|
 If
you are a leader who wants to see lasting, sustainable, healthy
growth in your church, you cannot approach NCD without taking a long
term view. The process of applying NCD principles effectively takes
time. Process may be the wrong word. It is a fulfilling,
satisfying and enjoyable journey of partnering with God to
grow your church (and yourself) to maturity. Leaders already on this
journey would say only one thing: "Get on board and don't miss out."
This is the first of four articles
where we consider different aspects of NCD as a long term process.
The articles are based on many years' experience as the NCD National
Partner in Australia. In this first part, we consider the question -
why is it important to see NCD as a long term process? -
particularly as it relates to leadership.
"Builder Pastor" or "Farmer Pastor"
All church leaders come to NCD with
set ways of doing ministry. Their experiences have led to set
patterns of thinking and entrenched habits. They have often already
concluded what "grows" a church and what doesn't. Many are what we
call "builder pastors". When they encounter NCD, they are challenged
to become "farmer pastors".
The leaders who make the transition
see their thinking and habits change as they apply the NCD
principles and experience the results for themselves over time.
So what are the differences between
the "builder pastor" and the "farmer pastor"?
Role
Builder pastors see it as their job to
construct the church. They are the "site manager", orchestrating
growth by introducing programs, generating activity, managing
facilities and bringing about congregational participation. The
focus is on managing the church as "organization" - structures,
tasks, events, activity.
Farmer pastors see their role as
assisting God in growing His church. They want to maximize
the potential for growth God has put in the congregation. They focus
on removing obstacles to growth, not generating activity. They focus
on the church as an "organism" made up of people who are themselves
to grow. It is always noticeable that these leaders talk about
"growth" in a different way. And as a result, they always have a
longer term mindset.
Starting Point
Builder pastors start by adopting
models. "Somebody else has done it before me. Why reinvent the
wheel?" As new models and programs and activities are introduced one
after the other, the church experiences what we call "chunks of
change" - it is very stop-start. "Let's do this. Let's do that."
Issues in church life are dealt with in isolation of one another.
Many churches end up with "a patchwork quilt of wet band-aids". It
is a direct consequence of task-oriented, short-term thinking.
Farmer pastors start by learning the
key universal growth principles. They know that their church is
unique, so they must adapt the principles. By seeing their church as
an organism whose health is constantly changing, they avoid "chunks
of change" and look to a process of continuous improvement. This
keeps them focused on applying the principles to the issues most
likely to bring healthy growth over the long term.
Success
Most disturbingly, builder pastors are
satisfied with greater numbers of attendees and seeing more
activity. They evaluate their personal performance with the
question: How big and active is my church?
Farmer pastors are only satisfied with
greater numbers if these result from the growing health of the
church. They evaluate their personal performance with the question:
Am I continuing to see my church and the people in it growing to
greater maturity?
The Issues of Time and Timing
NCD challenges builder pastors to
become farmer pastors. Farmer pastors understand that partnering
with God to stimulate sustainable, healthy, growing churches is a
matter of time and timing.
Time
Leaders who think short-term tend to
also expect quick results. Often when pastors ask us "does NCD
work?", they usually mean, "Will I see more people in church in
twelve months time." "Growth" to them means growth in numbers of
people not growth in the health of the church. And they desire quick
growth, not sustainable growth.
Farmer pastors begin from a different
perspective altogether. "Growth" is not something you make happen,
it is something you stimulate over time by establishing the
foundations for healthy growth. And as any good farmer knows,
sustainable healthy growth takes time. Maturity cannot be
artificially manufactured or hurried.
Timing
Growth takes time; healthy
sustainable growth takes timing as well.
Farmer pastors understand that the
health of their church is undergoing a process of constant change.
So rather than just introducing programs and activities, and keeping
the congregation busy, their first concern is to be monitoring the
health of the church on a regular basis and responding in an
effective, timely way. That way they can continue to stimulate
healthy growth over time.
This is why NCD is so attractive to
such leaders. It not only keeps them up-to-date with the key health
issues they are facing at any point in time, it offers a process for
addressing those issues over the long term. Steady, consistent,
timely improvement.
A 3 Color Approach Helps
It is a challenge to help builder
pastors become farmer pastors. Encouraging them to get into the NCD
process is an excellent start: doing regular surveys and learning
how to respond to the issues in a timely way... over several years.
The pastor changes as the church changes.
In this process of change, we have
seen pastors run into personal barriers that get in the way of them
taking the church to the next level of health. If they see the
barriers as too large, it can stop them implementing the process
over the long term and growth momentum stalls.
We have found the 3 color approach
very helpful as a way of thinking about this issue. Look at the 3
color diagram. It indicates three phases making up a continuous
process.
Whenever pastors engage with their
church, they start with "information" (understanding of the church,
experience, theories, insights from a good book, Godly inspiration,
knowledge of what others are doing, etc).
They apply that information in the
church (activity, events, ministry, etc). This "application" leads
to some "transformation" in church life. What has been learnt from
this "transformation" produces new or updated "information" - a
growing knowledge, understanding or wisdom. This in turn leads to
revised application and new areas of transformation. And so the
church progresses to greater and greater levels of health, at every
point developing on the growth to that point.
What we have discovered is that in all
three phases, builder pastors encounter barriers blocking their
progress towards becoming farmer pastors.
First, there is too much
"information", particularly in Western churches. There is always
another idea, another model, another book to occupy the mind. It
promotes short-term thinking because builder pastors are worried
that if they stick to one thing for too long, they will miss the
next wave.
Secondly, where "information" does
lead to "application", the same problem of thinking short-term
arises. Builder pastors think: "Let's have a go and if it doesn't
produce quick results there is always something else we can turn
to."
But most disturbingly is the common
belief that Information + Application = Transformation. Many
pastors believe that just reading up on a program and then running
it in the church will transform the health of the church. (Spiritual
gifts discovery programs are a classic example.) Not only is healthy
growth not guaranteed, quite often the opposite occurs - there is
damage done.
Thirdly, where there is good
information and effective application, pastors themselves reach
significant personal barriers we call "transformation points". These
barriers may rise from within themselves (e.g. experience is
challenging a theological understanding) or may arise from within
the church (dealing with history, culture or traditions). The
failure to confront and remove these barriers provide the greatest
blockage to implementing NCD as a long term process. As a result the
health of both pastor and church are affected.
In the next three articles we will
explore this 3 Color approach and how understanding the three phases
can help "builder pastors" become "farmer pastors" and see the
benefits of NCD as a long term process.
Ian Campbell
is NCD National Partner for Australia |
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