Quiz: Is Your Church Vertical?

James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel has a tagline on his website: "First vertical, then missional." Basically, this means that you have to get your doctrine and devotion right before you can talk about reaching the world. Otherwise, you'll probably get off track in your efforts to connect with the culture. He puts it this way: "If you get the vertical right, the horizontal takes care of itself." You can't do evangelism without theology.

Here's his quiz for identifying whether or not your church is vertical. You can go here to see the whole post.

10 Question Verticality Quiz

(Give 5 for the strongest yes and 0 for the weakest yes.)

1. Are the songs we sing about God or about what God has done for us?

2. Do the people on the platform come across as ministers or as entertainers?

3. Is the sermon coming clearly/continually from what the Bible actually says and does it cover the hard parts of Scripture, not just the popular ones?

4. Does the sermon challenge me to change and grow, versus just something to know?

5. Am I pressured over time to join a smaller group where I can express and experience biblical community?

6. Do I find the people I meet to be humble and overt in their love for Christ, or more guarded and private about their faith?

7. Am I challenged to find a place of ministry where I can use my gifts and shoulder weekly kingdom responsibility in working for God?

8. Do the leaders of my church find ways to draw the focus away from themselves and onto Christ and what He is doing?

9. Does my church invite me into sacrificial work for Christ that does not benefit our church at all: feeding the poor, church planting/missions, etc.?

10. Does my church seek to follow the biblical pattern for church governance and elevate the Word of God in all it does, including church discipline?

SCORE:
Vertical Church: 40+
60-Degree Church: 30-40
Horizontal
Church: 20-30
Find a New Church : 0-20