Check your church's pulse
How healthy is your church? Is it doing what Jesus said it should? Chris Rolfe spoke to Mike Robins and three Elim pastors about a pioneering project that’s helping fit churches for healthy futures.
As an engineer working in aircraft manufacturing, Mike Robins was used to environments where quality control and continual improvement were essential. When he moved into church leadership, however, he realised something was missing.
“Quality control is second nature in engineering – lives depend on it,” he says.
“Then I saw several significant churches go through major difficulties and was troubled by the pain and fallout leaders and attendees suffered.
“It made me ask: where is quality control in our churches?”
Unable to find any tool to measure church health, Mike used his engineering background to develop one – the 360 Pulse Matrix.
The 360 Pulse Matrix
“We have to begin,” Mike explains, “by asking what Jesus told us the church should do.
“He set five clear priorities: create disciples who develop intimacy with God, who feel part of a family and who reach out to others with servant hearts. If this is what Jesus called us to do,” he says, “shouldn’t we check we’re doing it well?” The 360 Pulse Matrix helps churches do just that.
Mike describes it as “a programme that measures a church’s effectiveness across these areas, producing a report and action plan to help leaders celebrate strengths and identify priorities for growth.” “Are we creating attendees or disciples?” Mike asks.
“Are people merely singing songs, or are they growing in intimacy with God? Are we raising the next generation of leaders? These are the kinds of quality-control questions that help keep churches healthy.”
story continues …
