Barna’s ChurchPulse assessment offers pastors the chance to truly know how their people are doing in five key areas of flourishing and how their church is faring in three key areas of organizational thriving.

First made available to church leaders in the spring of 2020, just months after the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down the U.S., the framework of ChurchPulse helped shaped the research and reporting in Barna’s newly released The State of Your Church project.

What Is ChurchPulse? The quick answer: The ChurchPulse assessment is a quick, 10-minute survey that pastors can customize and deploy to both their congregation and their staff to get the pulse of their church’s flourishing and thriving scores.

The in-depth answer: Developed by Barna Group and Gloo with expert advice from leaders in the human flourishing space—including Dr. Tyler Vanderweele and Dr. Nancy Lewis—the ChurchPulse assessment measures five levels of human flourishing (faith, relationships, vocation, finances and well-being) and three dimensions of organizational thriving (nurturing, sending and leading, with 15 markers spread across these aspects).

Once the ChurchPulse assessment—or its lite version, the PeoplePulse—has been sent to congregants and / or staff, results from anonymously completed surveys fill in a dashboard, offering pastors a holistic view of their church environment. This view allows pastors to note areas of strength in their congregation as well as opportunities for growth for their people and the larger organization. The ChurchPulse presents pastors with real-time results to help them craft a ministry strategy based on the needs of their people.