Making a Difference in Your Church Health

What makes the difference in church health is the adjective describing the quality characteristic.  Every church has some kind of leadership, but healthy churches have empowering leadership.  The same is true for all of the characteristics

The NCD survey is like a health check-up.  When you visit your doctor for a physical the doctor doesn't say, "Your eyes are great, and the key to your overall health is to keep looking at more things.  Instead, your doctor is more likely to point out the areas of your personal health that are causing the most risk to your overall health.  You will probably be encouraged to focus on improving the minimum health factor in order to improve your overall health.  NCD will focus your church on improving your minimum quality characteristic in order to improve your overall church health.  All eight characteristics are important and necessary for church health, but focusing on the least healthy area of your church helps set priorities that will result in the greatest improvement to the overall health of your church.  You can learn more about the world-wide research and hear testimonies about the effectiveness of NCD at www.ncd-international.org.

The secret of growing churches is not in the brilliance or talent of the church leaders or programs, but in the spark of God's life that lives within the church itself.  As we learn in Mark 4:26-29, God has put the growth potential into every congregation.  We need to release this potential by removing barriers to growth and then your church will naturally grow all by itself!  Natural Church Development is focused on removing barriers to help nurture a healthy church, and with health will come growth.

Taking a survey alone won't improve your church's health.  It is what you do with what you learn that is important.  Using life-giving principles of healthy organisms, the NCD process will guide your church through real change to promote real improvement in your church's overall health and strength. 

Download a .pdf of this introduction to share in your congregation: Intro to Natural Church Development Booklet
 

The NCD Process

Step 1: Prepare.  Understanding NCD, gathering leadership buy-in, activating prayer, connecting with a NCD coach, and recruiting a Church Health Team to guide the process happen at this step.

Step 2: Diagnose.  Take the NCD survey and explore the results through in-depth analysis within the congregation.  Identify 3-5 key issues to address in next 12 months.

Step 3: Plan.  Church Health Team develops and presents a strategic plan with measurable, actionable goals to address the 3-5 key issues in the next 12 months.

Step 4: Implement.  Church Health Team, with the help of an NCD coach, leads the entire church in working and adapting the plan to transform the health of the church.

Step 5: Evaluate. At the end of the plan's implementation, the church will check itself to see how the plan brought real improvement to the church's health.  At this point you might re-take the survey and begin the process again to work on a new minimum health factor.

The process begins by contacting the Office of Congregational Development and requesting a coach to walk you through the process by emailing Curtis Brown (curtis@neumc.org).  Your coach will help you get the Natural Church Development resources through www.churchsmart.com.  If you want to learn more, you can read The ABCs of Natural Church Development or Color Your World with Natural Church Development

The Quality Characteristics

The eight quality characteristics of Natural Church Development provide a helpful way of talking about what makes for a growing and healthy congregation. Click on one of the Qualities for more detail: