Empowering  The  Church

            Coaching and Consulting...

                                                                                   ...equipping churches for healthy growth

"I (Paul) planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow"    (I Cor. 3:6)

 

There is hope for the church in America!  
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The Natural Church Development survey measures the health of a local church. Church research in America indicates that 85% of our churches are on a plateau or declining and Protestant denominations have declined by nearly 10% in the past 10 years. The more important reason has to do with the health of our churches. Empowering The Church can help your church focus on its health as a congregation. Healthy churches will be growing churches.

 

The questions Natural Church Development asks have to do with church health and transformation. For instance:

  • Does the church empower its leadership to do ministry?

  • Does the leadership help members identify their spiritual gifts and integrate them into appropriate ministries?

  • Does the congregation have a passion about its sense of spirituality? Are they on fire?

  • Does the church develop structures that promote an ongoing multiplication of the ministry?

  • Do people leave worship knowing they have been in God's presence?

  • Do small groups go beyond Bible study and apply its messages in daily life?

  • Does the church encourage members to connect with non-Christians, see to it they hear the gospel, and encourage contact with the local church?

  • Do relationships of the people show the signs of God's love?

The eight questions above relate to the Eight Quality Characteristics that are essential for a church to be a healthy growing church.

      The "All-by-Itself Principle"

The secret of church growth does not consist in pushing or pulling the church in human strength and efforts, but in releasing and developing the potential God Himself has placed in the church. The cart illustration teaches us that God has provided everything we'll ever need for church growth, yet we do not always make proper use of it. Instead of using God's means, we try to do things on our own strength - with much pulling and pushing.

NCD is a different approach to church growth. The goal is to let God's growth forces flourish instead of wasting energy on human-made programs.

Mark 4: 26-29 (NIV)
He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."
 
This parable clearly shows what people can and should do, and what they cannot do. They should sow and harvest, they may sleep and rise. What they cannot ever do is this: they cannot bring forth the fruit. In the text, we find the mysterious description of the earth producing fruit "by itself." Most commentators agree that this "by itself" is the key for understanding this parable. Just what does it mean?

The term used in the Greek is automate- literally translated it means "automatic." Of course, to the Hebrew mind this automatism would never be credited to some god-like Mother Nature. In the context of the parable, the word means simply "with no apparent cause," and the underlying thought is "performed by God Himself." In applying this idea to the life of a congregation, it indicates that certain developments appear to happen "all by themselves," or "automatically." Christians, however, know- even though it cannot be proven empirically- that the fruit that develops seemingly all by itself is, in reality, a work of God. The "automatism" is really a "theomatism!"
                            
                           ~Excerpt from Natural Church: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of A Healthy Church
 
1 Corinthians 3:6 (NIV)
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

How would you like to understand, develop, and implement the Eight Essential Characteristics that must be in place for your church to grow?

How to schedule a Natural Church Development consultation...<<More>>

 

To find out how your church can be involved in Natural Church Development, Contact us or call 770.918.5105, Conyers, GA.
     

 

 

What will ministry look like in your church this next year? Will it be "business as usual" or will you make an intentional decision to assess the health of your church and then take strategic steps to move forward? We want to help you improve the health of your church!

 

 


 

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