About
The story behind The Plumb Line.
Why it exists.
The Plumb Line exists because ministry has many ways to measure what we're building, and fewer ways to pay attention to what's happening in the people doing the building.
Ministry gives us a lot to pay attention to.
People. Vision. Staff. Budgets. Relationships. Challenges. Opportunities. The work entrusted to us.
Those things matter. I've spent much of my ministry life working toward them.
But over the years, I've become increasingly convinced that some of the most important things happening in ministry are harder to see.
What's happening in the leader?
Who are they becoming while they're carrying the work?
Leadership is always forming something in the leader, whether or not we're paying attention to it.
The Plumb Line was built to create a way to pay attention.
The thinking behind it.
The Plumb Line draws from decades of research on how Christian leaders develop and finish well, alongside the wisdom of experienced practitioners who walk closely with ministry leaders.
That work helped shape eight areas worth paying attention to: grief, identity and worth, relational health, vocational clarity, emotional capacity, spiritual vitality, life outside ministry, and embodied capacity.
Not as a comprehensive measure of everything a leader is. As eight windows into what's happening in the person beneath the role.
And that's where the name comes from.
A plumb line doesn't tell a builder what to build. It provides a reliable point of reference for seeing what's true.
The Plumb Line is meant to do the same.
Who built it.
Jason Bennett
Founder, The Plumb Line
I've spent more than two decades in ministry leadership, serving as a local church pastor, developing leaders, and helping lead a network of collegiate churches.
I studied leadership and Christian formation at Fuller Theological Seminary under Dr. J. Robert Clinton, whose research on how Christian leaders develop over a lifetime has deeply shaped my thinking about leadership and formation.
The Plumb Line grew out of that study, years of conversations with ministry leaders and practitioners, and my own experience of being formed by the work of ministry.
The assessment was developed and refined through research, practitioner input, and testing. The goal was never to create a comprehensive measure of a leader's health. It was to create something simple enough to use and meaningful enough to begin an honest conversation.
What this is and isn't.
The Plumb Line is a self-report assessment. It reflects what a leader honestly observes about their current reality across eight areas of life and leadership.
It is not a clinical instrument, a diagnostic tool, or a substitute for professional care.
It is a point of reference. A way to see where you are, bring what you see into conversation, and pay attention to what changes over time.
Because the most important thing you're building in ministry is the person you're becoming.
See clearly.Move forward together.
Free for individual ministry leaders · 40 questions · about 15 minutes