A pastor's tool for the assessment of theological beliefs in the local congregation

The purpose of this project is to create a tool that helps pastors determine the theological understandings of their congregation. When pastors are teaching or preaching they usually begin at a level of theological understanding that they believe to be common to the majority of those present. In many cases the pastor assumes that their congregation believes what they have been taught, what the pastor believes or the denomination's official position. Pastors may be unaware of how greatly their congregants' beliefs are influenced by outside sources. People who attend church often gain their theological understandings from secular sources such as the television shows Oprah or Ghost Whisperer or from secular music like Bette Midler's "[God is watching us] From a Distance." The influence of the media on people's understanding of God should not be underestimated. In spite of the best teaching and preaching practices of the church; television, books, movies, video games, radio, newspapers, the internet, and other media have more of a church goers' attention and time than the church does. There are many alternate views of God and alternate types of spirituality that are taught, advised, or portrayed in these programs and articles. These alternate views many times are reconciled with the teachings of the church in the hearts and minds of people who attend church. This potentially uninformed reconciliation can lead to theological understandings that are outside of the teachings of a particular congregation. The instrument developed through this project is intended to help a pastor fine tune their teaching and preaching through the discovery of specific topics of their congregation's theological thinking that are not reflections of the pastor's teachings.;The instrument is designed to be used in Christian congregations that hold the Holy Trinity at the core of their belief system. The instrument is intended to be otherwise theologically neutral such that it can be used in independent congregations or congregations of any denomination. Whether a given response reflects or contradicts the teachings of any given congregation is entirely up to the pastor to determine.