Church Health Assessment Survey

"The CHAT church survey really stands out. I like how CHAT identifies your church's strengths, involves every member, is easy to take online, and offers highly-readable results. What a great tool to assess where you are, fill people with hope, and together discern God's will for your future."

Kevin Miller
Executive Vice President
Christianity Today International, IL


"Steve Macchia is at it again. His burning passion to see churches achieve maximum health has taken the next step. CHAT (Church Health Assessment Tool) provides churches with an easy-to-use look at themselves that could move many congregations toward the health that Steve (and, more importantly, the Spirit) envisions."

Larry Crabb
Founder
New Way Ministries, CO


"Without a doubt, one of the greatest needs of a large number of churches in America is to become more healthy. Leadership Transformations' new CHAT survey should be a great help to all who use it. It is a joy to recommend it to you!"

Paul Cedar
Chairman/CEO
The Mission America Coalition, CA


Marks of a Healthy Church

Marks of a Healthy Church — Discovery Through Church Visits

Discovering the marks of a healthy church requires prayer, bible study, and extensive research. In writing the book Becoming a Healthy Church, Dr. Stephen A. Macchia (president of Leadership Transformations) engaged in more than 100 church visits, two major surveys with nearly 2,000 participants, in-depth Bible study, concerted prayer, and dialogue with hundreds of church leaders to determine the ten characteristics of a healthy church.

In addition to an emphasis on God's Word, the marks of a healthy church as revealed from the 100 church visits were these nine common indicators of church health:

  • Love, acceptance, and forgiveness. The healthiest churches we visited created an environment of acceptance. People could enter just the way they were, allowing the Holy Spirit to do the refining work within their hearts.
  • Relational integrity. In the healthy churches we visited, broken people felt safe because these churches exhibited authenticity and transparency in their relationships.
  • Hunger for personal growth. In the healthiest churches people showed a strong desire to know God in an intimate manner. A strong adherence to biblical truth also characterized each setting.
  • Shift from traditional to contemporary worship. The fourth theme apparent in healthy churches was the shift in worship from the traditional to the contemporary. Larger congregations often offered both styles.
  • Prayer. In each healthy church, we were refreshed to observe that prayer was a high priority.
  • Relationship-centered ministry. We also observed that healthy churches were shifting from program-based to relationship-centered ministry planning; in effect, a deprogramming of the church.
  • Use of personal stories. The seventh theme could be described as the celebration of the power of story. Many of the churches we talked with understood the importance of ongoing reminders around the theme of "life change."
  • Service. The healthiest churches we visited exhibited active volunteerism - serving God with all the talent, time, giftedness, passion, temperament, and energy one can muster.
  • Networking. The healthiest churches acknowledge that they cannot get the job done in their communities by themselves and seek ways to develop interdependent relationships within their city or county.

Marks of a Healthy Church — Further Defined Through Individual Survey Results

After discovering the above marks of a healthy church through visiting the 100 churches, an extensive survey project was conducted with 1,899 individual participants to further define the research. Out of that individual study, the following categories for the marks of a healthy church were uncovered:

  • God's empowering presence.
  • God-exalting worship.
  • Spiritual disciplines.
  • Learning and growing in community.
  • A commitment to loving and caring relationships.
  • Servant-leadership development.
  • An outward focus.
  • Wise administration and accountability.
  • Networking with the body of Christ.
  • Stewardship and generosity.

The above marks of a healthy church became the framework for the ten traits of a vital ministry in Becoming a Healthy Church, a book which has been widely used by hundreds of churches and seminaries throughout the world.

Click here for more on the marks of a healthy church.