By John Kimball, CCCC Director of Church Development
Christian Schwarz’ Natural Church Development (NCD) process is a gift to the Church. Designed to measure and improve eight Quality Characteristics common to churches across denominational, geographic and cultural lines, NCD implements an assessment tool that surveys the active membership of a congregation to understand the health of those characteristics. The value of the survey is not based upon someone’s interpretation of data, but is the very real description of the church and her ministry by the people who know her best.
Once the assessment phase is completed, NCD offers several different reports. Each report is separate and valuable for its own application:
- NCD Basic Profile – giving the raw results of the assessment survey
- NCD Insights Report – breaking the results of each Quality Characteristic down into four sub-characteristics for greater detail
- NCD Profile Plus – breaking the results of each Quality Characteristic down to the exact questions used to discern them
- NCD Results Guides – An amalgamation of the above reports broken down into four helpful guides designed to provide more detailed instructions for improvement
Take a look at this short video to see how NCD helps a church. When a church utilizes the assessment and then works with a trained coach to guide them through the NCD developmental process based upon their unique results, the improvement can often be significant. What’s more, the very design of NCD makes it a great tool for churches all across the health spectrum.
Want to know more? If you’re a member church of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, contact me at the Conference Office at (651) 739-1474, extension 103. If you’re church is independent or a member of another denomination, please contact me at my church office directly at (321) 348-0020. I look forward to talking with you!