Empowering The Church can show you how Natural Church Development is a powerful process for assessing the health strengths and weaknesses of your church, then developing and implementing an action plan for improving church health by removing limiting factors. NCD begins from the principle that there is potential for every church to grow, in a similar way to which living organisms grow. Indeed, given the right conditions, the church should naturally grow!

Natural Church Development has the greatest impact when it is approached as a long-term process for continuous improvement. It's a way of saying goodbye to human success programs - and hello to God's growth forces. The goal of NCD is to let God's growth forces flourish, instead of wasting energy on human-made programs. Jesus Himself frequently used parables from nature and agriculture to illustrate the nature of the kingdom of God - the lilies of the field, the seed that grows by itself, the growth of the mustard seed, the four soils, the tree and its fruit, the laws of sowing and reaping.

Health produces growth!

Natural Church Development grew out of what is probably the largest global study of church growth ever conducted. The initial research project involved over 1000 congregations of many denominations from 32 countries from every continent except Antarctica. The purpose of the research was to determine what quality characteristics of churches had a positive correlation to numerical growth in congregations. The data clearly confirmed that, as a general rule, healthy churches are growing churches. From the data, the researchers identified eight quality characteristics, each of which has a strong positive correlation to church growth.

As of July 2007 over 50,000 churches have completed the NCD survey world-wide. In the USA more than 60 different denominations are using NCD. Looking at churches that had completed three or more surveys, the following was discovered:

• 85 percent of the churches completing three or more surveys have experienced increases in both quality and quantity.
• The average quality in these churches increased by six points over 31 months on average.
• Their growth rate increased by 51 percent. In other words, if the church had been growing by ten people per year before beginning the process, that number would now increase to 15 people per year.
• Churches working with an outside coach have experienced even greater improvements.
• These results do not represent a few select success stories. Rather, these are the average results of all the churches that have completed three or more surveys. This includes those who experienced overwhelming success as well as those who struggled or failed.

NCD Survey

The survey consists of 91 questions to be answered by 30 church members who are active in ministry, involved in some kind of small group life, and who are considered by the pastor to be at the center of church life, plus a questionnaire to be filled out by the senior pastor. This data is computer scored to generate scores for each of the eight quality characteristics showing how much above or below the national norms the church's scores are in each of the Eight Quality Characteristics. These characteristics are:

• Empowering Leadership

• Gift-Based Ministry

• Passionate Spirituality

• Effective Structures

• Inspiring Worship Services

• Holistic Small Groups

• Need-Oriented Evangelism

• Loving Relationships

The all-by-itself principle

The term “all by itself’ growth comes from Jesus’ teaching in Mark 4:26-29: “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.”

It is not our job to grow the church; that is God’s job.

Most churches approach church growth by asking, “What can we do to attract more people to our church?” This approach usually results in the creation of more and more programs intended to serve or reach members or potential members. In almost every church we work with, we find leaders who are spread too thin and tired because, among other reasons, the church is over-programmed.

NCD, in contrast, begins with the premise (confirmed by the research) that it is the nature of a healthy church to grow. Rather than trying to do more to stimulate growth, the NCD process involves identifying barriers to healthy growth and removing them, trusting the life of the Spirit within the healthy church to produce the growth. Not only has the consistent use of this strategy resulted in increased health and growth; it has also resulted in church leaders becoming less busy--doing less–in the process.

As you consider NCD, remember this!

1. NCD is a long-term process - not a "quick fix." If your church has been in decline for years, it will take more than 30-60 days to reverse that trend. However, the research shows there is hope for your church!

2. Invest significant time preparing your church to begin the NCD Process:

• Educate your people about the eight quality characteristics and the value of    improving the health of the church.
• Cast a bold vision. Help your people dream about being a healthy, vibrant, life-changing church and instill a "want to" attitude in your leaders.
• Build a team of people who will focus on improving the health of the church because the pastor cannot do it alone.

Would you like to know the important steps that will enable your team to make the right decisions for the health and growth of your church? Would you like to know how God can really use your church in your community?

3. Trust the wisdom of working on your "minimum factor." The minimum factor is the quality characteristic identified as the weakest area of health in the church. Just as sports teams draft "impact players" to improve the quality of their team for the next season, your church must address the minimum factor to improve the health of the church.

Would you like to know the obstacles your church is facing no matter what your attendance may be, and discover the challenges needed to move to the next level?
 

4. Find a good coach who can come alongside and help guide your church through the process. We have found that churches who work with a coach are at least twice as effective in improving the health of the church. Several denominations have been utilizing NCD for five or six years now. Many of them require their churches to work with a coach and the results have been quite dramatic.

5. Be clear about your mission: Make sure your motivation is "mission driven," not "survival driven." Jesus said in Mark 8:35, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it." God has a mission for your church in your community and it can easily be summed up in the Great Commandment and Great Commission: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Then go and make disciples everywhere!

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