Rise- Bold Strategies to Transform Your Church

Cally Parkinson with Nancy Scammacca Lewis

Key Ideas

EIGHT CHURCH ARCHETYPES

TOTAL CHURCHES IN REVEAL DATABASE

1. Eight Church Archetypes

The Troubled Church (14%) - People are spiritually immature and

unhappy with the church and its senior pastor.

The Complacent Church (17%) - Faith is surprisingly underdeveloped

considering attenders are longtime churchgoers.

The Extroverted Church (9%)- Faith is underdeveloped but community

service is embraced.

The Average Church (13%)- No spiritual measures deviate from the

norm.

-> The Introverted Church (17%)- Faith is strong but faith-based

behaviors are lacking.

The Self-Motivated Church (10%)- Faith is strong across the board yet

people are unenthused about the church.

The Energized Church (12%)- Faith is somewhat underdeveloped but

growing and people love the church.

The Vibrant Church (8%) - Faith is strong and mature but still growing

and people love the church.

p. 2 "Rise reveals the extraordinary outcome from this quest-a powerful framework that, with precision and depth,

identifies and clarifies eight church patterns, which we call 'archetypes,' that define church culture in the United States.

The intuitive appeal of this framework allows pastors everywhere-regardless of church size, denomination, or

geography-to recognize their church's likely profile, and then to unlock the wealth of knowledge that underlies their

archetype."

Matrix of the 8 Archetypes (p. 9)

Spiritually Strong

Weak Best Practices Stronger Best Practices

Spiritually Weak

• An uninspired, traditional approach to ministry -worship and ministry are not particularly innovative. Not much

new or exciting happening.

• Anychurch, USA -Few distinctive demographics. Introverted Churches are equally likely to be small or large,

somewhat more likely to be located in the rural areas of the Midwest.

p. 90 -93 Hope for the Introverted Church ...• Spiritual momentum accelerates when a plan for spiritual growth is clearly defined, providing a clearer

discipleship pathway is a top priority.• Providing a spiritual growth framework that people can grasp bears great fruit A pathway defines expectations

and prerequisites for progress.

7. The Self-Motivated Church (10%) (p. 95 -112)

o. 110 Symotoms of a Self-Motivated Church• Pastors are confident that the majority of congregants are living out their faith. It's hard to miss the spiritual

energy radiating from congregational interactions and activity. Biblical literacy is clearly high. Serving

opportunities are very popular. Congregants are eager to fill whatever needs surface in the church or

community.• Pastors perceive a sense of disenchantment with the church that may be growing. There's almost a feeling of

estrangement affecting the relationship of church leaders with the congregation. It's possible that congregants

suspect that their leaders are preoccupied with efforts to appeal to newcomers creating a ripple of

disappointment-even resentment-that may be infecting church culture.

• Attendance is declining, often despite leadership moves to reverse the trend. Attrition is taking a toll on

attendance at the same time newcomers are stable or dwindling. It's likely that church leaders have attempted

to create a friendlier atmosphere, or open new campuses, or experiment with different worship styles to attract

higher numbers to attend services. But such efforts can easily backfire.

o. 98 -102 Six factors that set the Self-Motivated Church aoart ...• High frequency spirituality -Self-Motivated Churches have the highest percentage of Christ-Centered

congregants (33%)

• Unrealized expectations -Self-Motivated congregants express middling levels of satisfaction with the church's

role in their spiritual growth and less than average satisfaction with the senior pastor. Self-Motivated

congregants expect more from their church. In many ways congregants seem to be living their spiritual lives

on their own.

• Servant hearts -Forty percent of the congregants serve their church on a weekly basis. Undergirding their

service is a strong belief that they are called by God to be involved in the lives of the poor and suffering.• Vanishing congregants While a high percentage of congregants have attended their church for 10 years or

more, their lack of satisfaction may prompt them to look elsewhere to find a better environment for growth.

• Large-group ministry strategy -Self-Motivated Churches tend to focus on large-group options such as the

men's and women's ministries. More likely to focus on Sunday school classes and less likely to focus on small

groups.

• Older, rural Southern congregations -More often found in the south-central states.

p. 109-112 Hope for the Self-Motivated Church ...• Create some opportunities and vehicles to listen intently to your congregation

• Shift from a "doing• to a "being• focus

• Get back to a discipleship pathway• Help people discover the spiritual gifts and begin to find ways to engage in serving the church and the local

community in ways that frt with their gifts and passions

• Need to get people engaged outside the 4 walls of the church• Build unity around a clear and current church vision. Clarity about where we are going and what we stand for.

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p. 136 - 140 Six factors that set the Vibrant Church apart ...• Fully-surrendered disciples - more than 60% of the congregation are mature believers in the Close to Christ

or Christ-Centered stages of spiritual growth• Extremely Satisfied - 25% of the congregants are extremely satisfied with the way their church is helping

them grow spiritually• Large and growing congregations - Average attendance is more than 1,100 adults-higher than any other

archetype.• Equipped and On the Move - Vibrant Church congregations have the lowest percentage that report their

spiritual growth as stalled and the highest percentage that they are growing at a rapid pace. • Focused leaders - Congregants need to be spiritually challenged by their senior past in order to grow. Three

key areas for a pastor to challenge the congregation are: 1. Provides sound doctrine rooted in biblical

accuracy; 2. Models and reinforces how to grow spiritually; 3. Challenges congregants to grow and take next

steps.• Diverse, Southern demographics - Vibrant Churches stand out from other types in their degree of raciaVethnic

diversity with more than 75% of them enjoying a mix of congregants from various backgrounds. Most Vibrant

Churches are located in the South with the majority in suburban settings. Most congregants have notcompleted college and have family incomes below $75,000 annually.

p. 147 - 151 Hope for the Vibrant Church• Vibrant Church possesses massive "spiritual capital" meaning it has a richness of spiritual resources available

for expansion of powerful ministry.• Some Vibrant Churches may not seize this opportunity because there is no sense of urgency.• Vibrant Church needs to spend its capital to spread its DNA throughout the country. Let it become a model,

showing all archetypes how to open the doors so that the Spirit, who "gives life" will be able to give it inaccelerating abundance.

• Out of an already strong small group system, add informal "quads/triadsfl for further spiritual growth and

accountability• Continue to refine and enhance the discipleship pathway

10. Shadow Archetypes

p. 66 "Each one of the eight archetyPes has one or two shadows ... those shadows generally share some of thecharacteristics of the primary archetype. For example. Complacent Churches are similar to both Troubled Churches

and Extroverted Churches in their lower measures of spiritual growth markers (such as lower personal spiritualpractices), so it makes sense that these two archetypes are the most common shadows for Complacent Church."

11. Five Best Practices that help churches advance spiritual growth.

p. 7 & p. 154 - 155 Five best practices that help church leaders move their people along the Spiritual Continuum• Get People Moving - Jump-start newcomers with clear next steps by offering a spiritual "on-ramp" (like Alpha}.

Make the Discipleship Path and Destination clear. Examples of how: The Alpha Course. The Purpose Driven"Baseball Diamond." A defiried Discipleship Pathway.

• Embed the Bible in Everything - Make Scripture the heart of the church culture. Take away people's excuses

by doing whatever you can to make Bible engagement easy. Examples of how: Integrated, High-Profile Bible

Based Campaigns. Spiritual role models and reminders. Spiritual mentoring.

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