REVEAL

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REVEAL
WHERE ARE YOU?
continue to work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, for it is God who works in you to
will and to act according to his good
purpose. Philippians 2 12b-13
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Matthew 2819-20 (ESV) Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age."
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Framework for the Discipleship
INTEGRATED LIFESTYLE
COMPARTMENTALIZED LIFESTYLE
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A disciple of Christ is an individual who
exhibits an increasing Christ-likeness
exemplified by 1) an undeniable love for God and
others, 2) a vibrant prayer life, 3) a love of
Scripture, 4) an obedient lifestyle of personal
evangelism, 5) employment of talents and personal
resources, spiritual gifts and service used for
the benefit of the Kingdom, 6) consistent
manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit, and 7)
extravagant worship that treasures Christ.
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The Question How do we know if the things we
are doing as a church are actually making a
difference?
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The assumption Increased attendance/participati
on People growing
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The model Design and fund an assortment of
church activities and programs that you believe
will help people grow spiritually. Encourage as
many people as possible to get involved as much
as possible in those activities and
programs. Track the number of those who enroll.
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• The Research
• 2004 Analysis of 5700 surveys completed by
  people who attend Willow Creek
• 2004 Analysis of 300 surveys of people who left
  Willow Creek within the previous year
• 2004 2007 Completed 120 in-depth one-on-one
  interviews exploring individuals spiritual lives
• 2007 Analysis of 5000 additional surveys
  completed by people who attend Willow Creek and
  six other churches across the US
• The six churches are diverse in geographic
  location and size, ranging from larger churches
  in Florida and California to suburban churches
  in Illinois, Ohio and Texas to a smaller
  African-American church in Michigan. They
  included denominational, seeker targeted and
  independent/Bible churches.

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• The surveys collected and analyzed
• Attitudinal responses How strongly people felt
  about particular statements such as I have
  tremendous love for people I know and dont
  know.
• Behavioral responses These were questions about
  specific behaviors and to what degree they were
  present in the respondent's life. I.e. serving,
  giving, Bible study, attendance, etc.

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• Predictiveness
• A high correlation between expressed attitudes
  and actual behavior
• The more attitudes and behaviors match up, the
  greater the degree of predictiveness

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The project hypotheses Hypothesis 1 There is
a migration path for spiritual growth based on
church activities. Hypothesis 2 The most
effective evangelism tool is a spiritual
conversation. Hypothesis 3 Spiritual
relationships are a key driver of spiritual
growth.
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Three observations about what they did not
find Observation 1 Gender does not impact
spiritual growth in any significant
way. Observation 2 Age does not appear to have
significant impact on spiritual
growth Observation 3 The pattern of spiritual
growth does not differ significantly by church.
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• The six discoveries
• Involvement in church activities does not predict
  or drive long-term spiritual growth. But there
  is a spiritual continuum that is very
  predictive and powerful.
• 2. Spiritual growth is all about increasing
  relational closeness to Christ.
• 3. The church is most important in the early
  stages of spiritual growth. Its role then shifts
  from being the primary influence to a secondary
  influence.
• 4. Personal spiritual practices are the
  building blocks for a Christ-centered life.
• 5. A churchs most active evangelists,
  volunteers and donors come from the most
  spiritually advanced segments.
• 6. More than 25 percent of those surveyed
  described themselves as spiritually stalled or
  dissatisfied with the role of the church in
  their spiritual growth.

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The six discoveries 1. Involvement in church
activities does not predict or drive long-term
spiritual growth. But there is a spiritual
continuum that is very predictive and powerful.
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Spiritual Behaviors and Attitudes
Spiritual Behaviors tithing, evangelism,
serving, etc.
High
Spiritual Attitudes love for God, love for people
Spiritual Growth
Low
Low
High
Level of Church Activity
If church activity drove spiritual growth
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Spiritual Behaviors and Attitudes
Spiritual Behaviors tithing, evangelism,
serving, etc.
High
Spiritual Attitudes love for God, love for people
Spiritual Growth
Low
Low
High
Level of Church Activity
The actual connection between church activity and
spiritual growth
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The Spiritual Continuum Identified in the Research
(The Four Segments)
Christ-Centered God is all I need in my life, He
is enough. Everything I do is a reflection of
Christ.
Close to Christ I feel really close to Christ
and depend on him daily for guidance.
Growing in Christ I believe in Jesus, and I am
working on what it means to get to know him.
Exploring Christianity I believe in God, but Im
not sure about Christ. My faith is not a
significant part of my life
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The six discoveries 2. Spiritual growth is all
about increasing relational closeness to Christ.
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Spiritual Behaviors and Attitudes
Spiritual Behaviors tithing, evangelism,
serving, etc.
High
Spiritual Attitudes love for God, love for people
Spiritual Growth
Low
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
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The Exploring Christianity Segment
I believe in God, but Im not sure about Christ.
My faith is not a significant part of my life.
These people are taking the first steps in
spiritual growth and are marked by significantly
lower levels of agreement with belief statements
such as I believe salvation comes only through
Jesus Christ.

• Attitudes/Behavior
• They do not involve God in their daily lives.
• They view the Bible as irrelevant.
• They need others to help them interpret spiritual
  issues.
• They seek Gods guidance only in times of need.
• They do not serve in the church.

• Needs
• Seeker services
• Opportunities to connect with others.

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The Growing in Christ Segment
I believe in Jesus and I am working on what it
means to get to know him.
These early believers are growing in their faith
through church experiences and are also starting
to incorporate personal spiritual practices into
their normal routine outside of church.

• Attitudes/Behavior
• They are discovering faith.
• They need others to help them interpret spiritual
  issues.
• They willingly participate in small groups.
• Some of them serve in the church.
• They sometimes read the Bible or Christian books.

• Needs
• Small group opportunities.
• Basic personal spiritual practices.

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The Close to Christ Segment
I feel really close to Christ and depend on him
daily for guidance.
These believers report much higher levels of
personal spiritual practices than earlier
segments. Serving emerges as an important
expression of their faith. While their devotion
to Christ is growing, they still hold back from
full commitment.

• Attitudes/Behavior
• The Bible provides direction for their lives.
• Prayer is central to their lives.
• They have not surrendered everything to Christ.
• Small groups are less important to them.
• Spiritual friends increase in importance to them.
• They serve regularly.

• Needs
• Serving opportunities.
• Advanced personal spiritual practices.

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The Christ-Centered Segment
God is all I need in my life. He is enough.
Everything I do is a reflection of Christ.
These people have fully surrendered their lives
to Christ, demonstrated by their dramatically
higher levels of spiritual behaviors and
attitudes across the board. They very strongly
agree that they seek Gods guidance in every
area of their lives at two times the level of
any other segment.

• Attitudes/Behavior
• They love God more than anything.
• For them, prayer is constant conversation with
  God.
• They help mentor others.
• Service to others is a way of life.

• Needs
• Mentoring opportunities.
• Wide range of serving opportunities.

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The six discoveries 3. The church is most
important in the early stages of spiritual
growth. Its role then shifts from being the
primary influence to a secondary influence.
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The Churchs role as the primary influence on
spiritual growth becomes secondary as people
advance along the spiritual continuum.

• Christ-Centered
• Churchs primary role is to provide serving
  opportunities
• Serving the poor is significant

• Close to Christ
• Weekend services decline in importance
• Small groups drop in importance
• Serving gains ground

• Growing in Christ
• Weekend services remain important
• Small groups rise in importance

• Exploring
• Christianity
• Weekend services are critical
• Early connection opportunities are key

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The six discoveries 4. Personal spiritual
practices are the building blocks for a
Christ-centered life.
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Daily Personal Spiritual Practices
I pray
I read Scripture
I pray to confess sins
I set aside time to listen to God
75
50
25
0
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
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The six discoveries 5. A churchs most active
evangelists, volunteers and donors come from the
most spiritually advanced segments.
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Spiritual Behaviors
Tithing I give 10 percent
Serving I serve one time per week
Evangelism I have six or more meaningful
spiritual conversations per year with
non-Christians
50
40
30
20
10
0
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
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The six discoveries 6. More than 25 percent of
those surveyed described themselves as
spiritually stalled or dissatisfied with the
role of the church in their spiritual growth.
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Daily Personal Spiritual Practices
I pray
I read Scripture
I pray to confess sins
I set aside time to listen to God
75
50
25
0
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
Stalled
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• The Stalled Segment Represents one out of every
  six respondents (16)
• They come from the early-to-middle stages of
  spiritual growth
• They dont demonstrate their belief through
  personal spiritual practices
• While 40 are very satisfied with the churchs
  role in their spiritual growth, another 28 are
  dissatisfied
• One out of four (25) are thinking about leaving
  the church.
• They acknowledge significant barriers to
  spiritual growth at much higher levels than the
  other segments.

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The Stalled Segment Acknowledged significant
barriers to spiritual growth
Addictions (out of control spending, gambling,
alcohol, pornography, overeating, etc) 27
percent (50 higher than total sample) Inappropri
ate relationships (an emotional or physical
affair, other relationships that pull them away
from God) 16 percent (60 higher than the total
sample) Emotional issues (depression, anger,
stuffing emotions, etc.) 48 percent (35 higher
than the total sample) Not prioritizing ones
spiritual life (spending more time on other
things like TV, internet, e-mails, movies,
shopping etc.) 89 percent (19 higher than the
total sample)
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The Dissatisfied Segment
35
75
50
Satisfaction with the Church
Provides compelling worship services
25
Challenges me to take next steps
Helps me understand the Bible in greater depth
0
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied Segment Represents One out of Ten or
10 of the congregation
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• The Dissatisfied Segment Probably represents up
  to 10 of a typical congregation
• They regularly attend weekend services 96
  attend three to four times per month but want
  more challenge (56) and more in-depth Bible
  teaching (60) from the services
• They participate in small groups (55 meet once
  per month or more)
• They volunteer at church (61 once per month or
  more)
• They serve those in need (25 at least quarterly)
• They tithe (31)
• They are diligent in their personal efforts to
  grow their faith through daily Bible
  study/reflection (39 vs 26 of the total) and
  daily prayer (59 vs 56 of the total)

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• Three more things about the Dissatisfied
  segment people
• 63 percent are considering leaving the church due
  to much lower levels of satisfaction with the
  church across the board.
• The two statements rated lowest by the
  dissatisfied segment
• The church keeps me on track as I try to lead a
  Christian life. 7 reported being satisfied
  versus 47 of the total.
• The church helps me find a spiritual mentor.
  4 reported being satisfied versus 25 of the
  total.

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Spiritual Behaviors
Tithing I give 10 percent
Serving I serve one time per week
Evangelism I have six or more meaningful
spiritual conversations per year with
non-Christians
50
40
30
20
10
0
Exploring Christianity
Growing in Christ
Close to Christ
Christ-Centered
Dissatisfied
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• Willow Creek has made three strategic changes as
  of the Reveal book printing
• Our message to the congregation has to change.
• weve been wrong for thinking it was our job
  to meet all their congregations spiritual
  growth needs. We want to move people from
  dependence on the church to a growing
  interdependent partnership with the church.
• 2. We need to coach next steps.
• We want to transition the role of the church
  from spiritual parent to spiritual coach.
• We need to extend the impact of our weekend
  services.
• One of our initiatives is to extend the impact
  of the weekend service to meet the needs of those
  who are farther along the journey.

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How might we respond?

• by bringing intentionality to our discipleship
  efforts
• by learning to see ourselves as disciple making
  churches instead of churches with a
  disciple making ministry
• by returning to teaching and building spiritual
  disciplines
• by teaching our people to assume responsibility
  for their own spiritual growth
• by realizing that disciples are not mass produced

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For all the latest developments regarding the
Reveal book
www.revealnow.com