Statistical Evaluation of the North American Mission Board's Church Planter Initial Assessment Instrument and the Implications for the Broader Church Planting Community

Abstract

Church planter assessment instruments have been used to improve the selection and development of church planters for decades; however, the vast majority of church planter assessments in operation have never been statistically validated. Additionally, no evidence has been published that proves church planter assessment results are correlated with church planter success. The objective of this Thesis is to improve the selection and development of church planters by performing a robust statistical evaluation of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Church Planter Initial Assessment (CPIA) instrument. The initial portion of the research involves a comprehensive review of the literature regarding church planter assessments and an evaluation of the biblical justification for using assessments. The core methodology focuses on a rigorous statistical analysis of NAMB’s CPIA instrument using proper statistical techniques and highlights the most leveraging characteristics of a successful church planter based on data.