Resources e-letter 14:5 - October 2014

A major revision of the Church Health Review (CHR)

Over the summer I have reworked all 45 questions in the Church Health Review and adapted its main use so that most churches can assess themselves from the website items alone without the need for training and therefore charge. CHR is one of the two main tools covered on the Health-checks index page of the website.
  

Part 1: Introduction (HC4)

This explains the Church Health Review as a means of assessing a church’s general state of health.  See it as a kind of DIY consultancy.

The Review sets out to enable a thorough investigation to be made and is therefore more detailed than most other tools that are available. Instead of picking on a number of ‘marks’ of good health, it investigates every area of church life through the choice of five themes:

• Godward
• Usward
• Outward
• Leadership
• Support.

Each theme has nine questions to ask, and each question has five sample tests.

Part 1 explains the basis for the Review and lists the sources that have contributed to its development.  ach of the 45 questions can then be assessed as ‘Healthy’, ‘Reasonably healthy’, ‘Patient action’, ‘Needs treatment’ or ‘Hospitalisation’ (‘Deathbed’ has been omitted…..). This explanation has been significantly rewritten from the original 2007 paper.

You can use the Review in a number of different ways, including taking one theme at a time rather than covering all five together.  Or it can help you think through the structure of church life.
  

Part 2: Questions and tests (HC5)

This second of two items gives a complete listing of all the 45 questions and 225 sample tests. The questions have all been recast this summer and are structured as follows.

The Godward theme
Gathering – Discipleship – Development

The Usward theme
Belonging – Bonding – Development

The Outward theme
Openness – Outreach – Development

The Leadership theme
Priority – Action – Development

The Support theme
Administration – Resources - Development

There is a new pro-forma sheet to help Assessment Groups use the Review and the material has been re-presented so that any church can use it without external training.

The new Health-check papers Part 1 at HC4 and Part 2 at HC5 are now available online. Have a quick look round both parts to get an overview and decide if this could be useful for your church at some point soon. 
  
  

New website news

The new website, launched at the end of July, has attracted favourable comment. It is a completely ‘responsive’ site so may be viewed successfully on your mobile or tablet as well as on a normal computer screen.

As well as a new, contemporary design, there is an Author’s notessection for each of the 122 items in the Resources section to replace the old Comment section, and a new alphabetical index of all the resources. Lots of other changes too.

Check the new website out at http://www.john-truscott.co.uk.
  
  

Twitter reminder

I aim to put out about two tweets each weekday on my main feed @johnnvtruscott and a further one of information and news for Church Administrators on @UCANnews. Several of my tweets link back to the Resources section of my website. If you are on Twitter, do follow me if you don’t do so already.