

marrieds but are also significantly disappointed (20%ile disappointment gap) in what they

are experiencing. Much the same can be said for those involved in the Recovery Program

(idealized level of 45%ile with a disappointment gap of 33%ile). Those involved in

outreach want/idealize a much higher than average level of acceptance and belonging

(73%ile). They are experiencing a higher that average level of quality of fellowship

(53%ile) but 20%ile less than what they wanted.

Recommendation 6: Leaders at CCC need to recognize that quality of fellowship is weak

at CCC in many areas. One of the focuses that need to be maintained in improving quality

of fellowship in as many areas as possible.


One Page Overview This scope of this report is limited to who is coming to CCC and their involvements at the church.

As such, the findings and recommendations will involve the areas of attraction and quality of

fellowship/assimilation.

Issue 1: Historically CCC has been weak in attracting Millennials. While CCC is doing better in

this area, it is apparent that the high relational needs of Millennials are not being met by current

church programing including small groups.

Recommendation 1: Have appropriate church leaders look into what can be done to better attract

and meet the needs of Millennials.

Issue 2: Reaching Boomers has been the historic strength of CCC, but the current rate of New

Attenders is less than it has been and less than is needed for growth. The most apparent issue is

the very low relational focus among Boomers and the current ineffectiveness of small groups in

producing an effective quality of fellowship.

Recommendation 2: Have appropriate church leaders look into what can be done to better attract

and meet the needs of Boomers currently attending CCC as well as those who will begin attending

in the future.

Issue 3: CCCers are weak in inviting people to their church. Only 40% of New Attenders gave a

relational reason for deciding to give CCC a try.

Recommendation 3: Various communication sources at CCC including from the platform during

worship services need to encourage CCCers to invite their friends and relatives to give CCC at try.

Issue 4: CCC is 38% interrelated. It is demonstrable that interrelatedness is interfering with New

Attenders feeling included. This is probably a “hospitality” issue as well as a small group issue.

Recommendation 4: Have those in charge of hospitality become aware the people coming to the

church that do not have family in the church need extra care in finding appropriate involvements

in the church. Interrelatedness could be a factor in encouraging what small groups people should

be encouraged to join.

Issue 5: Women as a group at CCC are significantly disappointed in their relational experience.

New Attending women want a high level of acceptance and belonging while most Intermediate

women excluding Millennials are accustomed to a much lower level of acceptance and belonging.

However, even those women who are used to lower acceptance and belonging are currently

disappointed in their relational experiences. Identifying the problems that are causing most

women to be relational disappointed at CCC needs to be seriously addressed.

Recommendation 5: Assign a group of leaders, probably women, to identify and suggest remedies

for whatever the issues that are currently causing women at CCC this level of relational

disappointment.

Issue 6: A number of identifiable groups within CCC where people in those categories are not

experiencing the level of acceptance and belonging that they desire including “never marrieds”,

divorcees, recovery participants, and those involved in outreach.

Recommendation 6: Leaders at CCC need to recognize that quality of fellowship is weak at the

church in many areas. One of the focuses that need to be maintained in improving quality of

fellowship in as many areas as possible.


III. APPENDICES

Database with Initial Analysis

Section 1: Who Are We? (Internal Demographics)

Demographics will focus on the internal characteristics at CCC. Two concepts are

introduced in this section and will be used throughout this report. First, generations will

be used to identify age groups. Secondly, the concept of tenure analysis will be often

employed. Both will be explained in this section.

Q: What is the year of your birth?

The average age of a survey participant is 51.0 years of age. New Attenders are the

youngest group at 48.6. Intermediates are a bit older at 51.9. Pioneers who are

considerably the smallest of the three tenure groups average 56.7. The median age that

divides the group into two equally numbered groups is 53.

Closely related to this first question is a second question:

Q: Mark the group in which your birth year appears

• 1904-1924

• 1925-1945

• 1946-1964

• 1965-1979

• 1980-1997

• After 1997

The ages of survey participants will be addressed in terms of the sociological generations

that they represent. Typically, in a diagnostic like this, it is common to divide people into

different age groups based upon some criteria. One can use decadal ages which has the

advantage of being easy to understand, but seems to assume that the only difference

between people is how many years they have accumulated. Sociologists tend to prefer

dividing people into generational groups and identify the events that have shaped each

group of people, focusing on the values that shaped their responses to the world in which

All New Inter PiAverageAge 51.0 48.6 51.9 56.7


they were raised. Doing this does help to understand the characteristics of the various

groups at CCC.

This graph shows the number of people in each generation that participated in the survey.

No one who participated in the survey marked the 1904-1924 option, the G I Generation.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Even though we will usually move from younger to older in our analysis, it is easier to

understand the generations in order of their development. Here is a paragraph about

each generation represented at CCC.

Silents 1925-1945 (Seniors—72-92)

The oldest generation that is represented at CCC is the Silent Generation. They are

currently Seniors between 72 and 92 years of age. They grew up experiencing direct

effects or aftereffects of WWII that in many cases meant living without things. As a group,

they are conservative and big on family values. A fitting motto for this group is “Waste

not, want not.” They tend to work within institutions often having worked at a single job

for their whole careers. They are survivors, and they value their independence and

privacy. They would rather “tough it out” than complain. They are often reluctant to share

what is going on in their personal lives making participation in small groups more difficult

for them. Most of this group is now retired.

Boomers 1946 to 1964 (53-71 years old) (Empty-nesters)

The Boomers were made up of the flood of children that came after World War II. They

grew up with television. They are known for being hard workers. They are optimistic and

believe they can change things. Historically, they believed that they were “right” about


many things and were as anti-establishment as the Silents had been pro-establishment. They

have mellowed somewhat in their old age. This generation was known for protests and

sit-ins in their earlier days. Boomers are the “can-do” generation. The term “workaholics”

was created to describe them. They are beginning to retire.

Gen Xers 1965 to 1979 (38 to 52 years of age) (Middle Adults)

The high wave of births that created the Boomers ended in 1965 leading to the smallest of

modern generations. This generation is less optimistic. Their world was different to them

than to the Boomers or Silents. Their divorce rate was/is the highest among recent

generations and “latch key kids” became common as both parents tended to work. Jobs

for them were far less secure than they had been for earlier generations with job changes

coming often. Most institutions such as the government (Watergate) and even the church

(moral failure in both the Catholic and Protestant churches) failed to live up to

expectations. Corporate scandals were common. This generation does not approach life

with the same confidence as the Boomers. This generation has been described as cynical,

but self-sufficient.

Millennials—1980-1997 (20 to 37 years of age) (Young Adults)

Millennials are today’s young adults and younger. This generation (as defined by birth

rate) is actually slightly larger than the Boomers. They have grown up with technology—

computers, cell phones, internet as well as tablets and smart phones. Many do not think

that life exists without social media. This generation wants open, constant

communication (think social media). They share the intimate details of what is going on in

their lives to a degree that amazes/shocks people of earlier generations. Another surprise

is that they want people to hold them accountable. The communication style of the

Millennials is a wonder to people of older generations. The Millennials are the most

educated generation ever, but have been hit the hardest by what some are calling the

Great Recession. Many have college degrees but cannot find the jobs for which they are

trained. This is also the generation that the church has the hardest time reaching.

Reaching Millennials or even keeping the ones raised in the church requires significant

adjustments.

Teens (less than 20)

Technically, Millennials can be as young as 18 as defined by birth rate. Considering an 18-

year old in the same group as 37 years old makes little sense. For purposes of this survey,

those less than 20 years of age who took the survey will be called Teens.


A person’s generation does affect how they see life and what they perceive as their

options. Silents will want to work within structures and feel strongly about traditional

family values that they tend to see as being largely lost. Boomers are comfortable

creating new structures and work from the perspective that they can successfully change

things. Gen Xers have far less confidence in their ability to change things and have not

found jobs, marriage, or institutions to be reliable. Millennials are even more unique with

their focus on technology and communication. However, the work place has not been

kind to many of them. Many are off to a rough start as young adults. Finding good jobs has

been hard for them.

Here are the relative sizes of the generations at CCC:

Q: How many years have you attended THIS church?

This question introduces “Tenure Analysis.” Tenure in this context is the amount of time a

person has attended this church. Looking how long people have been part of the church is

actually one of the most powerful diagnostic tools available to us.

Average Tenure

The average time a survey participant has attended CCC is 8.4 years. The ideal range for

this statistic is 10 to 12 years. CCC actually has the lowest average tenure that

VitalChurch has seen among churches over 20 years old, which is a good thing. The factors

that make average tenure low is that relatively few current attenders have attended the

church more than 20 years and the number of people who have attended the church five

years or less is unusually high.


Churches that have an average tenure near 10 years or less are usually growing. When

the average tenure passes 15 years, they are rarely growing. The average attendee

tenure of church with which VitalChurch has worked is about 13 years. An average tenure

of 8.4 years is a very positive measure for CCC.

Normal Tenure Development

Churches tend to take on certain characteristics as they get older. By the time a church

reaches 20 years old, certain identifiable groups emerge. By the 20-year point, a group of

people who have attended for many years, who have sacrificed to help the church succeed

and who are proud of the church’s heritage emerge. This group usually sets the standards

for the church and often makes up much of the church’s leadership. This group we call the

Pioneers. In most churches, the Pioneers have a very high level of influence and control

over what happens in the church.

Another identifiable group is the New Attendees who have attended the church five or

less years. Research shows that those who begin to attend a church will often take up to

five years to become fully involved in the church. They have new people to meet and

relationships to form as well as finding appropriate involvements and places of service.

This group is considerably the most “fragile” in the church. Studies have shown that in

many cases one-half to two thirds of those who begin attending a church will be gone by

the end of five years. The most common issue cited is failure to find acceptance and

belonging in the church they are attending. The acceptance process can be accelerated if

those New Attendees are either well-churched, knowing what to expect, or if they are

relatives of those who already attend the church.

The in-between group is called the Intermediate Attendees. In churches 25 years or

older, the New Attendees are those who have attended for five years or less. Pioneers are

those who have attended 20 years or more. Therefore, Intermediates have attended the

church for 6 to 19 years.

Intermediates have developed relationships in the church, found appropriate

involvements, and are involved in places of service. They have found their place; they

belong. They are aware that they are not Pioneers … not yet. The size of the Intermediate

group is an important variable in understanding the church. A large intermediate group

suggests that people who begin to attend the church tend to stay. A small intermediate

group suggests that either new people are not getting their needs met and are not staying,

or that there has been some trauma in the church. If the Intermediate group is small, it is

important to find out why.

Interpretative Note: This is one of the places where CCC changes the normal rules. At

CCC, the Pioneer group is very small and the Intermediate Attender group is very large.


Most of the normal expectations of the Pioneer group are best accredited to the

Intermediate groups at CCC.

Tenure Analysis is based on comparing the sizes and perspectives of these three groups.

This graph shows the sizes of the three tenure groups. Again, the interpretation based on

the sizes of the groups is very positive. Here are the normal parameters for evaluating

this data.


That CCC has 42% New Attenders is very positive. This number tells us that CCC is

having a large number of new people coming to the church. That 49% are Intermediate

Attenders tells us that most people who begin attending tend to continue attending. The

Pioneer group at CCC is very small and, as we shall see, often has a different perspective

than the rest of the church.

With the two tools, generations and tenure analysis, we are ready to begin to look at the

people attending CCC.

This first graph shows the actual numbers of people in each tenure/generational group

who took the survey. The next three graphs are based on this data taken from different

perspectives. No participants were from the G I Generation (93+ years of age).

The next graph converts the previous graph into percentages based on a total of 276

participants.

All white squares total 100% +/-1%

A number of important things can be learned from the graph above. The graph shows the

relative sizes of each generational group.

• Boomers are the largest group and make up almost half of current attenders (46%)

• Gen Xers make up almost a third of current attenders at 32%

• Millennials make up 12% of current attenders.

• Teens and Silents have 5% each

The small number of Millennials should be a concern. Millennials are the hardest group

for the modern church to reach. CCC has been weak in reaching this demographic, but, as

we shall see, the church is currently improving in this area.

Teens Mills GenXers Boomers Silents TotalNew 6 17 46 43 3 115Inter 8 12 40 64 10 134Pi's 0 4 3 19 1 27Totals 14 33 89 126 14 276

Tenure/GenerationalPattern

Teens Mills GenXers Boomers Silents TotalNew 2% 6% 17% 16% 1% 42%Inter 3% 4% 14% 23% 4% 49%Pi's 0% 1% 1% 7% 0% 10%

Totals 5% 12% 32% 46% 5% 100%

Tenure/GenerationalPattern


The relative size of each tenure groups is also revealed:

• New Attenders (those who have attended CCC five years or less) 42%

• Intermediate Attenders (those who have attended CCC more than 5 years but less

than 20 years) 49%

• Pioneers (20+ years) 10%—This is exceptionally low, but at CCC those who qualify

for this group have experienced a very different CCC than the CCC of more recent

history.

Forty-two percent (42%) of New Attenders is exceptional for a church that is between

pastors. CCC has hardly broken stride during this interim period. Twenty-three

individuals (over 8% of the 276 participants) reported having begun attending in the past

year.

The graph above looks at the make-up of each tenure group. The New Attender row

shows the generational distribution of those who have been added to CCC in the past five

years. CCC has done the best job of attracting Gen Xers with 46 individuals or 40% of the

New Attenders. Almost as many Boomers joined with 43 or 37% of New Attenders.

Fifteen percent New Attenders are Millennials.

The Intermediate group is almost half Boomers (48%) and almost a third Gen Xers (30%).

The Millennials are a smaller presence at 9%.

The Pioneers are almost three-fourths Boomers (70%). Fifteen percent (15%) of Pioneers

are Millennials.

This final graph in this series shows the tenure distribution of each generational group. If

we look at the New Attender row, we can see the percentage of each group that is made

up of New Attenders. The criterion for adding enough New Attenders to be a growing

Teens Mills GenXers Boomers Silents TotalNew 5% 15% 40% 37% 3% 100%Inter 6% 9% 30% 48% 7% 100%Pi's 0% 15% 11% 70% 4% 100%

Make-UpOfEachTenureGroup

Eachrowtotals100%

Teens Mills GenXers Boomers SilentsNew 43% 52% 52% 34% 21%Inter 57% 36% 45% 51% 71%Pi's 0% 12% 3% 15% 7%

Totals 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%Eachcolumntotals100%+/-1%


group is 40%. Compared to this criterion, both the Millennials (52%) and the Gen Xers

(52%) are growing. This criterion also identifies the groups who are doing the best to

include and assimilate members of their generational group. The Millennials and Gen Xers

are both including new people well. Both Boomers and Silents are below the 40%

criterion. Even though Boomers are the largest group in the church, they are not adding

to their group in proportion to the Millennials and Boomers. While we want to applaud

progress attracting younger attenders, CCC should continue to attract Boomers.

Q: What is your gender?

If the data is correct, CCC does a better job of attracting women than men. Consider the

following graph:

Overall, CCC has 62% women and 38% men. One wishes that mostly women completed

the survey and the men let them failing to do so themselves. However, since the pattern is

consistent across all age groups, one must conclude that there are more women than men

at CCC. One factor is that “never marrieds” and “divorced” in the church tend to be

women.

Q: What is your current relational status?

The next two graphs look at the relational status of CCC attenders. The first graph is the

actual numbers from the survey in each group. The second graph shows percentages.


Columns total 100% +/-1%

Observations:

1. Like most American churches, CCC appeals mostly to married people.

2. CCC has a sizeable group of “never married,” around 12%. Of the 34 individuals

who took the survey and identified as being “never married,” 24 are women.

Twelve (12) are Millennials—36% of Millennials. “Never marrieds” are evenly

divided between New and Intermediate Attenders. This is a long-term group with

half having attended the church more than five years.

3. CCC has 8% “divorced” which like “never marrieds” is almost evenly divided

between New and Intermediate Attenders. Their uniqueness is that most of them

are Boomers. Of the 22 individuals who participated in the survey in this category,

20 are women. This is also a long-term group with more than half having attended

the church more than five years.

All New Inter Pi Mills Xers Bmers SilentsMarried 210 82 105 23 19 78 101 12NeverMarried 34 17 16 1 12 6 2 0Divorced 22 10 10 2 1 3 17 1Separated 3 3 0 0 1 1 1 0Widowed 7 3 3 1 0 1 5 1

Totals 276 115 134 27 33 89 126 14

All New Inter Pi Mills Xers Bmers SilentsMarried 76% 71% 78% 85% 58% 88% 80% 86%NeverMarried 12% 15% 12% 4% 36% 7% 2% 0%Divorced 8% 9% 7% 7% 3% 3% 13% 7%Separated 1% 3% 0% 0% 3% 1% 1% 0%Widowed 3% 3% 2% 4% 0% 1% 4% 7%

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%


Q: Are you a member of this church (done what is necessary to be a member), a regular attender (this is the church you attend), or a visitor (attended here once or a few times)?

Overall, most people (74%) who attend CCC eventually become members—doing what is

required to become members. New Attenders are over half members (58%).

Intermediates are 82% members. Pioneers are almost all members (96%). In most

churches with this pattern, membership is considered a measure of commitment. It

probably is true at CCC.

Demographic Summary The average age of an attender at CCC is 51.0 years which is consistent with most current

attenders being either Boomers (46%) or Gen Xers (32%). Twelve percent (12%) are

Millennials with five percent (5%) each of Silents and Teens. Gen Xers (40%) and Boomers

(37%) are attracting the largest number of New Attenders, but Millennials and Gen Xers

are showing the greatest proportional increase.

The tenure analysis of CCC is excellent with 42% New Attenders, 49% Intermediates, and

10% Pioneers. CCC is attracting many new people and people who begin to attend the

church are tending to stay.

CCC seems to be attracting women (62%) more than men (38%). This tendency is partially

explained by “never marrieds” and “divorcees” who attend CCC and who are

predominately women.

Most people who attend CCC are married (76%). This is true for most groups at CCC

except for Millennials who are 36% “never married.” Overall, “never marrieds” make up


12% of current attenders. “Divorced” make up 8% of current attenders with the majority

of them being Boomers. Both never marrieds and divorced are at least half made up of

Intermediate Attenders.

Most people who attend CCC eventually do what is necessary to become members (74%).

Membership tends to be interpreted as a level of commitment.

Section 2: Shared Pilgrimage This section develops a profile of the cumulative spiritual experiences of the people in the

church. In some ways, this section is the most diagnostic. The patterns revealed in this

section define how well the church is functioning.

Q: How many years have you been a Christian?

The next graph tells us about the people CCC is reaching for Christ. The rows tell how

many years that Christians in each generation have been Christians. In the first row (0-1),

a total of four people have been Christians for a year or less. One is a Teen and three are

Gen Xers making up 1% of current attenders. Evangelism in the past year seems to have

been weaker than normal for CCC.

The next line (2-5) is much more encouraging. Twenty-seven people or 10% of current

attenders have been Christians two to five years. Eleven are Boomers, nine are Gen Xers,

and five are Millennials. Thus, 31 people qualify as new Christians (five years or less).

YearsAChristian Teens Mills Xers Bmers Silents Totals %0-1 1 0 3 0 0 4 1%2-5 2 5 9 11 0 27 10%6-10 5 4 8 7 0 24 9%11-20 6 9 14 16 1 46 17%21-30 0 12 20 23 1 56 20%31-40 0 3 23 21 5 52 19%41-50 0 0 10 26 4 40 14%51+ 0 0 2 22 3 27 10%

Totals 14 33 89 126 14 276 100%%NewChristians 21% 15% 13% 9% 0%


Compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been, this is an excellent number of

new Christians. Not all are necessarily products of CCC ministry, but we will look at this

question later.

The bottom row (shaded in blue) is the percentage of new Christians (0-5 years) in each

generational group. Teens are the highest with 21%. Millennials have 15%. Gen Xers

have 13%. Boomers drop to 9%. CCC is reaching some younger new Christians as well as

older ones.

Far better than most churches, CCC has a mixture of new, medium, and long-term Christians.

Many churches have mostly people who have been Christians for a very long time with

very few new Christians.

Q: What was your status when you began attending this church?

It is important to understand the four categories. All four groups define the status of

persons when they came to CCC. Some “began attending with their parents” as children.

Overall, 3% of current attenders fit into this category.

Some responders indicated that they “moved into the area.” These people moved to the

area and decided to give CCC a try. For the most part, these people are coming from other

churches in other non-adjacent communities. Twenty-two percent (22%) of New

Attenders came by this means and 18% overall. Reaching new people coming into the East Taunton area is the second most important source of newcomers currently.


Another category of transfer growth is “transferred from another church in the

community.” These people are from other churches in your community or close by.

Historically, this has been the largest source of new people at CCC at 57% overall and

53% among New Attenders. The majority of CCC attendees have come from other local churches.

The most interesting group from a diagnostic perspective is the “Not attending any

church” group. Two groups of people fit in this category. People are either new converts

or are people who have drifted away from the church but have now returned (recovery of

previously churched). At CCC 24% of New Attenders fit this category and 22% overall.

This is an unusually good percentage. In other questions, we will be able to determine

how many are new believers and how many are recovered church attenders.

Q: What is your historic family church background?

Both overall (39%) and in the past five years (35%), the biggest source of newcomers at CCC are persons from Catholic backgrounds. The second largest source is from Evangelical

church at 28% overall and 30% New Attenders. Other Protestants include mostly

Mainline Churches. This group is the source for 18% New Attenders and 20% overall.


Ten percent (10%) of New Attenders had no church background and six percent (6%)

overall. Compared to most churches, reaching 10% that have no church background is

excellent. The smallest measured group are Pentecostal/Charismatics at six percent (6%)

for New Attenders and five percent (5%) overall. CCC reaches people from a wide variety of church backgrounds. However, the reality is that most of the people CCC reaches do have church backgrounds but not necessarily evangelical church backgrounds. The most impressive statistic is that 65% of New Attenders come from non-evangelical backgrounds.

Q: What keeps you coming to this church?

In most churches, there is generally close to a tie between sermons and relationships.

CCC is no exception with “sermons” at 38% and “relationships” at 34%. One of the normal

strengths of a larger church is having an exceptional pulpiteer. One of the normal

weakness of a larger church is that they enjoy the exceptional sermons but often do not

build strong relationships between attenders. CCC seems to have threaded the needle

doing well in both areas. One possible red flag is that New Attenders seem to be slow in

developing relationships, but we will examine that question in later questions.

Several other observations seem appropriate. Seeing who is involved in supporting in-

church ministries is always interesting. The Millennials, Gen Xers, and New Attenders are

very involved. The seeming support of outside church ministries seems low, but that

could be because those persons involved in these ministries picked sermons or

relationships as most important. In a later question, 40 people report being involved in

outreach ministries. Probably, the most significant observation is that CCC attracts relatively few people who come because it is the right thing to do—bordering on religious duty—allowing CCC to be an “activist” church.

All New Inter Pi's Teens Mills Xers Bmers SilentsSermons 38% 50% 29% 26% 14% 21% 35% 48% 29%Relationships(includingsmallgroupsandfamily) 34% 23% 37% 63% 29% 45% 31% 29% 71%Music 4% 3% 14% 4% 7% 9% 9% 9% 0%RightThingToDo 8% 3% 14% 4% 7% 9% 9% 9% 0%SupportingIn-churchMinistries 14% 16% 15% 7% 36% 21% 18% 10% 0%Supportingoutsidechurchministries 1% 3% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2% 1% 0%


Q: Approximately how many miles away do you live from the church building?

If a larger church has exceptional programs, a great preacher, or other assets not available

at smaller churches, people are willing to travel farther to participate. The average for

churches where VitalChurch has been is seven miles. When the distance goes over 10

miles, getting people to participate in multiple actives can become more difficult. There is

little evidence in the data to suggest that distance to church is a negative factor at CCC.

Q: Were you a Christian when you first attended this church or its activities?

Given that over half of current attenders as well as New Attenders come from non-

evangelical backgrounds, this could be a hard question for some to answer. However, the

question still gets at an important point.

Seventy-eight percent overall say they “came (as a) Christian,” leaving 22%

acknowledging a significant change in their faith since coming to CCC. Since, in an earlier

question, all survey participants claim now to be Christians (none were “still seeking”), one

can say with reasonable confidence that most of the 15% who made commitments to

Christ since coming to CCC did so through some contact with CCC. Another 4% were new

Averageattendertravels9.2milesAverageNewAttendertravels9.0miles

64%travellessthan10miles

0-1 2-5 6-10 11-19 20+All 4% 31% 29% 27% 9%New 4% 32% 28% 31% 4%

0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%

MilesToChurch

All New Inter Pi's Teens Mills Xers Bmers SilentsYes 78% 78% 83% 56% 57% 73% 81% 78% 100%No 15% 14% 12% 37% 29% 27% 13% 13% 0%IwasanewChristian 4% 5% 3% 0% 0% 0% 3% 6% 0%Notsure 3% 3% 2% 7% 14% 0% 2% 3% 0%


Christians when they came to CCC. Three percent (3%) are not sure at what point they

made that commitment, but they have made that commitment. Compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been, this level of new commitments is exceptional.

The next graph refines this data to another level.

“No” comes from the previous graph saying that they were not Christians when they began attending CCC except

that the actual numbers are used instead of percentages. “Came with Parents” are those who reported that they were not yet Christians when they came with their parents but have since made their commitment of faith. “Net

Conversions” are those who reported that they were not Christians when they came and did not fit into the “Came with parents” category. Net Conversions is a reflection of evangelistic activity on the part of CCC to those outside

the church family.

What this graph shows is that 13% of current attenders track their current Christian status to CCC and its activities. Compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been, this is a

high rate. Among New Attenders, the rate is 14%. What is exciting is that the rate remains consistently high across all generational groups with the exception of Silents.

The rate of evangelism among Millennials comes out lower than expected because five of

them said that they came with their parents before they were Christians and have since

made their commitments to Christ. In mission circles, children raised in the church are

considered “biological growth.” Certainly, children raised in the church need to follow in

the faith, but they do have an inside track. The rate of evangelism is intended to reflect

evangelistic activities that reach beyond the church family.

Interpretative Note: This section mostly focuses on “adult” evangelism. Evangelism in

the children and youth department may not be reflected in this data. The survey has no

way of measuring evangelism in these areas. Since mostly adults and a few teens take the

survey, the survey can only address adult and some youth evangelism.

All New Inter Pi's Teens Mills Xers Bmers SilentsNo 42 16 16 10 4 9 12 17 0CamewithParents 6 0 3 3 1 5 0 0 0NetConversions 36 16 13 7 3 4 12 17 0Rateofevangelism 13% 14% 10% 26% 21% 12% 13% 13% 0%


Q: Which of the following most influenced you to initially attend this church? (choose one)

This question looks at the most important reason why people decided to give CCC a try as

their new church. The graph has two sets of data. The lavender bars show what was

important to the New Attenders. The yellow bars are overall for all current attenders.

This question is looking for data in three general categories that combine some of the

alternatives in the graph.

Invited/Relational

The first general category is “invited/relational.” If the most important reason a person

chose to give CCC a try had to do with the role of a “friend, relative, or spouse,” then that

person belongs in this category. The assumption is that a relationship was the reason this

person decided to attend the church or some activity. This option measures the role of

relationships in a person’s choice to attend this church. At CCC the figure is 46% (20% +

19% + 7%) Overall and 41% (17% + 17% + 7%) of New Attenders.


Pastor/Staff

“Attracted by pastor/staff” means that the person came to CCC because of the pastor or

staff member at the time. Overall, the senior pastor or staff influence was 17%. Among

New Attenders the rate is 10%. Among Intermediate Attenders, the rate was 22% (not on

graph). Prior to five years ago, the senior pastor was a major attraction.

Walk-ins

Walk-ins are people whose decision to try CCC was made based on reasons other than

relationships or pastor/staff contact. This grouping includes location,

advertisement/website, word of mouth, and transfer from a similar church/denomination.

Overall, 36% (12%+3%+10%+11%) and 51% (19% + 3% + 13% + 16%) of New Attenders

chose a subcategory included in this option.

Lyle Schaller, a well-known church consultant, offers insight into the significance of these

results. He states that in a healthy church “two-thirds to nine-tenths of people are

attracted to a church by friendship or kinship ties, 15 to 20% by the pastor, and 5 to 10%

are walk-ins.”

Here is how CCC compares to the Schaller ideal:

Invitedbyfriendorrelative 66-90%Attractedbypastor 15-20%Walk-ins 5-10%

SchallerFormula

SchallerIdeal CCCInvited/Relational 66-90% 46%Pastor/Staff 15-20% 17%Walkins 5-10% 36%

Overall


What these two graphs show is that CCC is weak on inviting people to church and getting weaker. Invited/relational dropped from 46% to 40% (already weak, getting weaker).

Walk-ins increased from 36% to 50% (already too high, getting higher). Neither are good

trends.

CCC is falling short on the “inviting/relational” part of getting new people to come to your church.

Shared Pilgrimage Summary:

CCC has an amazing mixture of new, medium-length, and long-term Christians. Eleven

percent (11%) have been Christians five years or less. Among adult groups, Millennials

have the highest rate of new Christians at 15%.

The biggest single source of New Attenders at CCC is other local churches (53%). The

second largest source are people who were not attending any church when they came to

CCC at 24%. This number includes new converts as well as recovered former church

attenders. Most of the rest (22%) moved into the area.

People come to CCC from a wide variety of church backgrounds. Among New Attenders,

the largest group are people from Catholic backgrounds (35%) followed by people from

evangelical backgrounds (30%) followed by people from other Protestant backgrounds

(18%). Ten percent (10%) have no church background. Historically, percentages are

similar.

Sermons (38%) tend to be slightly the greatest reason that keeps people coming to the

church followed by relationships (34%). Many are also involved in supporting in-church

ministries (14%). Very few just come because it is the right things to do (8%), supporting

the idea that CCC tends to be an “activist” church.

People think enough of CCC and its programs to drive further than average (9.2 miles) to

participate.

A significant number (22%) acknowledge that coming to CCC represented a significant

shift in their religious perspective. Overall, 13% of current attenders acknowledge that

since coming to CCC they have become Christians. The number is 14% among New

SchallerIdeal CCCInvited/Relational 66-90% 40%Pastor/Staff 15-20% 10%Walkins 5-10% 50%

NewAttenders


Attenders and 26% among Pioneers. Except for the Silents, all generational groups have a

double-digit rate of evangelism.

One of the data surprises is that CCC is weak on inviting people to their church. Ideal is

for at least two-thirds of New Attenders being influenced to come to CCC because of

relational reasons such as being invited. However, only 40% of New Attenders reported a

relational reason. Most people currently are finding the church on their own—50% of

New Attenders were walk-ins.

Section 3: Ministry Potential

Commitment to Mission/Evangelism

Q: I believe that the Bible instructs every Christian to find ways to share his/her faith

with non-Christians.

Ninety-nine percent (99%) of survey participants agree with this statement. Three of the four

who were “not sure” were New Attenders. The vast majority of CCCers agree with this

statement.

Q: How many of your close friends or family do not attend any church?

CCCers tend to be a pretty social group. Almost all (97% = 100% minus 3%) have non-

church attending friends and family and lots of them. All tenure and generational groups

reported that at least 74% of them have six or more close friends, and/or family who do

not attend any church. CCCers have relationships with lots of people that they can invite

or look to get involved with the church.


Q: How many people at this church do you consider to be close friends?

This question supports the contention that relationships are important to CCC attenders.

People have a good numbers friends both inside and outside of the church. New

Attenders have not yet developed as many friends in the church has have people overall.

Q: How involved are you in the life of the church? What activities do you regularly

participate in?

This first chart provides the actual number of people in each category. The second chart

shows the percentage of that group who are participating.

12%

42%

25% 21%

0 1-5 6-10 11+

NumberofGoodChurchFriends

20%

45%

23%12%

0 1-5 6-10 11+

NewAttenderGoodFriendsInTheChurch


All New Inter Pi's Teens Mills Xers Bmers SilentsSatNightService 70 29 32 9 2 12 17 33 6Sun9AMService 144 57 70 17 9 18 46 67 4Sun11AMService 106 42 54 10 7 17 32 45 5SunServiceLiveStream 35 18 14 3 0 9 12 10 4WorshipCommunity 30 11 18 1 2 9 6 13 0CelebrateRecovery 20 8 9 3 0 3 4 13 0Smallgroup 149 53 81 15 4 19 44 71 11PrayerMeeting 7 2 3 2 0 0 0 6 1Men'sMinistry 37 15 18 4 0 4 9 22 2Women'sMinistry 30 8 20 2 0 3 9 17 1Children'sMinistry 45 22 22 1 3 9 19 14 0StudentMinistry 21 8 12 1 5 7 6 3 0Welcome/Hospitality 36 12 19 5 0 4 4 27 1Outreach--Mid-Cityandother 40 16 21 3 1 0 11 25 3TransformationTeam 10 1 7 2 0 3 2 4 1BuildingMaintenance 12 4 6 2 0 3 3 5 1PaidStaff 10 2 7 1 0 5 2 3 0

Totals 276 115 134 27 14 33 89 126 14

All New Inter Pi's Teens Mills Xers Bmers SilentsSatNightService* 22% 23% 21% 25% 11% 26% 18% 23% 40%Sun9AMService* 45% 45% 45% 47% 50% 38% 48% 46% 27%Sun11AMService* 33% 33% 35% 28% 39% 36% 34% 31% 33%SunServiceLiveStream 13% 16% 10% 11% 0% 27% 13% 8% 29%WorshipCommunity 11% 10% 13% 4% 14% 27% 7% 10% 0%CelebrateRecovery 7% 7% 7% 11% 0% 9% 4% 10% 0%Smallgroup 54% 46% 60% 56% 29% 58% 49% 56% 79%PrayerMeeting 3% 2% 2% 7% 0% 0% 0% 5% 7%Men'sMinistry 13% 13% 13% 15% 0% 12% 10% 17% 14%Women'sMinistry 11% 7% 15% 7% 0% 9% 10% 13% 7%Children'sMinistry 16% 19% 16% 4% 21% 27% 21% 11% 0%StudentMinistry 8% 7% 9% 4% 36% 21% 7% 2% 0%Welcome/Hospitality 13% 10% 14% 19% 0% 12% 4% 21% 7%Outreach--Mid-Cityandother 14% 14% 16% 11% 7% 0% 12% 20% 21%TransformationTeam 4% 1% 5% 7% 0% 9% 2% 3% 7%BuildingMaintenance 4% 3% 4% 7% 0% 9% 3% 4% 7%PaidStaff 4% 2% 5% 4% 0% 15% 2% 2% 0%*Manyparticipantsmarkedmorethan1service"thattheyusuallyattended."Percentagesarebasedonthetotalofthethreeservices.Forexample,276peopletookthesurvey.However,theypicked320servicesthattheyusually

attended.The320wasusedsothattotalsforthethreeserviceswouldaddupto100%


These charts are provided for the use of leaders at CCC. We will offer some observations,

but hopefully CCCers will see additional information that will be helpful for planning.

Who Attends the Various Services

Saturday Night Service

Seventy people indicated that they primarily attended the Saturday evening service. The first graph shows the actual distribution of those seventy. The second graph shows the contribution that each tenure-generation group

makes to the overall attendance.

All percent’s are the numbers in the same squares in the preceding graph divided by the total attendance of 70. What this graph shows in the tenure, generational, and tenure-generational percentage for each subgroup. For

example, the Saturday evening service is made up of 41% New Attenders, 46% Intermediate Attenders, and 13% Pioneers. The service is made up of 3% teens, 17% Millennials, 24% Gen Xers, 47% Boomers, and 9% Silents. The

unshaded squares show the percentage for each tenure-generational group.

Observations:

1. Approximately 22% attend this service.

2. Most Saturday night attenders are either New (41%) or Intermediate (46%)

Attenders.

3. Boomers make up the largest generational group (47%) followed by Gen Xers with

24%. Twelve Millennials reported attending this service. Six Silents attend this

service.

4. Pioneers and Teens are in short supply.

Teens Mills Xers Bmers Silents TotalsNew 1 6 9 12 1 29Inter 1 4 7 15 5 32Pi's 0 2 1 6 0 9Totals 2 12 17 33 6 70

WhoAttendsTheSaturdayNightService

Teens Mills Xers Bmers Silents TotalsNew 1% 9% 13% 17% 1% 41%Inter 1% 6% 10% 21% 7% 46%Pi's 0% 3% 1% 9% 0% 13%Totals 3% 17% 24% 47% 9% 100%


Sunday 9AM Service

Observations:

1. This would seem to be the largest of the three worship services with 45% attending

this service.

2. This service is mostly attended by New Attenders (40%) and Intermediates (49%).

Seventeen Pioneers also attend this service.

3. The service is almost half Boomers (47%) with 32% Gen Xers. Eighteen Millennials

attend this service. Seventeen Pioneers attend this service. Thus, this is the most

attended service for both Pioneers and Millennials even if their numbers are

relatively small.

Sunday 11AM Service


WhoAttendsTheSunday9AMService



WhoAttendsTheSunday11AMService


Observations:

1. About a third (33%) of CCCers attend the Sunday 11AM service.

2. Again, it tends to be a New and Intermediate Attender service with mostly

Boomers and Gen Xers in attendance.

Interpretative Note: Survey participants felt free to mark more than one service in many

cases. For example, 33 participants were Millennials. However, they marked that they

attended 47 services. However, the data should still be approximately correct.



Sunday Service Live Stream

What is surprising about the Live Stream participation is the range of age groups that are

participating. It is not just for elderly shut-ins.

_____________________________________________________

Other Observations on Church Activity Participation:

1. Fifty-four percent (54%) participate in small groups. The criterion for good

involvement is 60%. The Intermediates (60%) and Silents (79%) meet the criterion.

Involvement is pretty consistent across the categories. New Attenders are a little

slow to get involved in small groups.

2. Seven percent are involved in Celebrate Recovery. The program involves both

New Attenders and more tenured people of all ages.

3. Outreach involves 14% of current attenders.


WhoWatchesTheSundayServiceLiveStream



Q: If you didn’t check Small Groups—please check the appropriate reasons why?

One hundred fourteen people responded to the question of which over half were New

Attenders. Lack of time was the most often given reason followed by scheduling issues.

Some 29 individuals entered an “other” response.

Some of the “others” were reassigned if they fit well in one of the other categories. Some

were unclassifiable. Four were youth. The most common reason given was “other

involvements” followed by “no childcare” offered. Some said that they were not

interested in small groups or were uncomfortable with them.

OtherInvolvements 9Nochildcare 6Nointerest 5Uncomfortable 3Notopicsofinterest 3New 2Badexperience 1

Others


Q: I feel confident enough to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

These are higher than average results on this question. Given the diversity of

backgrounds of people who have been attracted to CCC, these are impressive results.

People seem to clearly know what the gospel is and feel confident to share it.

Q: I am growing at this church.

The average response on this question for other churches where VitalChurch has been is

72%. Clearly CCC at 79% is doing better than average. New Attenders are the most

affirming of the tenure groups. Teens and Boomers are most enthusiastic among

generational groups.


Q: Do you contribute financially on a regular basis to this church?

This would seem to be a healthy level of response.

Q: Do you agree or disagree that church members and attendees make a sincere effort

to help visitors and newcomers feel welcomed into the life of the church?

The average score on this question at other churches is 69%. The normal criterion for

satisfactory is 80%. CCC is for the most part doing a good job of including new people.

There is some room for improvement. However, the most encouraging piece of data is

that the New Attenders themselves indicate that they felt well welcomed.

Q: Do you have relatives living outside your home who attend this church?

It is important to understand what is being measured. We are not talking about an elderly

parent living with his child or the young adult who has not yet found a job that allows them

to find their own place. We are talking about relatives that one would tend to look

forward to seeing at church each week.


From the perspective of a newcomer, a church with a high level of interrelatedness can

seem like a clan that is impossible to penetrate. At best, one soon becomes aware who is

related to who and can easily feel left out. Actually, one is often truly left out unless those

with relatives intentionally compensate and make a special effort to make those not

connected with their family feel like family.

Research shows that when a church or subgroup in the church reaches 20% extended

family, it generally begins to affect the degree that the group can fully welcome and

include new people.

The next graph shows the degree to which each segment of the church is interrelated.

CCC is overall 38% interrelated with extended family—almost twice the criterion.

Pioneers (63%) and Millennials (52%) are over half interrelated. Only the Silents and New

Attending Teens are less than 30% interrelated. While CCC is clearly doing well in spite of

this characteristic, we shall see that interrelatedness does have a detrimental effect on

the acceptance and belonging experienced by those without extended family especially

among New Attenders.

Conclusions on Ministry Potential Much of the important data of this section can be summarized as one-liners.

• 99% accept that Christians should find ways to share their faith

• 84% feel confident to share the gospel with people (high)

• 79% consider that they are growing spiritually at this church

• Most (74%) have close non-church attending friends who potentially could be

invited to participate in church life at CCC

• Nearly all current attenders attend one of CCC’s three in-person services or the

Sunday Service Live Stream

Teens Mills GenXers Boomers Silents TotalsNew 17% 47% 26% 30% 33% 30%Inter 63% 50% 40% 38% 20% 40%Pi's 75% 67% 58% 63%Totals 43% 52% 34% 38% 29% 38% Overall

20-29% 30%+


• There are minor differences between who attends each of CCC’s worship services

• 54% of current attenders participate in small groups (a little low—60% is minimum

ideal) especially Intermediates (60%) and Silents (79%). New Attenders are weak

(49%) in getting involved in small groups

• The most common reasons given for not participating in small groups

o Lack of time

o No group when I can attend

o No childcare

o No interest or discomfort with small groups

• 14% are involved in organized outreach (fantastic)

• 7% are involved in Celebrate Recovery which is evenly made up of both New and

Intermediate Attenders

• 87% report that they contribute on a regular basis to the church financially

• 79% say CCCers do a good job of welcoming and including newcomers including New Attenders who report an 80% approval rating on how they were included

• CCC is nearly at twice the level of interrelatedness (38%) where the condition

normally begins to interfere with effectively including new people. As we shall see,

interrelatedness is a negative factor for including New Attenders.

Section 4: Quality of Fellowship Christianity is by nature profoundly relational. It is first a relationship between God and

man. Then it becomes a relationship with men created in the image of God. An essential

outcome of true faith must be a love of people and commitment to their welfare (including

spiritual) with special deference to the family of God.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:10

Jesus’ foremost distinctive of being one of his disciples is love.

All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. John 13:35 NIV

New Testament Christians cared about each other and were involved in one another’s

lives.


Carry each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 NIV

People even took responsibility for each other’s spiritual growth.

. . . let us consider how we may spur one another toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24 NIV

If there were any doubts about the role of love and relationships, it is fully resolved by I

Corinthians 13 where it clearly says that no matter what gift (prophecy, tongues,

knowledge, or other) a person has, without love (expressed in relationships) it is

NOTHING. Unconditional acceptance and belonging should be the mark of the church.

Jesus modeled it. We should be doing it.

Most evangelical Christians are looking for a Bible-believing church as their first

requirement. Research shows that after that requirement is met, most (90%) are looking

for a church that will offer the level of acceptance and belonging that they are looking for.

Church consultant Lyle Schaller finds that the failure of people to find acceptance and

belonging in the church to be the number one reason why people drop out of a church.

Here are the two survey questions.

Q: To what degree is a sense of belonging and acceptance important to you in your church relationships? Q: To what degree do you personally feel like you belong and are accepted as part of this church?

Both of these questions offer four alternative answers:

• A great deal

• Quite a bit

• Some

• Little/not at all

The question that is on the minds of almost everyone who begins attending a church is

“Will my family and I find the acceptance and belonging that we want here?” Related to

this question is often a second, “Will my family’s needs be met here?” Research shows

that one-half to two-thirds of people who begin attending a church will drop out before


five years are up. The most common reason for them leaving is that they did not find the

acceptance and belonging they were seeking. This is a very big issue. Scoring Note: This section has many numbers and as such can be confusing. This section

measures three things:

1. Idealized acceptance and belonging is based on the first question. This is the quality

of fellowship that people say they want in their church relationships.

2. Experienced acceptance and belonging is the level of fellowship that people report

that they actually receive at CCC and is based on the second question.

3. The Disappointment Gap is the difference between what people say they want in

terms of relationships in the church and what they actually experience.

4. Idealized and Experienced acceptance and belonging are scored separately. Ideally,

if a person has an idealized (what he/she wants) acceptance and belonging score of

80%, he/she should also have an experienced acceptance and belonging score of 80%

unless the person is either disappointed in what they are experiencing or if they are

experiencing a greater level of acceptance and belonging than they thought they

wanted. CCC Data The quality of fellowship section is one of the most important parts of this diagnostic

report. It usually identifies clear issues that can be purposefully addressed with the result

that the church is better able to meet the acceptance and belonging needs of more people.


The graph above shows how important finding acceptance and belonging at CCC is to

people. Eighty-nine percent (161 + 84 divided by 276) of current attenders say finding

acceptance and belonging in their church relationships is either “a great deal” or “quite a

bit” of importance to them. As high as this seems, it is slightly below average compared to

other churches where VitalChurch has been. Specifically, CCC is at 45%ile in its overall

desired/wanted level of acceptance and belonging. This slightly below average score is

not surprising since larger churches tend to be known for exceptional preaching and

excellent programs. Large churches are also known for falling apart when the exceptional

preacher leaves unless it has done a good job building relationships between its people.

Looking at “Idealized” Acceptance and Belonging—what people say they want The next graph shows the level of acceptance and belonging that each tenure and

generational group at CCC desires in the church relationships expressed in percentiles.

The graph above tells several important things about the quality of fellowship at CCC.

First, the desired level of acceptance and belonging varies a great deal from group to

group. At most churches where VitalChurch has been, there is almost a standard level of

acceptance and belonging that characterizes the church especially among the Pioneer and

Intermediate ranks. At CCC, tenure groups vary from slightly above average at 52%ile for

Intermediates to extremely low for Pioneers as a group at 5%ile. However, as we shall

see, there is great diversity within the various tenure groups.

It is typical for generational groups to vary some. Usually the Millennials are highest and

the Boomers somewhat lower. Silent often show an increase again. However, at CCC the

variance from generational group to generational group greatly exceeds the normal

range. Again, as we shall see, there is considerable differences with different tenure

groups of the various generation. As we shall also see, there are significant differences

between how men and women at CCC experience fellowship.


Let us begin by looking more precisely at what various subgroups want (“idealize”) in

terms of fellowship.

All but one “Silent” are Intermediate Attenders and as a group want a 52%ile quality of fellowship. Among the

Pioneer generational groups, only Boomers have a large enough sample to be meaningful.

If we look at the New Attender row, we can see the relational expectations of the various

generational groups being attracted to CCC. The New Attending Millennials come hoping

for a very high level of fellowship at 91%ile. (Proportionally, Millennials are the fastest

growing group at CCC.)

New Attending Gen Xers want a slightly above average level of acceptance and belonging.

This group actually added the largest number of New Attenders in the past five years.

New Attending Boomers have come to CCC with quite low expectations of finding

meaningful levels of relationships in the church at 25%ile. A reasonable generalization is

that Boomers who have wanted a higher quality of fellowship in their church have not

chosen to come to CCC. While Boomers are the largest generational group at CCC, they

are not adding enough New Attenders to grow.

Ninety-one percent of current attenders are either New Attenders (42%) or Intermediate

Attenders (49%). For the most part, New Attenders are trying to find their place in the

world of the Intermediate Attenders. If there is a standard level of quality of fellowship

for each generational group, it is found in the Intermediate row at CCC. What we see in

Millennial column is that all three tenure groups of Millennials want a higher than average

quality of fellowship, but the groups vary from exceptionally high for New Attending

Millennials to slightly above average for Pioneer Millennials. Focusing on the two large

groups, both New Attending and Intermediate Millennials want a considerably higher than average quality of fellowship in their church relationships. The expectations of the two large

groups of Millennials are reasonable matched.

Among Gen Xers, there is a mild mismatch of expectations. New Attending Gen Xers are

slightly above average in their expectations with Intermediate Gen Xers having more

moderate expectations. The difference between the groups will produce a level of

disappointment in the New Attenders, but it is not likely to be severe.


Among the Boomers, there is a consistency of low expectations for quality of fellowship.

All groups are considerably less than average. In an earlier question, we saw that “What

keeps (Boomers) coming” was “sermons” at 48% with “relationships” at 29%. Among

generational groups, this was highest preference for “sermons” and the lowest preference

for “relationships.” Boomers have the weakest relational focus of the generational groups. Interpretational Note: That the Boomers only want an overall 19%ile quality of fellowship is not an asset to the church. Most people looking for a new church are looking for a family-like relationship with people in the church. Nineteenth percentile (19%ile) will not get that job done. Many more Boomers would be attracted to CCC if the opportunities for a higher level of acceptance and belonging were present.

Silents were not included in this graph because all but one of them is an Intermediate

Attender. They want relationships to be at a 52%ile level—slightly above average.

Among tenure groups, the Intermediates want the highest quality of fellowship (52%).

New Attenders as a group have relatively low expectations at 31%ile. The New

Attender’s low expectation is partially due to church backgrounds. More formal churches

including Catholic and many “other Protestants” tend not to emphasize fellowship. For

whatever reason, Pioneers have exceptionally low quality of fellowship expectations

(5%ile).

Among generational groups, younger people, particularly Teens and Millennials, want

exceptionally high quality of relationships in the church. This is not a surprise—think

social media. Gen Xers are just above average at 52%ile. The Boomers are surprisingly

low at 19%ile.

It is normal for idealized acceptance and belonging to go down some with age. Millennials

are usually higher than Gen Xers and Gen Xers are usually higher than Boomers, but to go

from 52%ile for Gen Xers to 19%ile for Boomers is far more than a usual drop. Something

amiss is going on.

The Silents are the smallest in size of the adult groups, but want slightly above average

(52%) quality of fellowship. Silents are often the exception of idealized scores going down

with age. Silents often score more highly in idealized/wanted acceptance and belonging

than the Boomers and, sometimes, the Gen Xers.


Looking at “Experienced” Acceptance and Belonging—what people say they have experienced at CCC The next two graphs show how each group has experienced acceptance and belonging at

CCC. The first graph is based on the second question (what people personally

experienced at CCC). The second graph is the “disappointment gaps”—the difference

between what they say they want and what they experienced at CCC.

For our current purpose, the graph of disappointment gaps is of greatest interest. Boxes

shaded in green identify groups that are satisfied with the level of fellowship that they are

experiencing. They are either experiencing what they said they wanted or actually

experiencing a higher level of fellowship that they said they wanted. Red-shaded boxes

identify groups that are significantly disappointed in the quality of relationships that they

said they wanted. The criterion for significant disappointment is 20%. Unshaded boxes

show a level of disappointment, but less than significant.

Observations based on the Disappointment Gaps graph:

1. The huge red flag in the data is the two red-shaded squares. New Attending and Intermediate Attending Millennials are very seriously disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing at a level that makes it surprising that they are still around at CCC.

Interpretative Note: One of the realities that needs to be faced is that for all its variety and size, CCC tends to be an older persons’ church that is not necessarily meeting the needs of its younger members. Meeting the needs of younger adults needs to be a major focus for CCC as it goes forward.

Mills GenXers BoomersNew 32% 48% 10%Inter 2% 32% 43%Pi's 75% 99% 23%

Mills GenXers BoomersNew 59% 4% 15%Inter 71% 6% -12%Pi's -23% -11% -18%

ExperiencedAcceptanceandBelonging

DisappointmentGaps


2. This graph shows us that relationally, the Gen Xers are the healthiest generational group at CCC. They overall want a quality of fellowship at a 52%ile level and no

tenure group including New Attenders are significantly disappointed in what they

are experiencing. No wonder this group is attracting the most New Attenders.

3. The Boomers want the lowest overall quality of fellowship at 19%ile. The standard

offered by the Intermediate Boomers (31%ile) and Pioneer Boomers (5%ile) is very

low. The expectations of the New Attending Boomers who actually have decided

to attend CCC is a very low 25%ile. Even so, the New Attending Boomers are just

short of being significantly disappointed in what they have experienced at CCC.

The overall picture of Boomers is that they offer a very weak level of fellowship. One

has to wonder how many potential Boomers have been lost due to such a low

standard of fellowship. Factors That Influence Acceptance and Belonging A number of factors impact acceptance and belonging in a church. We will look at several.

Interrelatedness CCC is 38% interrelated. This factor has a significant impact on the church especially on

the level of acceptance and belonging that people actually experience.

Here is what this graph tells us:


1. People with relatives in CCC actually expect to experience a higher level of

acceptance and belonging (52%ile) than those who do not have family at CCC

(38%ile).

2. People with family in the church also experience a higher quality of fellowship

(53%ile) as compared to those who don’t have family (27%ile).

3. People without family are more disappointed in the level of acceptance and

belonging they experience (11%ile disappointment gap) than those who do have

family (minus 1%ile—no disappointment).

Interpretative Note: Effectively this graph shows us that CCC has two tracks to

acceptance. The one that is most satisfying and successful is for those who already have

relatives at CCC. People with relatives both expect more and experience more in the area

of relationships. The second track only attracts people with lower expectations of

fellowship and they are both experiencing a much lower level of fellowship and

disappointment in that experience. The best hope for New Attenders is that if they stay

long enough to become Intermediate Attenders that they will find good relationships that

are not dependent of blood relationships.

This difference is most important for New Attenders who are still in the process of

developing relationships in the church. The next graph looks at the role of

interrelatedness just among New Attenders.



1. New Attenders who come to the church with relatives already at the church have

built-in meaningful relationships. They have a lower need for relationships from

non-relatives in the church (45%). A consistent principle is that people who come

to a church without any relatives present are generally looking for family-like

relationships in the church. The CCC data supports this data. Those coming with

family are looking for a 45%ile level of relationships while those without family are

hoping for more (60%ile).

2. New Attenders who come to the church with relatives present in the church tend

to experience almost exactly what they said they wanted (minus 3 disappointment

gap). Those New Attenders without family coming to CCC experience 33%ile less

than what they said they wanted. A full third of the available scale is a significant

level of disappointment for New Attenders without family in the church. While

both New Attenders with and without family acknowledge that they were well

welcomed when they came to CCC, New Attenders without family need considerably more assistance and follow-up to be effectively assimilated into the CCC family.

It is possible to see the effect that interrelatedness has on New Attenders of each

generation.

New Attenders Without Family

True to earlier findings, New Attending Millennials without relatives in the church want

an even higher level of acceptance and belonging (98%ile) and are even more

disappointed in what they are experiencing at CCC (92%ile disappointment gap).

Non-related New Attending Gen Xers also hope for a much higher level of acceptance and

belonging (88%ile) than Gen Xers in general (52%ile) and are significantly more

disappointed in their actual relational experience (35%ile disappointment gap).

Mills GenXers BoomersIdealized 98% 88% 3%Experienced 6% 53% 7%Gap 92% 35% -4%


Unrelated Boomers have very low expectations of quality of fellowship (3%ile) and are

essentially experiencing that level as well.

The conclusion supported by the data is that the experience of acceptance and belonging by New Attending Millennials and Gen Xers (adults under 52 years of age) is substantially negatively affected by interrelatedness at CCC.

Role of Small Groups

In the modern church, small groups are designed to facilitate a deeper quality of

fellowship among those who attend the church. How effective they are depends on how

they are run. All small groups do not equally meet the acceptance and belonging needs of

those who participate. Here is the data on small groups at CCC:

Here is what the graph tells us:

1. Another of the consistent principles that shows up at most churches is that people

who participate in small groups are the ones who tend to value close relationships

in the church. At CCC, those who attend small groups desire/want a 52%ile level of

relationships. Those who don’t attend small groups are at 31%ile.

2. Those who attend small groups also experience a higher quality of relationships

(48%ile). Those who don’t attend small groups experience a 23%ile level.


3. In the case of CCC, the significant difference between those who participate in

small groups and those who don’t attend small groups is their level of expectation

of fellowship. Their disappointment gaps are not significantly different.

Interpretative Note: CCC has an unusual opportunity because it draws many of its New Attenders from more formal churches that do not focus on quality of fellowship. These people have not experienced good Christian fellowship and will thrive when they do. They will also be much better assimilated into the church when they experience true Christian fellowship.

Relational Experience of Other Identifiable Groups As a large, diversified church, CCC has many subgroups within its fellowship whose

relational needs may or may not be being met. Here are the results on four of these

subgroups.

A number of important observations can be made from this chart.

1. Both persons involved in Recovery and whose current relational status is

“divorced” want exactly the church average for acceptance and belonging, but

neither group is experiencing the quality of fellowship that they want. Those in

Recovery are experiencing about a fourth of the quality of fellowship that they said

they wanted (12%ile/45%ile). Divorcees are doing slightly better with a

disappointment gap of 26%ile. Both groups are experiencing significant

disappointment in the quality of fellowship they are experiencing.

2. Those involved in outreach desire a special level of comradery (73%ile). They

actually experience an above average level of acceptance and belonging (53%ile)

but somewhat less than they would like (20%ile disappointment gap).

3. Like New Attenders without family in the church, Never Marrieds tend to hope for

a family-like set of relationships in the church (67%ile). However, as a group they

are not finding it at CCC (40%ile disappointment gap).

Recovery OutreachNeverMarried Divorced

Idealized 45% 73% 67% 45%Experienced 12% 53% 27% 19%Gap 33% 20% 40% 26%


4. All four of these groups offer opportunities for improvement.

Conclusions from Quality of Fellowship

Overall CCCers want/idealize a slightly below average quality of fellowship (45%ile)

compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been (50%ile is average). However,

the level of desired acceptance and belonging varies considerably from group to group.

Among tenure groups, New Attenders overall have relatively low expectations (31%ile).

Intermediates have the highest at 52%ile. Pioneers as a group, excluding Millennials,

seem to lack much of a relational focus.

Among generational groups two items should be noted. The expectations for quality of

fellowship on the part of Millennials is sky high at 94%ile. Boomers have a weak relational

focus at 19%ile.

The problem with a weak relational focus is that 90% of people looking for a church are

looking for a significant level of acceptance and belonging. People tend to offer the level

of relationships to others that they, themselves, want. At 19% idealized quality of

fellowship for the group, most potential Boomers are going to be disappointed in what

they find at CCC and may not stay.

The adult group where many are disappointed in the acceptance and belonging that they

are experiencing are the Millennials. Millennials are very disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing. Since Millennials are by their nature very relational,

this is a problem that needs to be addressed.

CCC needs to realize that it tends to be a Boomer/Gen Xer church and in some ways fails to meet the needs of younger adults.

CCC is 38% interrelated. This is nearly twice the level that generally causes a church or

group within the church to less effectively include newcomers. New Attenders without

family are the ones who are being most affected by this condition. They want a higher

level of family-like relationships than those with family, but are not currently experiencing

it. New Attenders without family need a higher level of support than those who come

with family already in the church.

It is apparent that maintaining a high quality of relationships in its various activities has

not been a primary focus. Of the four other identifiable groups at CCC, the fellowship

needs of those in Recovery and Never Marrieds are weakly being addressed. Those in the

divorced group and those involved in outreach are better, but still weak.


For reasons that need to be determined, women as a group at CCC are currently quite

disappointed in the quality of relationships that they are experiencing. This subject is

investigated in the next section of this report.

Section 5: Looking at Relational Gender Differences at CCC

At CCC gender plays a surprising role in the experience of acceptance and belonging.

What the graph tells us:

1. Both men and women at CCC desire the same quality of fellowship at 45%ile. This

fact alone is unusual. Women tend to be more relational than men, but not so at

CCC. The two genders overall start out with an even expectation of acceptance

and belonging.

2. The actual experience of acceptance and belonging between men and women is

very different. Men are actually experiencing a higher quality of fellowship than

they said they wanted—38% more. Women are experiencing a much lower level

than they said they wanted (33%ile disappointment gap). This is very unusual.

There is a saying that “If mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.” The data has been checked

and rechecked. Women as a group are currently significantly disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing.


Differences in Gender Expectations at CCC Let us attempt to identify some of the factors involved in this difference. We will first look

at the differences in relational expectations of men and women.

Pioneer groups get too small to be meaningful when divided between men and women and, so, are not included.

What does this graph tell us?

1. Among Millennials, both female and male New Attenders expect/hope to find very

high levels of acceptance and belonging. Female Intermediate Attenders share the

same high expectation as the New Attending ladies. However, male Intermediate

Millennials have low expectations (19%ile) compared the male New Attending

Millennials. However, one of the factors that needs to be considered is that most

of the Intermediate Millennials are women (9 of 12 survey participants).

2. Among New Attending Gen Xers, there is a huge difference between what men and

women expect in terms of relationships.

a. Women come in hoping for very close, family-like relationships in the church

at 73%ile. In needs to be remembered that New Attenders are joining the

more tenured and established Intermediate Attenders. New Attending Gen

Xers women are badly mismatched with Intermediate Gen Xers women

(73%ile to 19%ile). This mismatch is a recipe for significant disappointment

on the part of New Attending Gen Xer women.

b. New Attending Gen Xer men come in with low expectations (25%ile) in the

quality of fellowship department but are greeted with Intermediate men

that expect higher than average relationships (60%ile). This mismatch is a

recipe for a pleasant surprise for New Attending Gen Xer men.

3. Boomer gender comparison

a. New Attending Boomer women come in hoping to find a slightly above

average level of acceptance and belonging (52%ile) only to find that the

Intermediate Boomer women are only expecting and offering to them a

25%ile level of fellowship. Again, a recipe for significant disappointment for

the New Attending Boomer women.

Mills Xers Bmers Mills Xers BmersNew 88% 73% 52% New 96% 25% 3%Inter 88% 19% 25% Inter 19% 60% 45%

Women:IdealizedAcceptanceandBelonging

Men:WantedAcceptanceandBelonging


b. New Attending Boomer men come expecting very little in terms of

relationships in the church (3%ile). However, Intermediate men expect and

are offering a 45% level. Like New Attending Gen Xer men, New Attending

Boomer men will be surprised and pleased for the quality of fellowship that

they find.

Gender Differences in “Experienced” Acceptance and Belonging at CCC

Here is what these graphs tell us:

1. Among New Attending Millennials of both genders, the expectation for finding

meaningful levels of acceptance and belonging in the church is very high.

a. Among Millennial women of both New Attenders and Intermediate

Attenders, the level of “experienced” acceptance and belonging is much

lower than what they said that they wanted.

i. New Attending Millennial ladies are experiencing an almost average

level of fellowship (48%ile), but this is much less than they said they

wanted (88%ile). There is an important distinction here. New

Attending Millennial ladies are not saying that they are no finding

acceptance and belonging. They are saying they want a higher level.

ii. Intermediate Millennial ladies report experiencing almost none of

the high level of relationships that they said they wanted

(disappointment gap of 87%ile of the desired 88%ile). This a much

more serious level of response than with New Attending Millennial

ladies. When responses are this extreme, there is generally more

than a disappointment to church relationships involved. They are

unhappy with the church in general.

b. Among men, the results are considerably different than with women

Mills Xers Bmers Mills Xers BmersNew 48% 27% 3% New 15% 89% 43%Inter 1% 6% 4% Inter 86% 79% 98%

Mills Xers Bmers Mills Xers BmersNew 40% 46% 49% New 81% -64% -40%Inter 87% 13% 21% Inter -67% -19% -53%

Men:DisappointmentGapsWomen:DisappointmentGaps

Women:ExperiencedAcceptanceandBelonging

Men:ExperiencedAcceptanceandBelonging


i. New Attending Millennial men are very disappointed (81%ile

disappointment gap) in the quality of fellowship that they are

experiencing. New Attending Millennial men are, for all their high

expectations (96%ile), only experiencing a 15%ile level of

relationships—an 81%ile disappointment gap. This is very serious.

ii. Intermediate Millennial men say that they place a low value on

relationships in the church (19%ile) but are experiencing a much

higher level of relationships than they said they wanted at a 86%ile

level. This is another pleasant surprise scenario.

Interpretative Note: When a group has an average or higher expectation for acceptance

and belonging and are experiencing less than half that level, these people are generally

questioning their relationship to the church and may be considering leaving. This criterion

puts both New Attending and Intermediate Attending Millennials on the endangered age

group list.

2. Among Gen Xers

a. Among New Attending Gen Xer ladies there was a high expectation of close

relationships within the church (73%ile) that was substantially higher than

Gen Xers in general (52%ile) or of New Attending Gen Xer men (25%).

When the New Attending Gen Xer ladies mixed with the Intermediate Gen

Xer women, they found that standard for relationships was only 19%ile.

This was a built-in recipe for disappointment for the New Attending Gen Xer

ladies and was fulfilled with an experienced level of 27%ile or a

disappointment gap of 46%ile.

b. Intermediate Gen Xers ladies who idealized only a 19%ile level of

relationships were, themselves, disappointed in what they experienced with

a 13%ile disappointment gap. A 13%ile disappointment gap seems small,

but it is experiencing only about a third (6%ile/19%ile) of what they said

they wanted. Even though they set their sights low (19%ile), they are still

significantly disappointed in the level of relationship that they experienced.

Neither New Attending or Intermediate Gen Xer women are experiencing the quality of fellowship that they said that they wanted.

c. New Attending Gen Xer men came with very low expectations of fellowship

(25%ile) but when they mixed with Intermediate Gen Xer men (60%ile), they

were pleasantly surprised with what they found. They experienced far a far

greater quality of fellowship that they had a vision for.


d. Intermediate Gen Xer men already had above average expectations at

60%ile and their experience also exceeded what they had envisioned

(79%ile). Gen Xer men at CCC are doing well.

3. Boomer Gender-related experiences

a. New Attending Boomer ladies came hoping for a slightly above average

level of acceptance and belonging (52%ile), but when trying to mix with the

Intermediate Boomer ladies found that their standard for quality of

fellowship was less than half of theirs (25%ile) with the result that they

experiencing almost none of the quality of relationships that they desired

(3%ile) and had a disappointment gap of 49% of the 52% they desired.

b. The Intermediate Boomer ladies whose standard was 25%ile in the

fellowship department were themselves disappointed in what they

experienced (4%ile with a disappointment gap of 21%ile of the 25% that

they wanted). Both New Attending and Intermediate Boomer ladies are quite disappointed in the quality of acceptance and belonging that they are experiencing.

c. Boomer men are models of good fellowship. New Attending Boomer men

came to CCC expecting little in terms of fellowship in the church (3%ile) but

found the Intermediate Boomer men idealizing a 45%ile level of fellowship.

While this is somewhat lower than average, it is a pretty good starting point.

New Attending Boomer men are experiencing 40%ile more than they were

hoping for.

d. Intermediate Boomer men idealized a 45%ile level but are experiencing an

enthusiastic 98%ile level of fellowship or 53%ile higher than they were

hoping for. Boomer men at CCC are doing very well.

Conclusion: The activities available to men at CCC are much better in encouraging a quality of fellowship than the activities available to women. One of the activities available to both men and women are small groups. Let look at the

role small groups play for men and women. Fifty-three percent (53%) of women

participate in small groups. Fifty-six percent (56%) of men participate in small groups.

Those who participate in small groups, both men and women, desire a 60%ile quality of

fellowship. Those who do not participate in small groups, both men and women, desire a

31%ile quality of fellowship. Both men and women are starting out with equal

expectations. Here are the rates of participation for each generational group:


The rates of participation are amazingly even. A slightly higher rate of participation

comes from the men at CCC.

Having established that men are doing well from an acceptance and belonging

perspective, let us shift our attention to the women and the role of small groups in

providing acceptance and belonging.

Here is how New Attending women of the various generational groups come out:


1. New Attending Millennial women who attend small groups both want a very high quality of relationships in the church (96%ile) and they also are experiencing that level of fellowship. This one of only two settings in which women are actually

experiencing close to what they said they wanted.

2. New Attending Millennial women who do not attend small groups still hope for a high quality of relationships (79%ile), but they are almost totally disappointed in what they are experiencing (72%ile disappointment gap). Three factors may play a role:

Mills GenXers BoomersWomen 52% 50% 53%Men 67% 48% 63%

RateofSmallGroupParticipation


a. Nine of the Millennials who took the survey are involved in supporting

children’s ministry. Six of them are women—suggesting a problem of time.

b. One of the most common reasons for not participating in small groups was

the lack of childcare. Some Millennial women are mothers of small children.

c. Millennials have the highest percentage of single women who may have

unique needs.

3. New Attending Gen Xer women who attend small groups desire a considerably

higher quality of fellowship than average (79%ile) and are almost experiencing it

(70%ile—9% disappointment gap). This is the second group where participants are

experiencing close to what they said they wanted.

4. New Attending Gen Xer women who do not attend small groups also want/desire

an above average level of acceptance and belonging at 60%ile, but are almost

totally not experiencing it at 6%ile—54%ile disappointment gap.

5. New Attending Boomer women who attend small groups want the same high level

as the Gen Xer women who participate in small groups at 79%ile. However, unlike

the Gen Xers women, New Attending Boomer women participating in small groups are not having their relational needs met with a 60%ile disappointment gap. Some

other factor(s) may be at work here.

6. New Attending Boomer women who do not participate in small groups have very

low expectations of quality of fellowship within the church at 19%ile and are also

experiencing little (1%ile).

Conclusions:

Most New Attending women at CCC, especially those who participate in small groups

want an above average quality of fellowship in their church relationships. For all but the

New Attending Boomer women, participation in small groups makes a significant

contribution to this end. Failure to participate in small groups has generally resulted in a

significantly lower level of expected and experienced church relationships.


Here is the same study focused on Intermediate Attending women:

What this graph tells us is:

1. Intermediate Millennial women who attend small groups have a very high desire

for close relationships in the church (98%ile) but they are not experiencing them

(1%) and are extremely disappointed (97% disappointment gap). Attending small groups is not resulting in meeting their relational needs.

2. Intermediate Millennial women who do not participate small groups still want

slightly above average relationships in the church (52%ile) but they are not

experiencing them (1%ile).

Interpretative Note: Experience has shown that extremely low scores on experienced acceptance and

belonging are highly correlated with general dissatisfaction with the church. Assuming

that this is true, the conclusion is that most Millennial women (excluding Pioneer Millennials), especially Intermediates are quite unhappy with the church as well as very disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing. The reasons that Millennials are so unhappy with CCC needs to be discovered and addressed.


3. Intermediate Gen Xer women who attend small groups present an interesting

picture. They have moderate expectations (38%ile) but are experiencing a higher

quality of fellowship than they said they wanted (79%ile). Small groups are working well for them. Like several of the men’s groups, they are pleasantly pleased by the

quality of relationships that they are experiencing.

4. Intermediate Gen Xer women who do not attend small groups have very low

fellowship expectations (5%ile) and are experiencing a minimal quality of

fellowship (1%ile).

5. It should be noted that Intermediate Boomer women who attend small groups

desire the same moderate level of relationships as Intermediate Gen Xer women

(38%ile) but small groups are not meeting their relational needs (7%ile). What this

suggests is that the small groups that they are attending are not being run in a relational way. There may be a need for CCC to examine how its small groups are run, especially groups involving Boomers.

Interpretative Note: There are not enough Pioneer women to do a meaningful trend

analysis of the various generational groups.

There is one final factor that we will look at in trying to understand why many women are

unhappy in their relational experience at CCC. The question is “Do you agree or disagree

that our church is a safe place where people can share what is going on in their lives.”

Overall, the average score on this question is 72% which is minimally satisfactory.

However, the scores are not consistent across the tenure/generational groups. (See

Section 6 for further discussion of graph.)


Here is what this graph shows:

1. Overall Millennial women do not particularly feel like it is safe to share what is

going on in their lives at 57%—one of the key characteristics of close fellowship.

Being able to share what is going on in one’s life is a very high Millennial value.

New Attending Millennial women believe that such sharing is safe at CCC at

89%ile. For whatever reason, Millennial women who have attended the church for

more than 5 years seriously disagree with both Intermediate and Pioneer

Millennial women rating the question at 33%—very low.

2. Gen Xer women of all three tenure groups rate this question well into the healthy

range—greater than 70%. This is one of the reasons why Gen Xers are the

healthiest generational group at CCC from a relational perspective. It is also a

major reason what this generation is attracting the most New Attenders.

3. Boomer women show a similar pattern to the Millennial women but less extreme.

New Attending Boomer women make the minimum healthy range at 70%, but

more tenured Boomer women feel less comfortable (53%) sharing what is going on

in their lives with each other.

4. The Silents shine in this characteristic. They are clearly comfortable “bearing one

another’s burdens.”


Interpretative Note: That there is in all cases except for the Silents a drop the ability to

share what is going on in one’s life from New Attenders to Intermediate Attenders has to

be a concern. Why would women who have attended the church for longer than five years

feel less safe in sharing what is going on in their lives?

Summary of Findings Regarding Female Disappointment In Relationships At CCC All the findings support the fact that women at CCC are overall disappointed in the quality

of relationships that they have found at the church. New Attending Millennials, Gen Xers,

and Boomers all want to experience at least an average level of acceptance and belonging

in their church relationships. New Attending Millennials and Gen Xers want a significantly

higher than average quality of fellowship. Millennial women of all tenure groups want an

intimate level of relationships. Only New Attending Millennial women who participate in

small groups and New Attending Gen Xer women who participate in small groups are not

significantly disappointed in the quality of fellowship that they are experiencing.

Of greatest consequence is the fact that, as groups, Intermediate Gen Xers and

Intermediate Boomers only desire a very limited level of relationships in their church.

This desire for limited relationships is the first major source of female disappointment.

This factor is the major cause for the disappointment of New Attending Gen Xer women

(46%ile disappointment gap) and New Attending Boomer women (49%ile disappointment

gap).

Participation in small groups is usually accompanied by a higher desire for relationships in

the church and also tends to produce a better relational experience. In the cases of New

Attending Millennial women, and New Attending Gen Xer women, this principle holds

true and is somewhat true for New Attending Boomer women. In the case of New

Attending Millennial and Gen Xer women that participate in small groups, the quality of

fellowship they want is high and what they experience is almost what they said they

wanted. In the case of New Attending Boomer women who participate in small groups,

they desire a better quality of fellowship (79%ile), but they do not experience it (19%ile)—

a 60%ile disappointment gap. This is a crushing level of disappointment for New

Attending Boomer women. It should also be noted that New Attending Boomer women

who do not participate in small groups share the same low expectation of close fellowship

as the Intermediate Boomer women.

Intermediate Attender generational groups present a complex picture. Both Intermediate

Gen Xer and Intermediate Boomer ladies that participate in small groups desire a

moderate (38%ile) level of relationships, but what they experience is entirely different.


The small group participating Gen Xer women are actually finding a better than average

experience of acceptance and belonging in the church. The Intermediate lady Boomers

who participate in small groups are experiencing little of what they had hoped for

relationally (7%ile). For whatever reason, small groups are doing little to meet the

relational needs of Intermediate lady Boomers. Perhaps, the small groups in which they

are participating are lacking in relational focus.

With the exception of New Attending Millennial women who participate in small groups,

all other Millennial groups except Pioneers are very disappointed in their relational

experience at the church. A significant factor would seem to be that they do not feel “safe

to share what is going on in their lives.”

It is significant to note that all New Attending generational groups feel like it is safe to

share what is going on in their lives at CCC. All Gen Xer and Silent groups agree that this

is so. However, the longer attending Millennials and Boomers question if this is really

true.

New Attending Millennials rate the “openness” at 89%ile, but Intermediate and Pioneer

Millennials only rate CCC’s safety in sharing what is going on in their lives at 33%ile.

The Boomer results are similar to the Millennial pattern, but less severe. New Attending

lady Boomers rate openness to 70%ile. Intermediate (53%ile) and Pioneer Boomers

(49%ile) rate the ability to share much lower. There has to be a reason for this distrust

that women of all ages who have attended the church longer than five years seem to feel.

Strategy To Change The Relational Culture at CCC Several conclusions are supported by the information in this section. The first is that the

historic relational culture especially among women at CCC has supported a limited

amount of acceptance and belonging among its members. The overall desired level of

acceptance and belonging among all who have attended CCC more than five years is

38%ile. The second is that the vast majority of women at CCC are currently disappointed

in the quality of fellowship that they are now experiencing.

Several principles about how churches tend to work are also relevant to this conversation.

The first is that once an established church has developed pattern, in this case a pattern of

relationships, it is very hard to change especially if the pattern has been in place for many

years. Effective change will have to be done on purpose.


The second principle is that if a significant number of people want a change, the pressure

for change can overcome resistance to change. Two factors suggest that there is

sufficient pressure to change the historic resistance to being relational in the church.

First, there is no missing that the women of CCC are, as a group, significantly disappointed

in the quality of fellowship that they have been experiencing. They have been

experiencing 33%ile less than they said they wanted. Secondly, the majority of women

want to be more relational than the traditional culture at CCC has encouraged. Consider

the following graph:

The question that measured what people wanted in terms of relationships in the church was “To what degree is a

sense of belonging and acceptance important to you in your church relationships?” The highest alternative of four was “a great deal.”

What this graph tells us is that 57% of women overall consider finding close relationships

in the church to be of “a great deal” of importance to them. As we have seen and see again

is that acceptance and belonging are most important to New Attenders and Millennials.

Slightly over half (51%) of Boomer women are on board. More tenured Boomer women

are weaker on the subject, but still a significant number would like to see the focus on

relationships increase.

Not everyone is going to be for that change. Some will not participate in the change.

However, not all have to participate for the change to take place. What is necessary is for

people to actively seek to increase the focus on relationships in the activities of CCC.

Small groups need to be transformed to have a relational focus even if that means

recruiting new leaders or retraining existing leaders. One of the red flags is that for

Boomer women, participation in small groups did not result in a significant increase in

fellowship. If small groups are done with a relational focus, a feeling of acceptance and

belonging, feeling part of the family of God, will take place.

Mills GenXers Boomers Silents TotalsNew 67% 67% 59% 65%Inter 67% 52% 48% 50% 52%Pi's 67% 67% 45% 53%Totals 67% 61% 51% 50% 57%

PercentageofWomenChoosing"Agreatdeal"


Section 6: Other Questions

This final section covers a series of questions that do not fit into other sections of this

report.

Q: Do you agree or disagree that our church is a safe place where people can be open and vulnerable with what is going on in their lives?

Given that the acceptance and belonging level is at 45%ile, a 72% rating on CCC being “a

safe church to share what is going on in your life” is consistent. Seventy-two percent is a

little better than average score compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been.

Seventy-two is a satisfactory score, but not what it could be especially with Pioneers

(56%) and Boomers (66%ile) dragging down the average.

This question from the perspective of women at CCC is explored in the previous section.

Q: How do you currently feel about your relationship to this church?

• I am very involved and excited about my church (81-100%)

• I am currently involved in supporting my church (61-80%)

• Neutral—I am attending and participating in church life (41-60%) • I am beginning to get discouraged with my church (21-40%)

• I am barely hanging on (0-20%)


The goal of this question is measure how people feel in general about their church. All

groups, except the Pioneers, are in the 61-80% range, but near the lower end of this range.

People are semi-positively involved in CCC. The scores should be higher in the 70%+

range.

Q: I understand the vision, plans, and goals of this church. Q: I am in agreement with the vision, plans, and goals of this church.

This set of questions has two primary applications. The first question focuses on the

degree to which people understand what their church is about and/or what is going on in


their church. In most healthy churches, the people in the pews or chairs will be able to

explain to others what their church’s goals are. Partially, they are able to do this because

they have heard it regularly and consistently from their leaders.

Overall, only 53% of survey respondents feel they understand the vision, plans, and goals

of their church. The minimum acceptable score for a healthy church is 70% or greater.

Experience has shown that when “understand” is in the 50’s, that people generally say

what they think the vision, plans, and goals ought to be and if interviewed are likely to say

different things. The Transition Team (Leaders on the graph) affirm that the vision, plans,

and goals for CCC are currently unclear and probably about to change.

The fact that there is very little difference between “understand” and “agree” shows that

there is little strife over the issue. People neither “understand” nor “agree” with the

current vision, plans, and goals which are currently poorly understood.

Q: I believe that this church has good potential for healthy growth in the future.

These results are a positive affirmation that most believe that CCC has a bright future.

The members of the Transition Team see a very positive potential. New Attenders are

affirming the future of their church of choice at 93% with Intermediates not far behind at

86%. Gen Xers who are actually adding the largest number of New Attenders are also in

the high group as are the Silents at 86%.

The average on this question at churches where VitalChurch has been is 80%. An average

score of 88% is definitely good.


It is worth noting those who are less enthusiastic. The Boomers are the least affirming

with Millennials close behind at 75%. Pioneers also rate the future in a less positive way.

Summary:

Compared to other churches where VitalChurch has been, CCC overall tends to be a place

where people can freely share what is happening in their lives.

Most people, overall, have good feelings about CCC (63%ile). It could be better, but is

satisfactory in this current time of transition.

One of the really major needs of the church is a recovery of clear and compelling set of

vision, plans, and goals. However, nearly all (88%ile) feel the church has a good potential

for growth.

Section 7: Theology

Given that 65% of New Attenders come non-Evangelical backgrounds, one of the critical

questions is whether the church is actually communicating the gospel to its people. Is

everyone now coming from the same theological perspective.

Q: My understanding of the gospel is . . . (choose the best answer)

• The Golden Rule: “do unto others . . .”

• Try hard to be a good person—or at least a better person

• Our relationship to God is a gift from God when one accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior

• I am not sure


There is a good level of agreement on this important theological point.

Q: Regarding my salvation . . .

• I hope I am saved • I am confident that I have eternal life and would go to heaven if I died today

• If a person does not make it the first time, God will give them a second chance

• The Bible is not clear on this matter

There is a good level of agreement on this question.


Q: Do you agree or disagree that the Bible instructs every Christian to find ways to

share the gospel with non-Christians?

There is almost total agreement that Christians should be seeking ways to share their

faith with others.

Conclusion: Given the diversity of church backgrounds of those who attend the church,

this is a high level of agreement on an evangelical understanding of the Gospel. The

education program at CCC is getting their job done.

Section 8: Complete SWOT

Strengths

1. Generations

a. 46% Boomers

b. 32% Gen Xers

c. 12% Millennials

d. 5% Silents

2. Excellent Tenure Analysis



c. 10% Pioneers


3. CCC has continued to attract new people even between pastors (23 survey

participants started attending in the past year)

4. New Attender Pattern

a. 40% Gen Xers

b. 37% Boomers

c. 15% Millennials

d. 3% Silents

5. Proportional Growth (% of increase of New Attenders)

a. 52% Millennials

b. 52% Gen Xers

c. 34% Boomers (Boomers are largest, but not doing best in attracting and

assimilating newcomers)

d. 21% Silents (low growth group)

6. Wide variety of historic church backgrounds being reached

a. Catholic 39% Overall; 35% New Attenders

b. Evangelical (Bible-centered) 28% overall; 30% New Attenders

c. Other Protestant 20% overall; 18% New Attenders

d. No church background 6% overall; 10% New Attenders

e. Pentecostal/Charismatic 5% overall; 6% New Attenders

7. Status when people came to CCC

a. Other local churches 57% overall; 53% New Attenders

b. Did not attend any church 22% overall; 24% New Attenders

c. Moved into the area 18% overall; 22% New Attenders

d. Began attending with parents 3% overall; 1% New Attenders

8. Relational Status

a. 76% Currently married

b. 12% Never married (long term group—over half have attended 5+ yrs)

c. 8% Divorced (long term group—over half have attended 5+ yrs)

d. 3% Widowed

e. 1% Separated

9. Many New Christians (11% of current attenders 5 years or less)

10. What keeps people coming to CCC

a. Good balance between “sermons” (38%) and “relationships” (34%)


b. 14% supporting in-church ministries

c. 8% right thing to do (usually low)

d. 4% music

e. 1% supporting outside church ministries (those involved in outreach seem

to have picked either sermons or relationships)

11. Good rate of adult evangelism 13% Overall



c. 26% Pioneers

d. 12% Millennials

e. 13% Gen Xers

f. 13% Boomers

12. Three worship services and live stream video of service

13. Fair level of participation in small groups (54%) for a large church



c. 56% Pioneers

d. 58% Millennials

e. 49% Gen Xers

f. 56% Boomers

g. 79% Silents

14. Assets for Evangelism and Inclusion

a. 14% involved in Outreach Ministry (really good)

b. 84% confident to share their faith (high)

c. 79% say CCC welcomes newcomers (New Attenders rate this at 80%)

d. 79% growing spiritually

15. 87% contribute financially on a regular basis to support CCC

16. Reasonable Acceptance and Belonging overall (some problems with specific

groups)

a. 45%ile “idealized/wanted” level of acceptance and belonging (good for a

large church)

b. 37%ile experienced acceptance and belonging

c. 8%ile disappointment gap—acceptable during pastoral transition


17. Good understanding of basic theology

a. 95% understanding of the gospel

b. 94% assurance of salvation

c. 99% imperative to share faith

18. CCC perceived positively

a. 88% Say CCC has a good potential for growth

b. People feel good about their church (63%)

Weaknesses: Weaknesses are issues that need to be addressed that will improve the

ministry of the church, but are not life threatening to the church. Threats are more

serious that if not addressed will seriously impact the church.

1. Tends to be a Boomer church: average of an adult is 51 years of age

a. 61% of current attenders are 50 or older.

b. 46% Boomers

c. 32% Gen Xers

d. 12% Millennials

e. 5% Silents

f. 5% Teens

2. Weak reaching Millennials

a. 12% of current attenders

b. 15% of New Attenders

3. Attracts women better than men: 62% women 38% men

4. Women as a group are disappointed with the quality of fellowship that they are

experiencing at CCC (See Section 5 for a full discussion)

5. Uneven results of small group program

a. New Attenders slow to get involved in small groups

b. Small groups failing to produce acceptance and belonging among

Intermediate Gen Xer and Boomer women

6. Over half (53%) of New Attenders come from other local churches

7. CCC weak on inviting people and getting weaker (66-90% of newcomers should

come for relational reasons)


a. 46% overall cite a relational reason for trying CCC

b. 40% New Attenders came for relational reasons

8. CCC is 38% Interrelated (level that generally begins affect inclusion of new people

is 20%)

a. Levels of interrelatedness

i. 52% Millennials (all tenure groups of Millennials are 47%

interrelated or more)

ii. 38% Boomers

iii. 34% Gen Xers

iv. 29% Silents

b. Effects of interrelatedness on experienced acceptance and belonging

i. New Attenders without family 33%ile disappointment gap; those

with family (minus 3%ile disappointment gap—no disappointment)

ii. Effect most pronounced on New Attending Millennials and Gen Xers

9. Other groups substantially disappointed in the level of relationships that they are

experiencing (numbers are disappointment gaps)

a. 33%iles disappointment gap (quality of fellowship) for women—reason

unknown

b. 40%iles “never marrieds”

c. 26%iles “divorced”

10. Poor understanding (53%) and agreement (50%) with vision, plans, and goals of

church

Opportunities

1. 65% of New Attenders come from non-Evangelical backgrounds that usually have

low expectations of fellowship in the church—help them to experience true

Christian fellowship

2. Addressing the relational needs of Millennials and making CCC a more positive

environment for Millennials

3. Retooling small group program to increase the acceptance and belonging of all

participants

4. Improving acceptance and belonging among Boomers and increasing the number

of Boomers being reached by CCC


5. Providing better support for New Attenders without family in the church

6. Improving experienced quality of fellowship for “never marrieds”, “divorced,” and

those in recovery

7. Creating a new compelling vision worthy of sacrifice for the church

Threats: Threats are issues which if not addressed will seriously impact the church and

which require immediate intentional intervention

1. Discover the concerns of Millennials and address the issues. The ministry of CCC

seems to be out of sync with the younger generations, especially the Millennials.

2. Identify and address the issues of why women are relationally disappointed.

3. Carefully examine the small group program to determine how it can better support

the relational needs of CCCers. Start some new groups and retrain leaders to

support this goal. Section 9: The “High Expectation” Church Model This section is provided for the consideration of leaders at CCC. If leaders find that CCC

fits this model, it will define how CCC addresses its issues and the kind of pastor that it

will look for.

Christ Community Church is an exceptional church. Few churches ever exceed more than

a 1000 in morning worship attendance, but CCC has. CCC’s size qualifies it to be what

church consultant Lyle Schaller calls the “very large church”3 (751-1800 in attendance). Further, CCC seems to fit into the category that Schaller calls the “high expectation church.”4 Here is Schaller’s description of the high expectation church:

The culture of the high expectation church tends to resemble that of the Marine Corps. The initial focus is on persuading the nonbeliever of the relevance and truth of the Christian faith. The culture of the Marines includes the basic assumption that “every recruit . . . has the ability

3Lyle E. Schaller, The Very Large Church, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 247pages.4Ibid, page 21.


to become a United States Marine.” The culture of the high expectation church includes the basic assumption that every human being can and should become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

The high expectation culture has major implications for the church’s approach to

discipleship. Here is how Schaller defines that approach:

Instead of emphasizing a member’s obligation to support the congregation, these worshiping communities concentrate on helping individuals progress from skeptics or seeker to believer, to learner, to disciple, to apostle. They challenge every pilgrim to fulfill the disciplines of a group designed to transform believers into disciples. . . . The high-expectation churches follow a different rule book from that used by low-expectation congregations.

It is worth our time to identify the specific goals of discipleship continuing the analogy of

the Marine Corps:

The training program for prospective Marines includes the assumption that recruits must be transformed from isolated, consumer-driven, and self-centered individuals into warriors as the first step in the sequence. Next they must learn to identify with a unit and automatically act in the best interests of the unit, rather than their own self-interest.

The analogy is not hard to apply. If the model fits, more than church attendance and

financial support are expected from CCC members. Progress toward discipleship is

expected. The very fact that more is expected is probably a major part of CCC’s

attraction. People who want more from their faith are both attracted and find

opportunity to develop toward discipleship.

Perhaps not every element described fits CCC, but many elements do. Let us consider the

evidence that supports the “high expectation” model:

1. Size: CCC is the right size to be a “high expectation” church (751-1800 attendance)

2. Low rate (8%) of coming to church because it is the “right thing to do”—an activist

church that expects to accomplish something rather than doing what religious duty

would require.

3. Expected and effective transformation of members


a. Sixty-five percent (65%) of New Attenders come from non-Evangelical

backgrounds yet over 90% show a clear understanding of the gospel even

though for many this represents a significant transformation from their

previous religious perspective. People are understanding and buying in to

the evangelical message of CCC. People are being transformed by the

gospel.

b. High rate of evangelism (an essential element of a high expectation church)

i. Overall rate of adult evangelism 13%

ii. New Attenders 14%

iii. Millennials 12%

iv. Gen Xers 13%

v. Boomers 13%

c. Mixture of new, medium, and long-term Christians (Most churches have a

lot of long term Christians and a few if any new Christians.) The assumption

at CCC is a progressive/transformational pilgrimage rather than being part

of a Christian’s only club where members have already arrived.

4. 14% actively involved in outreach (highest VitalChurch has seen). That a significant

number of people are directly involved in organized outreach is unique compared

to most churches. This a special indication that being part of CCC means “doing

something for the Kingdom of God,” not just being God’s people waiting for

Heaven.

As one might expect, the pastoral leadership requirements for a high-expectation church

are also different from most churches. In briefest terms, the high-expectation church

needs a challenging, visionary pastor who knows clearly what the church needs to do, sets

appropriate goals, and will support and maintain discipline in the church. It needs to be

recognized that the high-expectation church model is more fragile than most other church

models. If the model and methods begin to break down, the church can fall apart. The

model itself needs to be maintained and the senior pastor needs both to fit the model and

support it.


Schaller in The Very Large Church5 does an excellent job of defining the necessary

leadership model for the high expectation church. Those involved in the search

committee need to read it carefully.

One final observation (personal opinion) about the leadership of “high-expectation model”

of churches. To non-Marines, Marines have several annoying traits. Their “can-do”

attitude can truly get under a person’s skin. If they ever question if they are right, it is easy

to miss. Hopefully in private, the pastor of such a church would consider appropriateness

of his actions and his ethics as well as the goals he sets before the church. It is an area that

needs to be investigated when selecting a new senior pastor. However, a powerful

presence and the apparent clear assurance that his goals are correct all are part of the

necessary pastoral package for a high expectation church. Schaller addresses the

question of such a church being a “personality cult.”6 His answer is that it can be, but that

it is most often an appropriate response to the institutional requirements of this type of

church. As CCC moves forward, it important to recognize what is objectively needed in

terms of pastoral leadership and not be reactive.

Things That Would Strengthen the “High Expectation” Model Raising membership requirements would help. Currently, the requirements for

membership include attending the church for a few months, attending two one-hour

classes, and to be baptized as an adult. This last requirement probably involves some

discussion with a pastor, staff person or elder but may or may not trigger formal

instruction. However, the transformation of the 65% percent of New Attenders who

come from non-evangelical backgrounds to point of understanding and embracing the

Biblical gospel would certainly be helped by a planned, more thorough time of discussing

these subjects.

Some small groups or others intentional programs need to oriented toward discipleship:

what does it mean to be a Christian, how to grow as a Christian, how to share your faith,

etc. “Enjoying the Journey” sounds like an excellent step. However, these offerings need

to be regular and promoted appropriately.

Some plan that involves intentional creating of mentoring relationships would go a long

way toward creating effective leadership training program. Staff need to duplicate

themselves over and over again by training others in specialty ministries.

5Ibid, especially chapter 5.6Ibid, page 185.

Documents

CCC Survey Report 2017 - s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com