Randy Tompkins

Measuring Spiritual Maturity Randy Tompkins

Jesus commissioned His apostles--and, by extension, the church--to make disciples. Many church leaders have come to the conclusion that attending worship services and Bible study classes will result in making disciples. A review of statistical reports indicates a majority of church members and attenders do not believe this process will work, or they have come to the conclusion they do not want to become disciples.

The 2010 US Religion Census report indicated 79% of the 150,686,156 members, children, and other attenders did not attend worship services. It also reported over 60% of the same group did not attend Bible study classes. In 2014 one of the major denominations in the United States reported 63% of church members did not attend worship services and 62% did not attend Bible study classes.

There are literally thousands of spiritual surveys available to church leaders. A majority of these surveys develop conclusions based on a single survey being administered or two surveys being administered several months apart. If a disciple-making process is to be effective, there needs to be a method of measuring the progress of individuals moving toward spiritual maturity. This type of measurement would produce a visual of spiritual growth, spiritual decline, or spiritual non-growth. The only way to measure the spiritual progress of an individual is to create a measurement of the various elements of the spiritual life.

The process of measuring spiritual maturity in this book is self-contained within the participating church, and the responses of the participating individuals are highly confidential and warehoused by the participating church.