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A Summary Presented by Healthy Church Initative Team
Natural Church Development is a "principle-oriented" process.. "Models" are concepts that one or sometimes many churches in some part of the world have experienced positively. But imitating these experiences may not be the right answer for churches in other situations. On the other hand, "principles" are those elements that have been proven to apply to all growing churches around the globe, no matter the size of the church, culture, or country.
Who was studied?
● 1,000 different churches on five continents
● 32 countries
● 18 languages
● 4.2 million pieces of data
● large and small
● growing and declining
● churches persecuted by the state and churches financially supported by the state
● well-known churches and totally unknown churches
● churches from areas currently experiencing great spiritual revivals, as well as from regions which appear to be more spiritually developing
The result:
These eight quality characteristics were proven to be universally used by God to build His church!
● Empowering Leadership
● Gift-oriented Ministry
● Passionate Spirituality
● Functional Structures
● Inspiring Worship Services
● Holistic Small Groups
● Need-oriented Evangelism
● Loving Relationships
The key in each of these quality characteristics is the adjective, which can be considered a summary of the six biotic principles (see page 5) as they apply to that characteristic: empowering, gift-oriented, passionate, functional, etc. Every church has some sort of leadership or worship or structure. Not all emphasize the adjectives at the front of each of these quality characteristics. Here are some brief definitions:
Empowering Leadership − Effective leadership begins with an intimate relationship with God, resulting in Christ-like character and a clear sense of God’s calling for leader’s lives. As this base of spiritual maturity increases, effective pastors and leaders multiply, guide, empower and equip disciples to realize their full potential in Christ and work together to accomplish God’s vision. Leaders consider it as one of their most important tasks to help Christians develop greater degrees of empowerment. They equip, support, motivate, and mentor individuals to become all that God wants them to be.
Gift-oriented Ministry − The Holy Spirit sovereignly gives to every Christian spiritual gift(s) for the building of God’s kingdom. Church leaders have the responsibility to help believers discover, develop and exercise their gifts in appropriate ministries so that the Body of Christ "grows and builds itself up in love." The role of church leadership is to help its members identify their gifts and integrate them into ministries that match their gifts. When a person lives according to their spiritual giftedness, they are not longer working in their own strength, but the Holy Spirit works in them. Studies show that most Christians are either not involved in ministry or they function in a ministry that does not match their gifts.
Passionate Spirituality − Effective ministry flows out of a passionate spirituality. Spiritual intimacy leads to a strong conviction that God will act in powerful ways. A godly vision can only be accomplished through an optimistic faith that views obstacles as opportunities and turns defeats into victories. The important issue here is not the way spirituality is expressed, but the fact that faith is actually lived out with commitment, fire and enthusiasm. The methods a church used are really a secondary concern. A church that lives its faith with passionate fervor will experience success with many a method.
Functional Structures − The Church is the living Body of Christ. Like all healthy organisms, it requires numerous systems that work together to fulfill its intended purpose. Each must be evaluated regularly to determine if it is still the best way to accomplish the intended purpose. The most important criterion for forms and structures in the church is if they fulfill their purpose or not. Church structures are never an end in themselves but always only a means to an end.
Inspiring Worship − Inspiring worship is a personal and corporate encounter with the living God. Both personal and corporate worship must be infused with the presence of God resulting in times of joyous exultation and times of quiet reverence. Inspiring worship is not driven by a particular style or ministry focus group — but rather the shared experience of God’s awesome presence. Is the worship service an inspiring experience for those who attend? It is not whether our services target Christians or non-Christians, whether they celebrate "in the language of Canaan" or in a more secular language, or whether we worship using a liturgical or a more free-flowing approach. Inspiring worship services are often described as "fun."
Holistic Small Groups − Holistic small groups are disciple-making communities which endeavor to reach the unchurched, meet individual needs, develop each person according to their God-given gifts and raise leaders to sustain the growth of the church. Like healthy body cells, holistic small groups are designed to grow and multiply. Growing churches have developed a system of small groups where individual Christians can find intimate community, practical help and intensive spiritual interaction. In the groups, not only is the biblical text discussed, but they apply biblical insights to everyday issues.
Need-oriented Evangelism − Need-oriented evangelism intentionally cultivates relationships with pre-Christian people so they can become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who are actively participating within the life of the church and community. Using appropriate ministries and authentic relationships, believers can guide others into the family of God. Growing churches are not "pushy" or "manipulative" in they way they share the gospel, rather, their secret is to the share gospel in a way that meets the questions and needs of pre-Christians.
Loving Relationships − Loving relationships are the heart of a healthy, growing church. Jesus said people will know we are his disciples by our love. Practical demonstration of love builds authentic Christian community and brings others into God’s kingdom.
Unfeigned, practical love endows a church with a much greater magnetic power than all the marketing efforts of this world. Growing churches manifest a measurably higher "love quotient" than stagnant or declining ones.
No Quality Characteristic Can Be Missing
Three things can be said with a high degree of certainty:
1. These qualities are universally valid.
2. They can be transferred to our own situation.
3. Each of these has a positive relationship with both qualitative and quantitative growth of the church
No one single factor leads to growth in churches; it is the interplay of the eight elements as they relate to the biotic principles.
The "All-by-Itself-Principle"
The secret of growing churches does not consist in pushing or pulling the church in human strength and efforts—but in releasing and developing the potential God himself uses to build his church. Then growth occurs all by itself!
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, and then full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sicle to it, because the harvest has come. − Mark 4:26-29
The church is designed by God to grow--so growth happens automatically if we remove the obstacles that prevent growth. Growing churches use this growth principle.
The Minimum Factor
Imagine a barrel with eight staves, each representing the eight quality characteristics. The staves in the barrel only reach as high as the score of the characteristic. With this analogy, you can only fill the barrel to the level of the lowest stave. So to increase the capacity of the barrel, we must increase the height of the lowest stave. Now focussing on the minimum factor does not mean that we don’t pay attention to the other seven areas. As stated before, all eight characteristics are vitally important to healthy growing churches. Focusing on the minimum factors helps us to set timely priorities. Since all eight areas can’t be worked on with the same amount of energy and concentration, we need to find areas, which will yield the greatest long-range return on our investments. Remember, minimum factors can change quickly—especially when there is a conscious attempt to improve on this one area.
Biotic Principles
The principles behind all the quality characteristics are the six Biotic Principles. The survey assesses each of the eight quality characteristic by measuring the degree to which each is lived out in a ‘biotic’ way. Any plans to improve your minimum factor must take into account these six biotic principles.
Interdependence — Individual units are connected to each other in a larger system. Changes in one ministry will affect other ministries in the church and community. Synonym: Connecting
Multiplication — Healthy organisms do not grow endlessly, but reproduce themselves. Synonym: Reproducing
Energy Transformation — Momentum or energy already flowing, whether positive or negative, can be redirected to accomplish God’s purposes. Synonym: Harnessing
Multi-usage — Resources used should increase the capacity for on-going growth and development, as well as serve multiple purposes. Synonym: Sustaining
Symbiosis — Different ministries can cultivate cooperative relationships so the mutual benefit is greater than operating separately. Synonym: Cooperating
Functionality — Each ministry needs to produce discernible results in line with its intended purpose. Synonym: Evaluating
NCD Quality Growth Cycle
Phase 1 − Prepare for the survey
Phase 2 − Do the survey
Phase 3 − Analyze survey results
Phase 4 − Establish goals and action plans
Phase 5 − Implement and monitor action plans
Phase 6 − Evaluate and repeat
Recommended Resources
Schwarz, Christian. Natural Church
Development (Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 1996) ISBN 1-889638-00-5 |
