What Works?

What do people want – and need – from the Church?

If you had to choose only one or two things for your church to do well, what would they be? What drives church satisfaction as well as spiritual growth? In this first section of FOCUS, the authors, Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson, examine the evidence and reach surprising conclusions. Their aim is to identify the key to meeting both wants and needs.

FOCUS begins with three hypotheses:

What people need from the church is spiritual guidance, but what they want is something different.

What people need from the senior pastor is spiritual challenge, but what they want is great preaching.

What people need from the church is spiritual guidance, and what they need from the senior pastor is spiritual challenge, but what they want is a great weekend service.

Hawkins and Parkinson assume that there is a disconnect between what people want and what they need. The first part of the research examines the first hypothesis by seeking to determine what really does drive spiritual growth.

The authors identify sixteen sources of church satisfaction and spiritual growth. They call these ‘drivers.’ A driver is a strong force that creates significant energy and momentum.

Having found sixteen such drivers, the authors group them into five categories. Each category represents an element of the Christian life which people expect their church to provide.

In no particular order, these are:


SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE – the expectation that the church will provide leadership for personal spiritual development.
- Helps me to understand the Bible in greater depth.
- Helps me to develop a personal relationship with Christ.
- Encourages me to take personal responsibility for my own spiritual growth.
- Challenges me to grow and take next steps.
- Provides a clear pathway that helps guide my spiritual growth.
- Church leaders model and consistently reinforce how to grow spiritually.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND IMPACT – the development of intentional spiritual relationships that will help people to grow.
- Helps me to develop relationships that encourage accountability.
- Provides opportunities to grow spiritually through relationships with others.
- Empowers me to go out on my own to make a significant impact in the lives of others.

OWNERSHIP – a feeling of allegiance and identity, not in the passive sense of participating, but in the sense of “I am the church.”
- Sets clear expectations about what it means to be part of the church.
- Inspires such a sense of ownership that the church becomes an important part of who I am.

BELONGING – the desire to experience community and worship in a place where you fit in.
- Helps me to feel like I belong.
- Helps me in my time of emotional need.
- Provides compelling worship services.

SERVING – the expectation that the church will help those in need.
- Promotes a strong serving culture that is widely recognized by the local community.
- Provides opportunities to serve those in need.

All of these drivers are important. The question is: which have the greatest impact in terms of what people are looking for in a church? The answer to this question should be of great value to us in evaluating our ministries and increasing our effectiveness.

So,
WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT FROM THE CHURCH?
Here are the results from the survey:

1. Spiritual guidance has by far the biggest impact on people’s satisfaction with the church. At 54%, spiritual guidance dominates the other categories. These are the things that people want.
2. Belonging is also a powerful driver of satisfaction. Belonging accounts for almost one third of the responses as a primary expectation.
3. The influence of accountability/impact and ownership on church satisfaction is limited. These categories, though important, have far less impact than spiritual guidance and belonging.
4. Serving did not emerge as an influential category. Though important, the fact that the church provides opportunities to serve does not seem to influence people’s satisfaction with the church. The reason for this is that satisfaction is driven by what is important for personal spiritual growth.
5. The drivers of church satisfaction are the same for everyone, no matter how long they have been Christian. No matter where they are on the continuum of faith, spiritual guidance is equally important.

In conclusion, spiritual guidance is the primary driver of church satisfaction; belonging comes a strong second.

Now we must ask,
WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED FROM THE CHURCH?

The authors examine data from the churches that have experienced significant growth in order to determine what actually works. They then ask, “Is there a difference between what people want and what they need?”

Which of the sixteen drivers of growth is most needed in the life of a local church? Their findings are as follows:

1. Spiritual guidance and accountability/impact are the church’s most significant drivers of spiritual growth. Although the results vary slightly over the spiritual continuum, generally speaking, the desire for spiritual guidance predominates. It appears that people do, actually, want what they need! This is encouraging. People really do want to deepen their relationship with Christ. As they grow as Christians, accountability and impact become increasingly important.
2. Serving and ownership are important contributors to spiritual growth. Although not identified as a significant contributor to church satisfaction, serving does help Christians to grow. It is an example of something that people need from the church even if they don’t acknowledge it.
3. Belonging is not a driver of spiritual growth. This is an example of something that people want but don’t necessarily need in order to grow spiritually. It is important because it provides the environment in which growth can occur, even though it does not, itself, contribute to growth.

In conclusion, spiritual guidance is both what people want and what people need from the church. If we can only do one thing incredibly well, it should be to focus on spiritual guidance. If the budget will not allow us to do everything, this should still be our number one priority.