NextSteps Felt-Need Assessment
Felt-Needs Are A Motivating or Hindering Force
At every point in our lives, we experience emotional and spiritual Felt-Needs. A Felt-Need is the emotional/spiritual motivations or hindrances that drive our spiritual maturation process. Felt-Needs may be positive or negative in nature. A positive Felt-Need, such as a desire to serve the Lord, will likely inspire spiritual growth. Negative Felt-Needs, such as when someone undergoes a divorce, can be detrimental to that person’s spiritual development unless their personal pain is addressed in a healthy manner. For this reason, it is a wise practice for your pastoral care providers to work closely with church members who are currently experiencing a negative Felt-Need. NextSteps assesses 24 Felt-Need category reports.
The 24 Felt-Need Reports
The default Felt-Need titles, bulleted summaries, and reports may be edited so that your church’s version of NextSteps reflects your unique discipleship culture. Below is a graphic of the edit interface.
Below the graphic, our 24 Felt-Need reports are listed under Positive Felt-Needs, and Negative Felt-Needs. It is important to understand that a Negative Felt-Need may be converted to a Positive Felt-Need if appropriate pastoral care is provided, and the individual’s actions and decisions are guided by the Holy Spirit and the Bible. This is why it is so very important that your church’s pastoral care ministry identifies the people within your church who are struggling spiritually and emotionally. We believe such care is a crucial component of any disciple-making ministry.
24 Felt-Needs Reports
Positive Felt-Need Profiles
Timothy Profile, you…
- Recognize that you need to mature spiritually.
- Lack of Biblical knowledge is holding you back your spiritual development.
- Need to develop sound doctrine that will guide your relationship with the Lord, as well as your ministry for the Lord.
- Will grow in your faith relationship with Christ as you allow the Holy Spirit to instruct you and as you personally apply those teachings in your life.
Life Transformation Profile, you…
- Are ready for a positive change in your life.
- May desire to regain your “first love”, Jesus Christ.
- Desire that your life and ministry would reflect Christ’s nature.
- Long for the reality of Christ to be manifest in your life.
- May struggle with feelings of spiritual inadequacy and/or guilt.
Grace Extender Profile, you…
- Are a deeply spiritual person who is becoming more-and-more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
- Discern there is a strong relationship between your spiritual development and your ministry service.
- Desire to utilize the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you for ministry service, and may even have a clear sense of the Holy Spirit’s mission-calling for your life.
- May struggle with doing too much for Christ, failing to take care of your own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
Student profile, you…
- Believe a lack of Biblical knowledge is keeping you from growing spiritually.
- May desire training and mentorship for life and ministry.
- Are hungry for God and desire to know him more intimately.
- May want to develop a more dynamic devotional life.
- May feel spiritually inadequate and ill-prepared for ministry.
Research Profile, you…
- Are hungry to learn from God’s Word.
- Desire to relate closely with the Lord and to have a solid and stable faith relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
- Study the Bible and often find yourself reflecting upon (i.e., meditating) the truths you are encountering in Scripture.
- Desire to share with other people the lessons you have learned and applied within your own life.
Apprentice Profile, you…
- Feel a lack of Biblical knowledge is keeping you from growing spiritually.
- May desire training and mentorship for life and ministry.
- Desire to become more like Christ in your life and personal ministry.
- May be unsure how to develop a dynamic devotional life.
- May feel spiritually inadequate and ill-prepared for ministry service.
Equip Profile, you…
- Have a desire to be properly equipped for ministry service.
- Seek guidance in discerning what kind of ministry service the Holy Spirit is calling you to participate within.
- Desire your leadership’s blessing and affirmation of your ministry skills before you step out to serve.
- Struggle to discern what service opportunities are truly appropriate for you according to the Holy Spirit’s calling and gifting within your life.
Driven Profile, you…
- Have a deep inner desire to serve the Lord.
- May or may not yet know what your ministry service will look like.
- May be wrestling with your emotional motivation for why you want to serve.
- Seek healthy equipping so that you may serve the Lord effectively.
Passion Profile, you…
- Desire to know Christ intimately and be used by him powerfully.
- Devotional life may be prayerful, and worshipful as you listen for his voice.
- Desire the Holy Spirit to move through your life dynamically.
- May envision great potential regarding what the Holy Spirit may want to do through your life and ministry.
- May sense that God is preparing you for some significant purpose.
Devoted Profile, you…
- Desire to give yourself over to Christ’s service.
- Feel the Holy Spirit’s call upon your life to be Christ’s Ambassador within this fallen world.
- Have a fairly good grasp of your spiritual gifting and call to ministry service.
- Seek the support of your church leadership to release you more fully into Christ’s service.
Action Profile, you…
- Desire your character and ministry to reflect Christ’s nature.
- Desire to be prepared so that you may participate in Kingdom ministry.
- Feel your lack of Biblical knowledge may inhibit your ministry potential.
- May feel impatient and/or under-utilized.
- May seek opportunities to be mentored by leaders you respect.
Instructor Profile, you…
- Like to share your knowledge with others and often find yourself taking-on a “teacher” role among other Christians.
- Desire to serve Christ both morally and in ministry service.
- Tend to be quite comfortable within a classroom or training room setting.
- Enjoy learning from the Bible as well as learning all that Christ has for you, and then sharing what you have learned and applied within your own spiritual life, with other more novice Christ followers.
Negative Felt-Need Reports
Wounded Warrior Profile, you…
- Struggle with emotional pain.
- Sense your pain is holding back your disciple-making development.
- May have to deal with feelings of anger or bitterness.
- Struggle with true forgiveness and relational trust.
- May have difficulty developing healthy authentic relationships.
Penance Profile, you…
- Recognize that your spiritual life and practice have been far from the healthy relationship Jesus Christ desires.
- Wish to change direction within your life and begin to “make amends” by recommitting your life through faith and in service to Jesus Christ your Lord.
- Likely know far more about the Bible than your life-practice to date would suggest.
- May now feel the Holy Spirit tugging upon you to renew your faith walk and become consistent in spending time with the Lord through prayer, and/or fasting, and/or the study of the Bible.
- May feel the need to “make amends” to other people and/or to Christ by beginning to serve him and serve others.
Seeker Profile, you…
- May have many questions about God and spirituality.
- Desire to learn more about the Bible to help address your questions.
- Struggle with feelings of doubt.
- May have uncertainty about Jesus Christ and the Bible.
- May have been hurt and question why a “loving” God allows bad things to occur.
Query Profile, you…
- Are struggling to develop a healthy love-relationship with Jesus Christ that to date may have been hindered by painful experiences or due to struggles with sinful behaviors
- Feel that you are beyond Christ’s love and unworthy of his redemption, or….
- May feel angry with God, and question his love for you since he allowed emotional and/or physical suffering to overwhelm your life.
- May feel that your expression of love toward those close to you is superior to how God has shown his love toward you, so you may now have difficulty trusting God.
- Are be in emotional and intellectual conflict…you may be emotionally closed to receiving Biblical instruction now, while at the same time demanding of God answers to your questions.
Bondage Breaker Profile, you…
- Realize that you need to mature in your relationship with Jesus Christ
- Acknowledge that your actions must conform to Christ’s purposes
- Want to serve the Lord with integrity, but have developed behaviors that you know are displeasing to the Lord
- May feel trapped and ill-equipped to overcome the issues and associated guilt that have hindered your spiritual development
- Long to be free of the issue(s) that negatively dominate and control your private and public life, but are often unsure of the steps needed to receive spiritual and emotional freedom
Rocky Soil Profile, you…
- Have at one point in your past come to faith in Jesus Christ.
- Experience emotional pain, inappropriate friends, and/or life practices are “scorching” the development of your faith.
- Have made a mess of running your own life your own way.
- Think your faith in Christ is barely noticeable to people who know you well.
- Feel the Holy Spirit urging you to surrender control of your life to his guidance.
- Recognize it may be time to make some radical life-changes to begin living a life that is truly God honoring.
Spiritual Intimacy Profile, you…
- Are likely experiencing a profound desire to develop your love relationship with Jesus Christ.
- You struggle less to do with “doing” for Jesus as one of his servants, than “being” relationally with Jesus.
- May have recently experienced a difficulty or tragedy in your life that has caused you to “run to the Lord”.
- Desire to learn how to better listen to the Holy Spirit’s still-small-voice.
At Risk Profile, you…
- Feel distant from God…like your spiritual flame is about to go out.
- Struggle with some emotional pain from your past or present.
- May feel at-a-distance with many relationships in your life.
- Have off loneliness, sadness and general frustration.
- Desire to return to your “first love”, Jesus Christ.
Restoration Profile, you…
- Feel spiritually lukewarm and distant from God.
- Desire to regain your “first love”, a relationship with Jesus Christ.
- May struggle with feelings of guilt about the lack of vitality in your spiritual life.
- Desire to learn more about the Bible and prayer so you may better relate to Christ.
- Have a devotional life is likely limited or inconsistent.
Inquirer Profile, you…
- May have serious spiritual questions related to personal pain.
- Have questions that inspired you to search for answers.
- Struggle with questions mixed with doubts about God.
- Sense a need for God, but may be rationalizing your faith.
- Believe you need more Biblical knowledge to grow spiritually.
Reeducation Profile, you…
- Recognize that your life needs to change.
- Know that changing your life, how you think, and how you live is beyond your own ability to accomplish.
- Want to know why God created you, but you recognize that you have not been living in a manner that would fulfill God’s purpose for your life.
- Are at a point where you are finally willing to accept help so that you can make the changes that are necessary in your life.
Character Profile, you…
- Desire your character and ministry to reflect Jesus Christ.
- Have pain issues, possibly the result of bondage to habitual sin.
- Wish to be free in Christ and to live for him effectively.
- Struggle with feelings of guilt, hopelessness and inadequacy.
- May have difficulty developing healthy relationships.
Felt-Needs Edit Interface
