Research and Church Planting Survey
            For people who have done or are doing church planting in Europe

This general questionnaire on research and church planting will be helpful to us as we look to develop strategic research for church multiplication across Europe.   Please answer the questions in a straightforward manner.  Do not spend much time on any one question but do seek to understand each of the categories before answering. 

bullet Please only fill this out if you have done or are doing church planting in Europe.
bullet Please finish the survey in one sitting.  It does not 'remember' what you did the last time you were here.
bulletBefore you fill out the questionnaire please take five minutes looking at the EMRG prototype.  It is under construction but the section on Spain works.  You do not need to take any more time than the five minutes.  You can take more if you wish.  Here is the link: Prototype

 

General Questions
bulletMinistry you are involved in:


bulletHow many years have you been involved in church planting?


bulletHow many years have you been in full time and or part time ministry?

Basic Demographics 

These demographics tell you about some of the basics of a province. They tell you the number of people in an area with certain characteristics.  Those basic numbers can help in evangelistic ministries, help to choose a location for a ministry, tell of the needs people have and how many have those needs.  One simple illustration: The ministry you are a part of wants to send information out to all the people living in the province.  Basic Demographics tell you how many flyers to make and you can calculate the cost of doing a direct mailing to everyone.

Have you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

     Employment and income (i.e. Number of working adults  including occupation information and income level)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Divisions of the population (i.e. Number and percentage of population who are men, women, youth, children)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Total population

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     People groups (i.e. Percentage, languages and location of ethnic minorities (what are typically called people groups)).

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Elderly and disabled (i.e. Number of retired and elderly, and disabled/handicapped)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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The Churches   

This refers to the number of churches denominations in your country or area of ministry.

bullet Have you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

     Growth of local congregations (i.e. Number of churches,

     Growth of membership and possibly NCD statistics)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Growth of denominations

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Percentage of the people attend church (i.e. Adult attendance, Total communicant members

     and Percentage of people who call themselves followers of Christ)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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      The trend of growth

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     People group each church is reaching (i.e. People group (i.e. internationals) that each

     church is reaching .  Take the total number of the people group and show how many of

     them are being reached through x number of churches and or denominations.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Vision   

Number of churches that need to be planted in your target area so that every person has an opportunity to hear, see and understand the Gospel message in a culturally relevant way.

bulletHave you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No


bulletChoose one of the following:

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Openness to the Gospel

The emphasis here is trying to gauge how open a group or population are to hearing about and receiving Christ.

bulletHave you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

     Predominate Philosophies

      This focuses on defining the collective philosophy or  world view of the people in an area. 

      Examples of this could be: views of truth and reality, fatalism, Spirits, Ancestors, Hedonism,

      and or Individualism, etc.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Exegete our culture

     We must learn to exegete our culture to discover needs and mindsets

     which will indicate what would be Good News to these people.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Learn how to share Christ within the local world view.

     Although there is some overlap with the other two points this focuses a bit more on

     methods than it does on ideas.  The emphasis here is on the word 'how.'

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Religious Groups

The seven categories regarding religious groups in this section are basically clear.  The key here is the information that we have on the provincial level.  It is true that there will be an abundance of information on the country level.  We are, however, looking to put as much local information as possible in the hands of local church planters.

bullet Have you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

     History or the religions in the area

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     The religions relationship to the evangelical churches.

      This includes specific groups in a local area as well as an official policy that the

      group might have regarding evangelicals.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     World view

     The world view of a religious group is the lens through which its adherents see the

     reality around them.  However, the world view that you might find in a book will probably

     be different from what you might find in a conversation with someone from that group. 

     If there is a large group of active members of a group in your area it would be good to do

     interviews with them focusing on their world view, how it differs from the official view and

     how that world view is received by the people in the local area.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Influential deities

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Influential Role Models

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Significant Events

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Significant Practices

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Spiritual Condition 

  

Spiritual condition looks at and sometimes tries to measure the response people are having to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It also addresses the availability of the gospel to groups of people.  It does not discuss the 'competition' the gospel has for the hearts of the people.  That is the topic of the section called Religion.

bulletHave you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

     Least evangelized and unchurched (i.e. Lack of a church in a geographical area;

     Lack of churches in a people group; Lack of church representation among social economic groups)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Mark local churches on a map

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Accomplishments of the Church (i.e. Segments of society reached with the gospel.

     Ministries to the needy;  Standing in the society at large (reputation))

bulletChoose one of the following:

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     Most responsive to the gospel (i.e. Geographical areas, People Groups and or Social economic groups)

bulletChoose one of the following:

Felt Needs

 

Felt needs here means a description of  any chronic problems in the society.  This research model tracks four main categories. 

bulletHave you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

Destructive vices (i.e. Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gambling, Pornography and or Prostitution)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Troubling trends like the following:

a.   New forms of old sins like nature worship, cypebrsex and designer drugs

b.   A broadening acceptance of behaviors that were formally unacceptable like  alternative lifestyles, abortion and teen sex.  This would also include the side effects of these behaviors like AIDS is to sex outside of marriage.

c.   It is also important to find out who is pushing or advancing these troubling trends.

d.  A developing brazenness or boldness to sin.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Conditions of pain (This focuses on the major causes of suffering in a community.)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Stresses, strains and hardships like the following:

a.   Orphanages: large number or poorly taken care of

b.   Lack of adequate medical care

c.   Elderly without care

d.   War and terrorism

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Resources   

 

Resources that can be mobilized to help reach the people of the target area.

These people, churches and ministries can assist in reach people for Christ.  This category is more than just a contact list but also talks about the unity of the church in a given area or province. 

bulletHave you ever used this in your ministry?

Yes No

Like-minded churches (The churches in the area that have a desire for evangelism and church planting.)

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Level of participation cross denominations and churches

State the level of participation cross denominations and churches that is unified

prayer for the lost in the community and outreach to the lost.  A percentage of

participation could be gained by knowing the number of churches and denominations

and comparing this with the number of those that are participating.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Possible collaborators (People and possibly Christian organizations)

a.   Others with whom you can share this vision and who can cooperate together to reach the goal.

b.   The labor, finances, and gifted individuals are available.

bulletChoose one of the following:

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Churches, what they are like

bulletChoose one of the following:

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bulletSelect any of the following options that apply:

Financial situation of the churches
Denomination
Type of leadership in the church
Activities provided by the church

Is there anything you would like to add or comment on?


Paul Dzubinski
Copyright © 1999 EMRG and GEM. All rights reserved.
Revised: 05/08/05