Christian Experience Inventory (CEI)
Measures believing adults' experience of their ongoing relationship with God as a Person, affecting their attitudes and values.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Christian Experience Inventory (CEI) was developed by M. G. Alter (1986). It is designed to measure Christian religious maturity and relationship with God. The scale is intended for use with Believing adults.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 24 items organized into 5 factors/subscales: Experience of Growth in Faith, Experience of Trust in God, Experience of Cost of Faith, Experience of Concern for Others, Experience of Justification by Faith.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Experience of Growth in Faith | 2,5,7,11,12,22 | 6 |
| Experience of Trust in God | 8,9,13,15,17,18 | 6 |
| Experience of Cost of Faith | 4,10,20,23 | 4 |
| Experience of Concern for Others | 6,16,19,21,24 | 5 |
| Experience of Justification by Faith | 1,3,14 | 3 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 3 = Very much like me, 2 = Somewhat like me, 1 = Not much like me, 0 = Definitely not like me.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 0 to 72. Interpretation guidelines:
- Modest level of experience of God as person: 0 – 24
- Medium level of experience of God as person: 25 – 48
- Strong level of experience of God as person: 49 – 72
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Test-retest correlations ranged from .66 (Justification by Faith) to .91 (Trust in God).
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 12 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.