From
Perry Noble comes these 15 measures for self-evaluation as a church that particularly apply to the call to be an outward-focused church. - STEVE
BY PERRY NOBLE
1. When excuses are made about the way things are instead of embracing a willingness to roll up the sleeves and fix the problem.
2. When the church becomes content with merely
receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding
them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!
3. The focus of the church is to build a great
church (complete with the pastor's picture…and his wife’s…on everything)
and not the Kingdom of God.
4. The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.
5. The church begins to view success/failure in
regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether
or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!
6. The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.
7. There is a loss of a sense of urgency! (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong, and the cross is no longer important!)
8. Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!
9. The church is reactive rather than proactive.
10. The people in the church lose sight of the next
generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t
understand “those young people.”
11. The goal of the church is to simply maintain the
way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the
big givers!
12. The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just too much to lose.”
13. The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.
14. The people learn how to depend on one man to
minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the
body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.
15. When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.