Church Health Assessment Survey

CHAT Partner List

CHAT is based on concepts from the book Becoming a Healthy Church (Stephen A. Macchia, Baker Books, 1999) available at our online bookstore.

"For 20 years, God has used Becoming A Healthy Church to encourage pastors and rejuvenate churches because of Steve Macchia's positive, strengths-based approach to spiritual vitality in congregations. Don't miss what has helped thousands of churches enter a new season of health and growth."

Rick Warren
Saddleback Church


Professional Endorsements

"The CHAT survey really stands out. I like how CHAT identifies your church's strengths, involves every member, is easy to take online, and offers highly-readable results. What a great tool to assess where you are, fill people with hope, and together discern God's will for your future."

Kevin Miller, Executive VP,
Christianity Today International, IL

"Steve Macchia is at it again. His burning passion to see churches achieve maximum health has taken the next step. CHAT (Church Health Assessment Tool) provides churches with an easy-to-use look at themselves that could move many congregations toward the health that Steve (and, more importantly, the Spirit) envisions."

Larry Crabb, Founder,
New Way Ministries, CO

"Without a doubt, one of the greatest needs of a large number of churches in America is to become more healthy. Leadership Transformations' new CHAT survey should be a great help to all who use it. It is a joy to recommend it to you!"

Paul Cedar, Chairman/CEO,
The Mission America Coalition, CA

Testimonials

"Leadership Transformations is to be commended for their commitment to a solid biblically-based analysis of the local church. The church is often easily distracted by culture, politics, etc. I highly recommend CHAT to all churches as a strategy to stay focused on God's mission. It is not a pass or fail assessment. It is a tool to help churches and pastors thrive in difficult times. Don't miss out on this easy to use tool to help your church become a place of transformation and ministry."

-- Bill Nicoson, President, Cornerstone Pastors Network


"A careful reading of Scripture reveals that it is not success but health that we are to pursue in all that God calls us to do. For this reason, I am thrilled to recommend the use of Leadership Transformation's Church Health Assessment Tool resource to evaluate the overall biblical health of your church. There are many reasons that CHAT is a great tool for the church. Do you want to know your strengths? Do you want to get a read on the thoughts of your leadership versus your laity? Do want a picture of what health looks like biblically and assistance in moving your church toward a greater level of health? If so, then CHAT is for you."

-- Sam Warren, President, Far More Consulting


"I have used the CHAT Survey on numerous occasions with small to medium Canadian Baptist churches across western Canada. It has been a valuable tool in helping churches engage in conversations about their past, present, and future. I take advantage of the custom questions feature to set up intentional processes that lead to mission clarity and relational unity. I recommend this well established and practical tool to pastors and denominational leaders that are committed to pursuing healthy churches."

-- Sam Breakey, Church Health Strategist, Canadian Baptists of Western Canada


"I highly recommend the CHAT Survey to my fellow pastors. It was very informative and helpful to our team in getting a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our church. We have a much better focus now for our future planning. The congregation also expressed a lot of appreciation for being included in this way. I also highly recommend the follow up coaching that is offered. This helped us tremendously in knowing how to interpret the data."

-- Lester Zimmerman, Senior Pastor, Petra Church, New Holland, PA


"Leadership Transformations provides a world-class service here! The CHAT survey is a very effective tool for listening to a church family's perspective regarding the health of the church. In particular, the ability to compare how the leadership and the congregation see things differently is extremely helpful! The entire survey process has been streamlined and everything needed is provided from beginning to end. And the very timely customer service throughout has been outstanding! I would highly recommend the use of this survey."

-- Pastor Stephen Humber, Stony Brook Church, Omaha, NE


"In our effort to cast vision and develop meaningful goals to fulfill God's call, we needed to know how well we were helping our church family in spiritual formation. Of the nearly 30 evaluation tools we reviewed, CHAT was the easily the clearest and the best focused. Their spiritual formation paradigm based on the 10 key characteristics provides an excellent biblical foundation for analysis. The CHAT leadership team was very helpful in tailoring the survey to elicit the information that we needed as well as to making it user friendly for our people. What we have learned from CHAT's qualitative and quantitative data has proven to be as valuable as it is practical. Thank you Rick Anderson and team."

-- Greg Lane, Pastor of Life Stages, Emmanuel Faith Community Church, Escondido, CA


"CHAT worked like a spy glass and a megaphone: it magnified and amplified what our church's leadership already knew in our guts. It was confirming, convicting, and eye-opening, lavishing tremendous encouragement, dishing out a couple stern correctives, and serving up a few surprises. The follow-up exercise with a CHAT coach added much, helping us dig beneath the tumult of data to find common threads. I recommend CHAT to any church tired of guesswork and anecdotal evidence and ready to put their finger on the real pulse of the congregation."

-- Mark Buchanan, Lead Pastor, New Life Community Baptist, Duncan, BC, Canada


"As a young church plant, our leadership was concerned about the extra effort a church survey would require of our congregation and whether the results would tell us anything we did not already know. Rather than being burdensome, we found the CHAT process to be a nurturing and encouraging experience. Apart from a few announcements, no leadership effort was required, and the congregation really appreciated being actively invited to speak through CHAT's structured and biblically guided framework into what we do well and what we need to work on. The CHAT report opened our eyes to some things we were not aware of and challenged us to make healthy changes. CHAT has been effective for us as both as a pastoral and strategic resource and North Point is more able to respond to God's calling on us because of it. Thank you!"

-- David Cook, Senior Pastor, North Point Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Peabody, MA


"I have completed eight interim pastorates using the Titus Ministries system.  During the research phase it is important to gather as much information as possible to diagnose the condition of the church.  I have used different survey options in the various churches.  I must say that CHAT, with the ten optional questions is the best tool I have used.  It allows me to customize the survey depending on the conditions I find in preliminary observations.  It is easy to use and reasonably priced."

-- Dr. Chuck Saletri, Director of Church Health, SW Conservative Baptist Association


"Of the many things that we learned when using CHAT while I pastored in TX, we saw several huge and significant 'take aways.' First, the church survey gave us realistic and pertinent demographic data about our congregation – it helped us better understand who our people are. Second, we got an objective analysis of our greatest strengths and areas in need of improvement. During a timely season as our church was discussing vision, ministry and 're-branding,' CHAT gave us a clear picture of our present situation and what we needed to work on for a healthy future."

-- Dr. David Fletcher, Founder and Host of XPastor,
Executive Pastor, The Chapel, OH


"Serving as Pastor of Friendship Baptist Church for nearly fifteen years, I thought that I was aware of all the critical needs of the ministry. CHAT really opened my eyes to the stark reality that there is much more than I could see. The members who see the ministry from a different perspective were thrilled that they were afforded this opportunity for input. The leaders were able to share openly and honestly and the lay members were eager to share their thoughts. Moreover, CHAT allowed us to compare responses and to implement strategies that would serve all constituents. This church survey helped us to identify our strengths and strengthen areas where we were weak in every phase of our ministry. This internet dialogue re-created a new vision for our ministry and we eagerly anticipate the transformations that are already taking place in our church."

-- Dr. Philip Dunston, Senior Pastor/Teacher, Friendship Baptist Church, GA


"I would certainly recommend CHAT to other pastors as a tool to improve the way they do church. To be good stewards of what God had called us to do we need to have the right information to make the right changes as we lead. CHAT provides the right information from the right people, so we can make changes in the right perspective. One of the most important things people in churches need is to be listened to. CHAT gives an opportunity for everyone to give their feedback in a clear and concise way. This survey is a great way to show churches that leaders care, and want to listen to the needs of the people."

--Matt Prater - Senior Pastor New Hope Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


"CHAT was well received by our people and leaders, providing us with objective feedback as to our progress in church health. Our people found it easy to use. As one has suggested, a big value of the exercise was the conversations it began along the way. It is providing a basis from which to work as we look to the Lord together for the future. I appreciated the emphasis on it being a "listening exercise," hearing God's voice through His people, which we will consider as leaders, together with His Word and our ministry context."

-- Lee Nanfelt, Associate Pastor, Alliance Bible Church, WI


"CHAT is a fabulous tool! It is internet based, amazingly cost effective, and easy to use from both the church side and the respondent side. At the conclusion of the survey a very well written report was delivered to us in a matter of minutes! Before I was a pastor, I did market research — I was totally impressed with every aspect of this unique and powerful information collection tool. Our church has been blessed in many ways — including a significant growth in attendance. We learned a great deal about our church family and have made meaningful adjustments in our programming and information communication based on the survey results. We intend to do a follow up survey in the future. We highly recommend CHAT!!"

-- Bob Grabau, Congregational Life Pastor, The Chapel at CrossPoint, NY


"Steve Macchia (President of Leadership Transformations, Inc.) is a national leader in understanding and providing tools for local church health. LTI's online assessment tool, CHAT, is a breakthrough resource for church leaders to easily gain an objective assessment of their church's health. In addition, the CHAT report provides a valuable "Suggested Next Steps" section that is sure to keep any church moving on the pathway to health. Objective and constructive feedback is what all leaders of local churches need to do their work. Thank you LTI for being willing to help churches on their journey to health."

-- Dennis Baril, Pastor, Community Covenant Church, MA


"CHAT enabled our small church body to get a snap-shot of ourselves as a precursor to strategic planning for the future. Since using this church survey, we have consulted with one of our denominational leaders, also acquainted with CHAT, who used that information to help us plan a path forward for ministry and growth. We are now in the strategic planning phase, anticipating new opportunities for ministry and service that will lead to growth and renewal in this place."

-- Mike Spinelli, Pastor, North Park Community Church, OR


"Utilizing CHAT gave our congregation the significant opportunity to stop and think about the biblical example of healthy churches and healthy families. It was not only an eye opener for me but also provided a great opportunity for people in our church family to confidentially express their perceptions. The CHAT survey was a fantastic tool to assess any of the areas that needed immediate consideration and there were some new insights along the way. The report was clear, highly professional, and continues to be a great tool to analyze where we are going and if we have improved in some of our neglected areas. It also helps us communicate to our people that their perceptions are being addressed and building our communication structures to ensure all feel they are heard. Thank you for the opportunity to use this resource to continue to build the health and life of this church family."

-- Dan Dubbeld, Pastor, Riverside Christian Family Church, Australia


"The CHAT survey is cost-effective, easy to do, and simple to understand. Our leadership team and our congregants benefited greatly from the exercise."

-- Frank Patrick, Pastor, Calvary Church, Ontario Canada

 


"The Bible says that the men of Issachar understood the times and knew what to do. In today's world, the CHAT survey will help church leaders understand their times, their people, and their church culture so they will know what to do in order to develop healthy Christians and a healthier church."

-- Dr. Brian Kluth, Senior Pastor, First Evangelical Free Church, CO
Author of the best-seliing "40 Day Spiritual Journey to a More Generous Life"


"CHAT gives you a clear baseline of where you are in your strengths and weaknesses. It's a great tool to assess and develop the ministries within your church."

-- Mike Lane, Associate Pastor, Knox Presbyterian Church, KS

 


"The CHAT survey, report, and narrative material gave us a great deal of insight into the life of our church. Instead of simply relying on anecdotes or gut feelings, we now have some objective data on which to act. This has helped the leadership of our church to address our issues calmly and directly as we are not dealing with emotionally-charged perceptions but a reality that needs to be dealt with so that Christ's church can move forward into the new tomorrow that He has promised for us. CHAT was well worth the investment, and we are hoping to build on these findings in the future."

-- Randall J. Forester, Pastor, St. Paul's Community Church, PA


"CHAT was a very helpful tool to give us a structure and language with which we could spiritually assess the very practical matters of ministry in our particular church setting. It also allowed people from various isolated corners of ministry to contribute to the larger perspective of the overall ministry of the church."

-- Dr. Bill Dudley, Senior Pastor, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, TN


TESTIMONIALS ABOUT BECOMING A HEALTHY CHURCH

"A wonderful tool that I recommend to every church."

-- Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

"Few people I know care as deeply about the local church as Steve Macchia. This book makes a huge contribution to the effort of church renewal worldwide."

-- Bill Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church

"Macchia's sensitivity and spiritual passion for the strengthening of the local church is well known. You will find spiritual insight and practical profitability in this book."

-- Jack Hayford, The Church on the Way

"If you have your health, you have everything; the old axiom about our bodies is equally true of our churches. Macchia goes straight to the heart of what churches need and can do to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century."

-- Leith Anderson, Wooddale Church

"Macchia's book will undoubtedly contribute to a better understanding of what the Bible teaches on characteristics of healthy churches."

-- Bill Bright (deceased), Campus Crusade for Christ

"Macchia is an experienced practitioner and vision-caster to a network of thousands of churches. Pastors from churches of all shapes and sizes will be encouraged and challenged in the process of building church vitality by Macchia's insights, his research, and the practical examples he presents."

-- Paul Borthwick, Senior Consultant, Development Associates Int'l

"One of the greatest needs we face today is healthy churches. Macchia shares ten vital principles that contribute to the health of every local church -- including yours."

-- Paul Cedar, Chairman, Mission America

"Macchia recognizes that any successful church results from a combination of the power of the Holy Spirit and a lot of hard work! The principles outlined in this book, if faithfully applied, are sure to help any church be more like the body of believers God intends it to be."

-- Joseph Garlington Sr., Covenant Church of Pittsburgh