From the results of the initial church survey, we discovered new insights into what spurs individual spiritual growth. The findings were based on new in-depth research tools that hadn’t been used in church surveys before. The results were so intriguing that the survey tool was then offered to six other churches to see if the data would be similar . . . or different. Take a look at some of the early findings (based on these first churches) that were revealed about how the church helps people grow.

A Quick Snapshot of REVEAL's Key Findings

Of all the insights we’ve gained thus far in analyzing the data from the Spiritual Life Survey, the centerpiece discovery of REVEAL is the Spiritual Continuum. This is a key framework for understanding how people grow spiritually.

When we began our research in 2004, we thought that we would find a direct link between church activities and spiritual growth. In other words, we thought our most mature, “sold-out” Christ-followers would also be the most involved in church activities—attending services, participating in small groups, volunteering, etc.

Our hypothesis was that if Christ were at the center of their lives, the church would be front and center too. So we expected to see results looking like Chart 1:

 

Chart 1:  If increasing participation in church activities (such as attendance at services and participation in small groups) drives spiritual growth, we would see a direct linear correlation (shown above) between low-medium-high levels of participation and low-medium-high levels of spiritual growth.


Instead we discovered results that looked like Chart 2:




Chart 2:  The research showed some increase in spiritual behaviors as participation in church activites inceases, but very little correlation between low-medium-high levels of participation and increasing "love for God, love for people."


We found that those who were the most active in the church did not necessarily report higher levels of spiritual attitudes (“love for God and others”) and spiritual behaviors (evangelism, tithing, etc.) than those who were less active.

This led us to discovering a Spiritual Continuum centered on a relationship with Jesus Christ, which was much more predictive of spiritual growth (Chart 3).

We found a Spiritual Continuum that was highly predictive of spiritual growth.


Chart 3:  This framework emerged as the most powerful predictive description of how people grow spiritually. That means attitudes and behaviors associated with spiritual growth increased in lockstep with movement along the continuum.

 
Chart 4 demonstrates the powerful nature of this continuum. Virtually all spiritual attitudes and behaviors measured in our research increased significantly from one stage of spiritual maturity to the next.



Chart 4:  The movement of the two lines above shows the high correlation between the low-medium-high levels of spiritual growth (spiritual behaviors and spiritual attitudes) and the four segments of the Spiritual Continuum. In other words, those who fall into the Exploring Christianity segment demonstrate much lower levels of spiritual attitudes and behaviors than those who fall into the Christ-Centered category.

 
Chart 5 shows two additional, interesting discoveries that emerged in our research: the Stalled segment and the Dissatisfied segment.

We also discovered two additional segments that accounted for a quarter of our sample.


Chart 5:  In addition to the four Spiritual Continuum segments, we found a large group of people who were "stalled" in their spiritual growth, predominantly in the middle stages of spiritual development. Another significant group emerged out of the later stages of spiritual development who were mature Christ-followers, but "dissatisfied" with their church. These two groups made up 26 percent of our total sample.

 
In summary, these six segments capture the spiritual journey expressed by more than 11,000 surveys taken by seven churches. We learned so much and were so intrigued with the findings that we started a second test phase of 25 churches. Finally, we are currently in the process of our third test phase of 500 churches. 

You can also read more about the six segments along the Spiritual Continuum in the book REVEAL: Where Are You?