A single summary document explaining what each of the Nine M's is — suitable for handing to leadership, a board or a new cohort.
Nine M curriculum version 1.0
About the Nine M methodology
Pastor Lee Jenkins
Pastor Lee Jenkins developed the Nine M's framework to help church leaders diagnose health across the full life of a congregation — from mission clarity and financial stewardship to hospitality, discipleship and community impact. Biography and attribution text are editable by an administrator.
Nine interdependent areas of church health, taught in four pillars. Each M has a defined purpose, a set of measured areas, four lessons and one named deliverable.
The Nine M's give a church one shared vocabulary for its health. Leadership first rates each M as they perceive it; the applications then supply evidence for the same areas; the distance between perception and evidence becomes the teaching and action agenda. The nine are never averaged into a single blended score — each M is read on its own, with assessment, evidence and execution kept separate.
Foundation
Mission, Management, Money — why we exist, how we operate, how we steward.
Attraction
Marketing, Magnification — how the community meets us and experiences Sunday.
Connection
Membership, Maturity — how people belong and grow.
Mobilization
Ministry, Missions — how people serve and how we impact the community.
Foundation
Mission · Management · Money
Foundation establishes the church's identity, operating discipline and stewardship capacity before growth activity accelerates.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to align what the church says it is called to do with how leaders govern, make decisions and direct financial resources.
Why it matters to the whole framework
Without a sound foundation, later gains in attendance, participation or outreach can create activity without clarity, accountability or sustainability.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
Mission defines the calling and strategic identity; Management turns that identity into accountable structures and repeatable practices; Money connects resources, controls and reporting to ministry priorities.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
The lessons establish the standards that later pillars depend on. Stewardship Nsites supplies financial alignment, budget, reserve and control evidence; Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies role, participation and operating-practice evidence; Personal Nsites contributes only aggregate household-readiness themes that help leaders understand stewardship capacity without exposing any household.
Attraction
Marketing · Magnification
Attraction examines how people first encounter the church and what they experience when the congregation gathers.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to make the church's identity understandable, accessible and consistent from community awareness through the worship experience.
Why it matters to the whole framework
A church cannot invite people into meaningful connection if its message is unclear, its welcome is difficult to navigate or its gathered experience does not reflect its stated mission.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
Marketing clarifies who the church is reaching and how people discover it; Magnification examines worship, hospitality and participation so the lived experience reinforces the message.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
These lessons connect the church's stated mission to its public invitation and gathered experience. Stewardship Nsites compares outreach and worship investment with results; Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies visitor source, return, attendance and participation patterns; aggregate Personal Nsites themes can reveal household barriers that affect access and engagement.
Connection
Membership · Maturity
Connection focuses on the journey from first contact to belonging, spiritual formation and growing responsibility.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to ensure people are not merely counted as attendees but are known, followed up with, discipled and given a visible path for growth.
Why it matters to the whole framework
Attraction without connection produces repeated first encounters but weak belonging; connection converts attention into relationships and relationships into maturity.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
Membership builds a clear and measurable pathway into belonging; Maturity defines how people deepen faith, practice stewardship and progress from participation toward service and leadership.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
The Membership lessons create the journey that Maturity lessons deepen. Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies follow-up, journey-stage, attendance, serving and leadership-progression evidence; Stewardship Nsites adds giving participation and cohort stewardship trends; Personal Nsites contributes aggregate progress in financial plans, learning and readiness as one privacy-protected sign of whole-person growth.
Mobilization
Ministry · Missions
Mobilization turns mature belonging outward by helping people use their gifts inside the church and extend its mission beyond the church.
Intent and purpose
Its purpose is to move the congregation from receiving ministry to owning ministry, developing leaders and producing measurable community and mission impact.
Why it matters to the whole framework
The Nine M journey is incomplete if healthier systems only serve the institution; mobilization demonstrates that clarity, resources, worship and discipleship are producing faithful action.
How this pillar accomplishes its purpose
Ministry identifies gifts, builds teams and supports volunteer leaders; Missions directs people, partnerships and resources outward in service, evangelism and community investment.
Lessons, interconnectivity and application evidence
These lessons draw on the clarity, resources and formation built in the first three pillars. Stewardship Nsites Connect supplies volunteer capacity, team coverage, serving retention and outreach participation; Stewardship Nsites supplies ministry cost, outward-giving and resource-allocation evidence; Personal Nsites contributes only aggregate generosity capacity and readiness themes.
The nine at a glance
One line per M — the question it answers and the deliverable it produces.
M
Area
Pillar
The question it answers
Principal deliverable
M1
Mission
Foundation
Why does this church exist, whom is it called to serve, and what makes it distinctive?
Foundation pillar · 4 weeks · about 7 hours of leadership time
How is the church governed, staffed, documented and operated day to day?
Build a healthy governance and operating structure with clear authority, accountable leadership, effective meetings, documented policies, and dependable execution.
What it measures
Governance Clarity · Role Clarity · Leadership Health · Execution Discipline · Continuity and Policy Readiness
Principal deliverable
Church Management and Accountability Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative church management and accountability plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Distinguish spiritual oversight, governance, executive leadership and daily management
Define who recommends, decides, executes, approves and is informed
Establish a meeting and reporting rhythm that completes work
Attraction pillar · 4 weeks · about 6 hours of leadership time
What happens in worship, and how do people experience and participate in it?
Improve the complete shared worship and Sunday experience — from the parking lot to the pew — so that it is hospitable, excellent, accessible, spiritually focused, and consistent.
What it measures
Guest Journey · Hospitality · Worship and Service Coordination · Accessibility and Safety · Feedback and Improvement
Principal deliverable
Sunday Experience Improvement Plan
View sample PDFIllustrative sunday experience improvement plan with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Map the guest experience from arrival to follow-up
Connection pillar · 4 weeks · about 6 hours of leadership time
How do members grow spiritually and move from attending to serving and leading?
Establish a visible discipleship and spiritual-formation pathway that helps people understand their next step and demonstrates growth without reducing spiritual maturity to attendance alone.
What it measures
Maturity Definition · Pathway Clarity · Formation Participation · Progress and Pastoral Support · Leadership and Cultural Integration
Principal deliverable
Discipleship and Maturity Pathway
View sample PDFIllustrative discipleship and maturity pathway with synthetic example content. Use the back buttons to return here.
What leaders learn
Establish a church-specific description of maturity
