Natural Church Development: A Summary ©2004 CoachNet, Inc.

Based on Natural Church Development by Christian Schwarz

Natural Church Development is a “principle-oriented” approach. “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 growing churches around the globe.

Who was studied?

• 1000 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 are used by God to build his church!

• Empowering Leadership

• Gift-based Ministry

• Passionate Spirituality

• Effective 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 Growth Forces (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, mentor and coach individuals to become all that God wants them to be.

 Gift-based 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.

 Effective 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 are universally valid qualities

2. They can be transferred to our own situation

3. Each of these has a positive relationship with both the quality and the 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 Six Growth Forces.

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 focusing 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.

Growth Forces

The principles behind all the Quality Characteristics are the Six Growth Forces. The survey assesses each of the eight Quality Characteristics by measuring the degree to which each is lived out in a ‘biotic’ (or ‘life’) way. Any plans to improve your Minimum Factor must take into account these Six Growth Forces.

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

Sustainability 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

F ruitfulness Each ministry needs to produce discernible results in line with its intended purpose.

Synonym: Evaluating

The NCD Process - You can start by contacting our office - Paul Null is an NCD Coach

The NCD Process is a change process that will help a church address their Minimum Factor. A coach is beneficial to help a church engage in the NCD Process with integrity to see the results maximized.  

Step 1 – Prepare – Prepare your church to engage in the total NCD Process. Getting leadership buy-in, mobilizing intercessors and choosing a Church Health Team are all a part of this step.  

Step 2 – Diagnose – Analyze the health of your church. This step begins with taking the survey followed by an in-depth analysis of your Minimum Factor. It concludes with identifying 3-5 key issues to address.  

Step 3 – Plan – Plan to address your Minimum Factor. In this step the Church Health Team will develop a strategic plan to address your 3-5 key issues identifies in Step 2.  

Step 4 – Implement – Implement the strategic plan developed in Step 3. Staying focused on carrying out the plan and overcoming obstacles along the way will be the task of the Church Health Team.

Step 5 – Evaluate – Evaluate the process you used and the results of your effort. Use the Six Growth Forces to determine increased health in you Minimum Factor then plan to re-take the survey