In this episode, we discussed the characteristics of the churches that fall under the Energized Church archetype, which compromise 12% of churches in our database. This archetype is the most likely “next step” for churches that are in some of the weaker archetypes (like Complacent, Average and Extroverted Churches). We have seen many churches move to the Energized archetype after they address issues that show up in their first survey, making the Energized archetype an important one for all churches to get to know.

Four Factors Characterize Energized Churches

• Energized Church congregants express very high satisfaction with their church.

• Ratings for all of their Best Practices are 20 to 30 percentage points higher than the database average.

• They especially hold their senior pastor in high regard, reporting the highest level of satisfaction of any archetype.

• Energized Church congregants express particularly high satisfaction with how well their senior pastor models the ups and downs of his or her own spiritual journey, and then challenges them to take whatever steps they need to take.

• The spiritual profile of Energized Church congregants is somewhat perplexing.

• Their faith in action (activities like evangelism and serving) and personal spiritual practices are average. Their agreement with core Christian beliefs is only slightly above average. This profile is perplexing because the Energized Church is slightly below average in the percentage of congregants in the less mature stages of growth.

• These congregants may be confusing their love for their church—and the time and energy they devote to it—with a love for Christ, and the journey they need to be on to deepen a relationship with him, not with the church.

• Another possible explanation is based on a statement in the survey that is a key indicator of a church’s spiritual momentum: “I am willing to risk everything that’s important in my life for Jesus Christ.” It measures the sacrificial nature of the congregation’s faith. For the Energized Church, agreement is no better than average. These congregants may love God, but they have not yet decided to trust him with everything.

• The Energized Church focuses on small groups.

• Nearly 70% say that their small group system is one of their most distinctive programs, a rate that’s higher than any other archetype. Not surprisingly, they also have the highest participation in small groups, with an average of 55% of them attending a group at least twice a month.

• Like Vibrant Churches, Energized Churches are large and growing.

• They have an average weekend adult attendance of 1000 or more. Seventy percent say their attendance has grown over the past year.

• Most Energized Churches also are young—in two ways. The church itself tends to be young, with more than one third being less than 25 years old and one in five being a recent church plant. Also, the percentage of their congregants over the age of 50 is much lower than congregations in the other archetypes.

How do Energized Churches grow stronger?

The Energized Church is more likely than others to be run strategically. This means they’re more likely to have annual and long-term goals, as well as clear plans for how to achieve them. The church we’ll interview in our next episode fits this classic pattern. If you go to the website for Ransom Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you’ll find their annual report posted and a video of their annual meeting available, where you can hear all about their plans for the coming ministry season.

Not surprisingly, we tend to find people with business experience serving as elders and lay leaders in these churches. Just recently we talked with an Energized Church that was a two-year old church plant in Ohio. The lay leader who joined the campus pastor to debrief their REVEAL survey results was the Director for Global Tire Engineering at Goodyear. People with this kind of business background are used to having organized approaches for making decisions and allocating resources. This kind of influence is something we often see in Energized Churches.

Want to discover your church’s archetype?

The REVEAL for Church survey report provides your church’s archetype and prescriptions for change based on how we have seen other churches in that archetype be transformed over time. Learn more at www.revealforchurch.com