Natural Church Development: Do no harm!

How can Natural Church Development help your church?

Number 4: Do no harm

NCD can assist leaders to act in a way that will help their church and not harm it.

The intent of medical doctors in taking the Hippocratic Oath is something like this: “Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient”.

Is it possible for good doctors to unintentionally harm their patients?

Dr Ray Strand says (in his book, ‘Death by Prescription’): “The number four killer in the US today, after heart disease, cancer and strokes, is adverse drug reactions to properly prescribed medication . . .

Is it possible for church leaders, while doing something good, to unwittingly damage their church? That’s a big question, isn’t it? What leader would want to harm his church? No leader would intentionally damage their church. But some – maybe even many – are unwittingly hurting their church.

By identifying the area of need, Natural Church Development can help church leaders know precisely where to focus their attention. On the other hand, should leaders pour their efforts and energy into improving the wrong area – something already healthy – they run the risk of harming their church.

Consider this:

How do leaders decide which programmes to use in improving the health of church? How do they decide on ‘Programme E’ for evangelism? Or ‘Programme D’ for discipleship? Or ‘Programme P’ for prayer? Now these are all good programmes; but are they good for our church right now?

I believe church leaders use these – and many others – like Programme X or Programme Y – because they were recommended at a conference. Or because a pastor friend used them with some success. Or because they found them on the internet and they seemed to be just what they were looking for.

May I respectfully suggest these are not good reasons for introducing any programme to your church? The right programme at the wrong time is still the wrong programme.

We go to the doctor. The doctor runs some tests, asks us some questions and then gives us a prescription which is specific to us. We are warned against taking other people’s medication. Yet churches do this all the time!! No wonder many do not seem to improve in quality. Water for a plant is good; unless the plant already has too much water.

Natural Church Development can help you diagnose the need of your church.

If you want to find out more, call 027 281 2814

I can let you have a brochure

How can Natural Church Development help your church?

Number 3: Channel limited resources where they will do the most good

Whatever resources a church may have, they usually want more. Do they need more? Church leaders often feel as though they need more leaders or more money or more time or more parking or space.

Sometimes it feels as though they have people, but those people do not seem to fit where the church is up to. Church is often like this.

The willing people don’t quite seem to fit – like the square wheels. Those who could do it appear to be along for the ride – carried, like the round wheels in the cart. Very often the work of the church seems to be done by a few overworked and exhausted people, while the rest appear to be doing less than they could.

Why is it important to put limited resources where they will do the most good?

So often church seems something like this

There are 566 members in our church…….

But 100 are frail and elderly

That leaves 466 to do all the work

But 80 are young people at college

That leaves 386 to do all the work

But 150 are tired business men

So that leaves 236 to do all the work

And 150 are busy housewives with children

That leaves 86 to do all the work

And a further 46 have most important outside interests

That leaves 40 to do all the work.

But 15 live too far away to come regularly.

So that leaves 25 to do all the work.

And 23 say they’ve already done their bit for the church

That leaves you and me.

And I’m exhausted!

Good luck to you!!!

The good news that Natural Church Development brings is that your church does not have to address everything at once in order to become healthy. If you address the right thing – the Minimum Factor – in the right way, you will find that God has given you and your church all you require to improve church health.

That is really good news.

God has given you and your church everything you need to improve the health of your church. You may be lacking all kinds of things, but you are not lacking in what you need to do His will now.

The question is – and this is where NCD can help you – what area will you deploy those resources?

To find out more call 027 2812814

I can even send you a brochure

Take a look at this short video:

How Natural Church Development can help your church: 2

Number 2: Unity

Is this church more likely to be united than a church that lacks this kind of information?

Graph of NCD church health assessment

In this church a focus on Gift-oriented Ministry has the potential to unite the church in addressing problems associated with that issue.

How significant is unity in a church?

There is the possibility that the NCD result can assist us in answering the high priestly prayer of Jesus:

Jesus prayed that all of His people ‘may be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’ (John 17:23)

Note the results that come from complete unity:

They are contained in the prayer. (1) The world may know that God sent His Son. (2) The world may know that God loves it as much as he loves His Son.

From this prayer we may see unity is very important.

In the ancient song, Psalm 133, the writer says: ‘How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!…. For there the Lord bestows his blessing…’

I like the way it comes out in the New Living Translation: ‘How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!’

Unity is a good word. But you can have unity using stand-over tactics – unity by oppression. Unity with ‘yes’ men; unity where the ones at the top do the thinking and followers simply snap to attention.

Harmony suggests that people are singing different notes, and yet they are all singing from the same song sheet. Harmony suggests different people, each using unique gifts, yet with the same focus.

Unity in diversity.

People do have honest differences over theology. They have differences about spiritual style and philosophy of ministry and the kind of music that should be used in church and . . . and . . . and. . . the beat goes on.

Natural Church Development goes deeper than all of that.

Because it can help a church to focus, it can also help unify a church around a common objective: the objective to become a healthy (or even healthier) church. A church that doesn’t copy other churches. A church that seeks to achieve its unique potential under God

To find out more call me at 027 281 2814;

I could even send you a brochure

How NCD can help your Church: 2 – Unity

How Natural Church Development can help your Church: Focus

Natural Church Development has the potential to: Number 1:   Give focus to the church. (I say ‘potential’ because there is always the human element):

How important is focus in a church?

This is the result of an NCD church health assessment:

The result reveals what the leaders must concentrate on now, at this time in the church’s history. In this church the focus for now will be in the area of Gift-based Ministry.

In the context of church, just how significant is focus?

I would suggest that in any context ― and especially the church ― focus is vital. Paul is on record as saying. “This one thing I do.” He was focused. Jesus was focused. He said, “I will build my church.” Do you think anything will stop Him?

Ben Stein said: “The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.”

Duck shooters know the importance of focus: Do not shoot generally in the direction of the skein; aim at one particular duck! Focus!

A logjam can be a metaphor of a church that is stuck. You can free a jam by attacking the logs one by one but it will take you a very, very long time. The experienced logger would find the log causing the jam and dynamite it; find the king log and blow it up! Focus!

Alexander Graham Bell: “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

Jack Dixon: “If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.”

Flat heels and stilettos give another idea about focus. We know how stilettos can damage carpets and floors. The great pressure transmitted through a stiletto heel is greater than that exerted by an elephant standing on one foot! A woman who walked on a new floor in metallic stiletto heels was ordered to pay 900 Euro towards the damage. Focus!

Natural Church Development is a great way to discover where your church should focus for the time being.

To find out more call me at 027 281 2814

I can even post you a brochure.

How Can Natural Church Development Help Your Church?

How can Natural Church Development help your church?

If you were able to discover something that had the potential to help your church in the following ways, would you want to know more?

• Give focus to the church
• Unite the church
• Make the best use of your resources
• Assist leaders to help their church and not harm it
• Identify the church’s strengths
• Locate the church’s area of dis-ease
• Help discover the church’s back and front doors
• Guide a church to its own unique identity rather than copying other church models
• Point leaders to God’s unchanging and unchangeable principles
• Help your church become more balanced in its ministry
• Help you church become more passionate, caring, praying, gift-based, need-oriented, empowering, inspiring, holistic and effective

Natural Church Development can help your church in all of these ways – and more. But will it? It will, if the leaders of your church are amenable to working agreeably with each other!

I am referring to the Natural Church Development church health assessment.

If you would like to know more you can contact me at ncd@inspire.net.nz

What to do Under Covid-19 Lockdown

George MacDonald was a Scottish author whose books were very influential in the life of CS Lewis. Two of MacDonald’s books were “Phantastes” and “Lilith.” The quality that most impressed Lewis about these books was holiness. On the strength of that I purchased these books. Dare I admit it – I had difficulty even understanding them!

I am thinking of the current situation when I post this quotation from Phantastes by George MacDonald. It is the final statement from the book:

‘Yet I know that good is coming to me – that good is always coming; though few have at all times the simplicity and the courage to believe it. What we call evil is the only and best shape, which, for the person and his condition at the time, could be assumed by the best good.’ (Phantastes, p. 213).

You may need to ponder this from MacDonald for a while.

It really doesn’t matter if the panic over the virus is justified; or if the panic should be about something else (like, would one of the conspiracy theories be something more than just a theory?). In a sense, through the present worldwide crisis, God is speaking to all peoples in a way He has not spoken for a very long time.

Covid-19 is causing many people much pain. CS Lewis in his book, ‘The Problem of Pain,’ says: “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
In my mind, George MacDonald’s statement above lines up well with pandemic fallout and Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

If you are uncertain as to how to respond to what is happening in our world today, then this action may work best to strengthen your immunity: “. . . give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18

If you go here you will find 31 science-backed benefits of gratitude.

https://www.happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

Church is not a Building

A number of people have reminded us in these days the church is not a building.

The church is people. Not bricks and mortar, but flesh and blood, living people. So what has happened to the church? Well, what has happened to the people? That’s what’s happened to the church.

Some people want to plant a new church. They want to begin again with something that they say is more incarnational. I have news for them: They do not need to begin again in order to make the church more incarnational. The church is already as incarnational as it can ever be. The church is totally incarnational. Wherever her people are – at work, at school, in lockdown at home, as long as they are in their bodies – there is the church. Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome: And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (Romans 12:1)

Paul pleads with them to give their bodies to God; what could be more incarnational? We are to give our bodies to God:

• Fit or unfit
• Overweight or malnourished (or anything in between)
• Healthy or sick
• Old or young
• Male or female
• Saint or sinner
• Damaged or all intact
• Skin colour is no barrier
• Tall or short
• Despised or admired

Whatever the shape or state of our bodies, giving them to God is the way to go. Only two requirements:

1. They need to be living
2. They need to be holy

Why does Paul want us to do this? Did you see it there: ‘This is truly the way to worship God?’ There are those who attend church regularly, but maybe do not worship. Then there are those who rarely darken the church doors, but continuously worship.

This interruption to our way of life need not disrupt our connection with God when we understand that all of life is worship.

Covid-19 and Change

The world will never be the same!

Did you see this coming? Perhaps you did; but it’s not exactly as you might have expected it to be! The climate change ‘experts’ have been warning us we are heading for disaster! Those who watch over our morals have been predicting catastrophe almost since the world began (not without cause)! Some political commentators are blaming Donald and Boris mixing it up with Xi and Kim. For several years now Bill Gates has been warning the world of a global pandemic; we should prepare ourselves. Professed scholars of Bible prophecy wonder where this fits into the book of Revelation; they are sure the ‘end is nigh,’ but they are unsure which of the ‘seals’ has been opened to let it out! Some very confident preachers are ‘confronting’ Covid-19 ‘in the name of Jesus;’ Covid-19 hasn’t taken much notice thus far. Other preachers are counselling that we should wash our hands and keep our distance; with greater effect.

Someone said of Covid-19, ‘The world will never be the same!’

That sounds very dramatic; I think he was right. But then, there have been any number of events and inventions that have made a huge difference in world history. Think about some of them: The invention of the aeroplane; the printing press; TV; WWW; space travel; the light bulb; medicine; education; and many other such things. Which is the most significant? I do not know which of these has changed our world the most; but I know of something else that has made a greater impact: the Word of God (the Bible) and the Son of God, the living Word. World history changed radically at His advent. He was here 33 years; and after He left, the world began moving in a different direction. It would be fair to say the reason we enjoy the lifestyle we do in this country can be traced back to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

“Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light. Daniel 2:20-22

Science and the Kingdom of God

When we take Science to its legitimate and logical and inevitable end, we find there the Kingdom of God. Science is simply knowledge. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end – of knowledge (as well as everything else). He created all things. He upholds all things. It all came from Him and it’s all moving towards Him (the unchangeable Person) and His (unshakeable) Kingdom. Scientists who are honest about their investigations will eventually find their way ‘home’ to the Kingdom of God. They fail to do this only if they begin with a false premise; that is to say, if they pursue their science and won’t allow any room for God. As some of the atheists say when studying biology, “It almost looks like intelligent design; but we know that can’t be right!”

E Stanley Jones writes:

“Someday science is going to put it down on the table and say: “This and this and this is the way to live. And this and this and this is not the way to live.” And we are going to look on those two lists and our eyes will open and open wide for we are going to say: “Why, Brother Man, the way you say to live is the Christian way, every item is Christian in its essence and in its object, whatever the language. And the list you give as the way not to live is the un-Christian way, every item is un-Christian. And the scientists will reply: We don’t know anything about that, but this is the way that life works and this is the way that life does not work.”

“The two approaches to life, the Christian and the scientific when truly Christian and truly scientific, are coming out to a common conclusion and more and more rendering a verdict on life and that verdict is a Christian verdict—the facts are coming out at the place of Christ.”

The Marks of Revival

In going through a presentation I heard recently on the marks of revival, and having worked with Natural Church Development for some twenty years now, it is my conviction that any church that scores highly on the eight Quality Characteristics will be in a state of revival.

I have heard many people speak about revival (without actually defining it).

I have experienced congregations singing about it (without defining it).

What Christian Schwarz was investigating, in the largest research project on the church (1000 churches, 6 continents, 34 countries, 4.5 million bits of data), was an answer to the question: ‘What should every church and each Christian be doing in order to fulfil the Great Commission?’ Schwarz ‘uncovered’ eight Quality Characteristics that are always present in every church no matter what culture they are or what their denominational ‘persuasion’ or what person or programme they may be following.

These eight characteristics can be seen in the presentation where the speaker’s topic was: ‘The Marks of Revival.’

1. Empowering Leadership

The speaker mentioned one revival that ceased because some high-ranking church leaders would not empower others in the church to continue their work. I think there might be a number of revivals that have ceased because those with ecclesiastical power refused to share it with anyone else; they dis-empowered those through whom God was working.

2. Gift-based Ministry

This can be easily observed in Acts 6 where the apostles delegated the work of sharing resources, while they continued with prayer and the word. God’s work flourishes when people work in the areas God has gifted them.

3. Passionate Spirituality

Revival is always accompanied by prayer and an emphasis on the Scriptures. All spiritual disciplines are carried out with passion. As the speaker said, revival creates a fresh hunger for the word of God; a new desire for prayer; a new dependency on the Holy Spirit.

4.  Effective Structures

George Whitefield lamented that he had not structured his converts as Wesley had. The Methodist church exists today because of the methodical way Wesley went about his work; but where is the work of Whitefield to be seen?

5. Inspiring Worship Service

Again, the speaker said ‘Revival brings a longing for worship.’ During revival times the people do not have to be pressed to attend worship; they are very clear on why they are attending and the whole experience of ‘church’ is totally positive.

6. Holistic Small Groups

John Wesley’s way of structuring his ‘converts’ into a small group system demonstrates the necessity and the value of meeting in this way. As someone once said, ‘Small groups are the cutting edge of the church.’.

7. Need-oriented Evangelism

As the speaker declared, ‘Revival brings an extraordinary harvest;’ and another point: ‘Revival brings a new thrust into mission.’ There is no doubt that during times of revival the church experiences exceptional growth with even the worst citizens being converted.

8. Loving Relationships

What more should be said but that church members must love one another?

These quality characteristics are like the vital organs of a human being; they each need to be healthy. If any one of them is not, it will prevent the body from functioning as it should, and that one will require attention to make it healthy again.

The health of a disciple-making church could be compared to the fitness of an All Black rugby team; most of us physically are not that fit. The same disciplines and routines that make All Blacks fit, can easily be transposed across to the health or quality of the individuals that comprise any community of faith.