4) Which of the 3 mission-related elements do you think is the easiest for you? Which is the most difficult? Why?

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1 SPIRITUAL HEALTH: ASSESSMENT RUBRIC AND GROWTH PLAN Assessment Rubric Make use of the following personal assessment to gain a clearer sense of your current health and vitality as it relates to following Jesus more fully and growing to be more like him. Please answer each as honestly as possible, because and this is critical it is only after we have a clearer sense of where we currently are that we may begin to move forward more healthily and obediently toward Christ-likeness in our everyday lives. Please also note that this is intended to provide a starting point for discussion with others (ideally in a Growth Group-type relationship). Authentic biblical spiritual growth cannot be attained in isolation (since, biblically speaking, none of us exists in isolation!) we live and move and have our being only in the context of community (or as we say at Lakeview, in intentionally engaged authentic community!). So talk through this with somebody else and figure out how you might together move toward Christlikeness! Mission: At Lakeview we exist (mission) to love God, love others, and make disciples (who make disciples). In your own words, please answer the following mission-related questions: 1) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best), how well do you think you are (right now) loving God? loving others? making disciples (who make disciples)? 2) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best), how well do you think you understand what it means to love God? love others? make disciples (who make disciples)? 3) For each of the 3 mission-related elements, in which direction do you feel you re currently heading (that is, towards obedience and health or away from it)? Indicate back up on 1) above with an arrow next to your answer. 4) Which of the 3 mission-related elements do you think is the easiest for you? Which is the most difficult? Why? Strategy/Measures: At Lakeview, we ve decided to define a disciple concretely (be sure to read this footnote here! 1 ) as someone who is connecting with God & others, growing [in 1 We draw this language from Jesus words in Matt 4:19, when he says to Simon and Andrew: Come, follow me, and I will make you into fishers of men There are 3 primary components of a disciple as Jesus defines it here: 1.) a disciple is a follower of Jesus; that is, there is a commitment to believe, not just to believe in, Jesus as Lord and Savior of All. 2.) A disciple is a follower of Jesus who is being made into more and more of one. That is, they re growing, by God s grace and through the Holy Spirit they are being transformed. And 3.) a disciple is a transforming follower of Jesus who is increasingly committed to Jesus disciple-making mission. That is, more and more, they are growing in their understanding of and commitment to Jesus disciple-making task to which he has called his followers. So then, our connecting, growing, and serving language is intended to communicate all of this in more concrete, understandable, and also livable language. 1

2 their relationship] with God & others, and who is serving God & others.when we say others we mean to indicate relationships with others both inside and outside the church (families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, etc.). So our strategy for forming and becoming disciples is to encourage people to connect, grow, and serve, as defined above. These are the steps, in other words, to making a disciple, in our own language. This language also serves as a way to measure whether or not we are in fact making disciples. This is both a roadmap for disciples and a target for leaders, then. With all of this in mind, please answer the following strategy/measures-related questions: 1) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best), how well do you think you are (right now) connecting with God? connecting with others (at church)? connecting with others (beyond church)? growing [in your relationship] with God? growing [in your relationship] with others (at church)? growing [in your relationship] with others (beyond church)? serving God? serving others (at church)? serving others (beyond church)? 2) For each of these strategy/measures-related elements, in which direction do you feel you re currently heading (that is, towards obedience and health or away from it)? Indicate back up on 1) above with an arrow next to your answer. 3) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being not very and 10 being quite often ), how often in your everyday life (within your current rhythms and obligations) are you afforded the opportunity to [That is, how frequently do you even find the time or opportunity to ] connect with God? connect with others (at church)? connect with others (beyond church)? grow [in your relationship] with God? grow [in your relationship] with others (at church)? grow [in your relationship] with others (beyond church)? serve God? serve others (at church)? serve others (beyond church)? 4) What do you feel like your strengths (or gifts ) are as a person? (Alternatively, what do you enjoy doing?) Would you like help exploring this? 5) Which of the 3 would you most like to have more opportunities for? Which would you most like some help with, or opportunities to grow in connecting with God & others? growing with God & others? serving God & others? Values: Our values (listed below with a little explanatory blurb) serve as guideposts for how we ll realistically and effectively be obedient to our mission. So, as we live by these 2

3 guidepost values as we put them into practice we ll be successful in our mission most expediently (and we ll not be able to avoid getting better at connecting, growing, and serving!). In your own words, please answer the following values-related questions (after reading through our values list): Intentional engagement participation ( We are the Church wherever we go, so let s roll up our sleeves and get to it! ) Practicing this value would likely involve trying your hand at something ministryrelated (at church is okay, but think especially of beyond the church). How can you get more involved in a life of ministry or service, as the presence of Christ wherever you go? We are called to engage God s kingdom in all walks of life, so think with this one about how we might practically get involved. generosity ( Wisely and faithfully stewarding God s kingdom resources. ) Practicing this value would focus on developing a disciplined life of generosity in all areas of life (i.e., time, talents, treasures). How can you practice more faithfully stewarding what God has entrusted to you? How can we more wisely invest the Kingdom resources with which we ve been blessed? multiplication ( Planting Gospel seeds wherever we go in everything we do. ) Practicing this will likely involve some sort of replication or reproduction (remember, Jesus calls us to be disciple-makers, not just disciples. Or more accurately, a disciple who doesn t make disciples is actually not disciple at all). This could be a faith-related conversation with someone, or maybe starting up a Bible study at work, starting up a new Life Group, etc. How can we multiply in others what God has multiplied in us? movement ( If it s worth doing, it s worth doing poorly. ) Practicing this value would focus on spiritual-life disciplines; e.g., solitude, Bible reading or memorization, praying, fasting, etc. Cultivating the habits of the spiritual or inner life is so important that we should commit to learning on the go so to speak. We can t wait till we have it all figured out to get going with this. Wherever you are, start there. But start! in authentic community grace ( Major on the majors, minor on the minors. ) This one is a bit broader than some of the others, but that s okay. Practicing grace as a value (that is, demonstrating it) will take any number of shapes in our lives. It could involve some act of benevolence or grace in someone s life. This could be an act of unmerited kindness, but it could also take the shape of an intentional demonstration of unity or bridge-building with those around us. How might you surprise someone with grace? transparency ( No point in pretense. ) Practicing this is going to be difficult, because it involves vulnerability and trust (which is going to look different for each person and will take different amounts of time to work towards for each of us). Practicing this will likely begin with identifying a person or people with whom we might relate in more transparent ways (maybe a family member, some friends, or a Growth Group, etc.). It involves intentionally allowing others to get to know and love you, and also to see you more and more for who you are. How and with whom might you put this value into practice? tension ( Iron sharpens iron. ) It probably won t be difficult to find ways to practice this value, but it sure won t be enjoyable! Beyond simply practicing tension as a value, 3

4 we also practice how we react to tension. Do we expect it, and do we embrace it? Or is it something rather that we actively avoid or run from? So practicing this might involve putting yourself in a position that you know will make you uncomfortable; e.g., outside your comfort zones. Another way to practice it is to walk towards the mess as we ve said before. In what areas of your life might you sharpen others or be sharpened yourself? dialogue ( Learn to listen to learn. ) Practicing this will relate to learning to be a better listener, which will in turn result in learning opportunities for us. It may mean you intentionally engage in dialogue with someone without the express intention of changing their minds. It may also involve practicing sharing your opinions more lovingly and less dogmatically. How might you engage in dialogue in your everyday life and where will you practice this value? 1) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least and 10 being the most), how much or how little do each of these values resonate with you [That is, which do you like and which do you not like? Which energize you and which threaten you? Etc.]. Also, why? participation generosity multiplication movement grace transparency tension dialogue 2) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best), how well or poorly are you living each of these values out right now? participation generosity multiplication movement grace transparency tension dialogue 3) For each of these values-related elements, in which direction do you feel you re currently heading (that is, towards obedience and health or away from it)? Indicate back up on 1) above with an arrow next to your answer. 4) Do you struggle more with the intentional engagement side of things or the authentic community side of things? Why? 5) Can you think of values you hold to that are in opposition to any of these values? 2 2 For example (if we re being honest here) I love getting stuff (it s a value I hold, even if it is kind of embarrassing to admit), so giving generously is something I struggle with because I hold quite strongly to an almost equally opposed value. 4

5 6) What other things do you value that aren t on this list? 7) Which of the 8 values do you think you struggle with the most? Why? Conversely, which do you think you do well? 8) Which of the 8 values do you think our church struggles with? Why? Conversely, what do we do well? Vision: Our vision or slogan of sorts is with purpose, on purpose. All of this (that we ve just discussed above) can only be accomplished according to our values and by our strategy if we intentionally engage in authentic community, with purpose, and on purpose. That is, everything we do must be done intentionally it won t just happen on its own. It must be done on purpose. And it s also no good just to do all this stuff and to be involved in all this activity unless the end in mind is obedience to Christ s commission to his followers that we make disciples who make disciples. That s why we do all this. That s what it s for. It s all done with [this specific] purpose [in mind]. For any other purpose, we re missing the point! So with purpose, on purpose sums it all up and keeps us on track all at the same time. It brings us right back to square one, so to speak. In your own words, please answer the following vision-related questions: 1) On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the most and 10 being the least), how well do you think you are (right now, as defined above) living your life with purpose? living your life on purpose? 2) For each of these vision-related elements, in which direction do you feel you re currently heading (that is, towards obedience and health or away from it)? Indicate on 1) above with an arrow next to your answer. 3) Can you think of examples from your life that demonstrate a clear attention to purpose (in either purpose category)? Explain. 4) Can you think of examples from your life that demonstrate a lack of purpose (in either purpose category)? Explain. Growth Plan Now that we have some sense of where we are, what are the next steps to get you headed in the right direction? Where to from here, in other words? And how can we help each other with this? By the end of this thing we should all have a pretty good idea of some ways we d like to start growing things to learn, things to practice, things we need accountability for, prayer for, etc. Start by answering these more generalized response questions before moving to the more area-specific questions after that. Please bear this in mind as we move to this section: It s absolutely a given for us that we can only ever accomplish our mission as God graciously moves in and through us to bring about success, and this is also reflected in how we plan and pray about all this (in utter dependency on God to work or else all of our planning is in vain). That being said, 5

6 the Apostle Paul encourages us (by way of his letter to the Philippian church [2:13-14]) to continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort for the sake of his good pleasure is God [NETB]. We know that God must work for us to experience any growth, but we re going to all this trouble here and now with all this because we believe we re called to humbly and reverently cooperate with God as he does this work. Somehow, I suppose you could say, God chooses to work in and through us, and we believe we have a part to play. And we want to be sure we re doing what we can to cooperate with God most fully in all this. Now then on to the questions. 1) Upon completing the assessment rubric above, what two different words would you choose that describe how you feel about your spiritual health. Why? 2) With the above rubric in mind, what are some areas of your life where you ve experienced growth already? 3) Alternatively, what stood out to you as an area (or areas) you d really like to grow in? 4) Did anything surprise you in some way? In other words, did you learn anything about yourself, or did something become clearer? If so, what? 5) What stood out to you from above as something that you urgently need to work on or experience growth in? 6) Can you think of anything specifically you think you need to learn more about before you can really start growing in that area? If so, what? 7) Can you think of any other way you d like to grow that wasn t touched on up above? If so, what? Mission: love God, love others, make disciples (who make disciples) 8) What is the one thing that you think is currently keeping you from making disciples who make disciples? 9) What do you think you should do about it, and how can we help with that? Strategy/Measures: connecting with God & others, growing with God & others, and serving God & others 10) What is something that you think is currently keeping you from more effectively connecting, growing, and/or serving? 11) Is there anything that stands out from this section that you d like to experience growth in? Note from the above rubric that with others we mean to indicate relationships with others both inside and outside the church (families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, etc.). Keep in mind that you don t always have to find weaknesses to shore up maybe you have a few areas of strength you d like to really take and run with! 12) How would you like to serve other people? How can we help? 6

7 13) What specifically could you either start doing or stop doing (thinking of time commitments here) in order to connect, grow, or serve more effectively? Or maybe it means doing more or less of something, as opposed to starting or stopping something completely. Be specific. 14) What s keeping you from taking steps to adjust your schedule one way or the other? Values: intentional engagement (participation, generosity, multiplication, movement) in authentic community (grace, transparency, tension, dialogue) 15) For each value, can you try to come up with realistic examples (at least one for each value) of practices and also rhythms for each practice? Some examples of possible practices are provided in the rubric, and a rhythm would be how often this practice is engaged (e.g., once a week, once a month, twice a month, daily, etc.). 16) Which 2 of the 8 would you like to try? According to what rhythm? Vision: with purpose, on purpose 17) So with all of this in mind, then, what seems like the best place to start (with purpose, on purpose)? 18) How can others help you with this, or share your burden, etc.? How can this be done together, in other words? 19) How will you know when you re growing? Can you identify or envision what successful growth might look like so that you will know it as you grow towards it? 20) Where (in your life) do you see God at work right now? 21) Where (in your community) do you see God at work right now? 22) What would you like to see God do in your life over the next 6 to 12 month? How can we help? 23) How can we pray for you? 7