Measuring a Movement

Here are two tools to help you self-evaluate your ministry: the Movement Maturity Matrix and the Church Indigeneity Matrix.

Based on the study of a New Testament movement, the Movement Maturity Matrix will measure where you are in regards to how you launch a movement, ground the movement, lead the movement, multiply the movement, and sustain the movement. In addition, the Church Indigeneity Matrix will help you determine the degree in which your church is following best practices as outlined in the five-self model.

Movement Maturity Matrix

The Movement Maturity Matrix (3M) is an evaluative tool to help you assess where your church has strengths and where it needs strengthened in relationship to becoming a movement. The evaluative statements making up the matrix are based on the movement at Ephesus and characteristics that we see in the NT which propelled the gospel forward in all of Asia.

A pastor, elders, staff, and key leaders can utilize the tool together and assess where leaders should concentrate efforts in order to help the church mature into a movement in their community.

The total column helps you see where you will want to give attention. Scores of three or less should stimulate discussion by your leadership related to reasons why the score is low and steps that should be taken to strengthen the respective area. The total row gives you an overall score on where you are in relationship to the movement continuum. The score is weighted as you work across the continuum indicating that the more weight given to a column the closer you are to the characteristics of the Ephesian movement.

The evaluative statements are generally meant to build from one to the other. For example, it would be difficult to say that a church can communicate God’s story if it is not grounded theologically. Similarly, you would not say that a church can connect theology and culture if the church has not first exegeted culture. However, there is not a hard line drawn between each statement. For example, you might have APES-T leaders who are equipping the saints for ministry, but struggle to maintain unity and peace in the congregation. Mostly, we hope that these statements are common sense as you think in the context of how the Ephesian movement exploded all over Asia. 

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Church Indigeneity Matrix

The goal of a church planting movement is indigeneity.  A church is indigenous when it meets five criteria: leadership, multiplication, teaching, financing, and expression.  The five-self model encourages a congregation to rely upon its own resources to become sustainable.  

Having a clear sustainability plan at the beginning of a new church plant provides a greater sense of creating a movement of evangelism and discipleship that will grow exponentially over time.  

It also requires us to think about systems that are culturally consonant with and conducive to the longevity of the work.  The five-self model prevents missionaries from setting up structures that cannot be sustained by the resources of the new church.

The Church Indigeneity Matrix (CIM) is one tool to help determine the level of indigeneity of a church. Based on a six-point Likert scale, the matrix is a self-assessment tool for churches to evaluate their progress from being a new church plant to becoming a reproducing church that is a leader in a church planting movement.