DCAT180 Church Growth and Revitalization Module 1

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DCAT180Church Growth and RevitalizationModule
1 Church Growth Through Church Health

• Hope Christian Church
• Dr. James Flynn
• June 08, 2011

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Church Growth
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The Church Growth Movement

• The Influence of Donald McGavran the Father of
  the Church Growth Movement.
• Background Missions calling to India (emphasis
  on souls) Disciples of Christ to Havda, India
• Catalyst Principle catalyst for Church Growth
  thought in the 1950s and 60s based on observation
  concerning church growth on the mission field in
  India
• Pragmatic approach If it is not unbiblical, do
  it!
• Receptivity Focus on the people most likely to
  be receptive (limited resources time, people,
  finance)
• Fuller Theological Institute of Church Growth
  revitalized by McGavran in 1965 and founding dean
  of the School of World Missions
• Ralph Winter Fuller Missions and the William
  Carey Library
• Charles Kraft Christianity with Power (1989)
• C. Peter Wagner Integration of Pentecostal
  theology into mainline third wave movement
• John Wimber Founding Director of Fullers
  Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth Power
  Evangelism (1986)

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The Church Growth Movement

• The Church Growth Movement
• Wagner became the primary source for the Church
  Growth movement in the 1980s.
• Churchquake (1999) captures the essence of
  church growth and contextualization
• Vineyard Christian Fellowship
• The movement began to mature with experience in
  the 1990s with a shift toward church health and
  contextualization (Examples churches and
  people)
• Willow Creek Community Church (Bill Hybels)
  Contextualization for affluent suburban people
  south of Chicago
• Saddleback Community Church (Rick Warren)
  Contextualization for the suburban Southern
  California
• Yoido Full Gospel Church Paul Yonggi Cho in
  Seoul, South Korea 1.0 Million people
• Christian Schwarz Natural Church Development
  a principle approach to church growth through
  church health

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Natural Church DevelopmentChurch Growth Through
Church Health
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Natural Church Development

• An ordered approach to church growth and health
• Christian Schwarz began research in the 1990s
  into what church growth principles work to
  produce a growing healthy church
• The Study He began a study of 1000 churches in
  32 countries on six different continents, with
  varied denominational affiliation, language,
  tradition, and doctrinal stance in order to
  establish what church growth principles are true,
  independent of the above variables
• The Goal He sought to distill the key points of
  difference between churches growing numerically
  and churches declining numerically
• The Result He also set out to find what factors
  most contribute to the growth of a church,
  concluding that GROWTH is best facilitated
  through HEALTH.

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Understanding Natural Church Development

• Schwarz executed the International Research
  Project, which is still on going today
• Originally
• 1000 churches
• 32 Countries
• 6 Continents
• Today
• 40,000 Churches
• 70 Countries

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH Schwarz leveraged scientific
observation and study
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Understanding Natural Church Development

• Schwarz used several key assumptions as a
  theoretical base for his study
• Mark 426-29 26 And He was saying,
  "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed
  upon the soil 27 and he goes to bed at night
  and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and
  grows-- how, he himself does not know. 28 "The
  soil produces crops by itself first the blade,
  then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
  29 "But when the crop permits, he immediately
  puts in the sickle, because the harvest has
  come."
• Schwarz believed that GROWTH was GODS
  responsibility (Mark 426 auvto,matoj
  (automatos) by itself or automatically)
• Schwarz believed that nature was a valid backdrop
  for discerning truth (Rom 120), and that God
  left His fingerprint of truth in creation

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NCD STUDY CONCLUSIONS

• After the empirical study was complete, Schwarz
  concluded that there are eight areas of quality
  that infuse sufficient health into the life of a
  church, so that if they are at work at sufficient
  measurable levels (factor 65), the church
  will have a 99.4 chance of growth numerically.

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Eight Qualities of Church Health

• Those eight areas of quality include
• Empowering Leadership
• Gift-oriented Ministry
• Passionate Spirituality
• Functional Structures
• Inspiring Worship
• Holistic Small Groups
• Need-oriented Evangelism
• Loving Relationships
• Note not only the words, but the descriptors!

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Natural Church Development Eight Qualities for
Church Health

• Eight Quality Characteristics
• Empowering Leadership Leadership that
  concentrates on empowering others in the church
  to express their individual gifts as they share
  in the work of the ministry (Eph 28-10, Luke
  91-2, 6, 10)
• Gift-oriented Ministry Ministry that
  facilitates the discovery, development, and
  deployment of God-given gifts in the lives of
  believers for the growth and building of the
  church as part of the discipleship and maturing
  process
• Passionate Spirituality Personal and church
  intimacy with God through the regular practice of
  spiritual disciplines, expressed in daily lives
  and actions
• Functional Structures Clarity in personal and
  church vision, planning, and organizational
  structure with the ability to rapidly change
  structures and foci as needed to facilitate Gods
  purpose for the church

Contin
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Natural Church Development Eight Qualities for
Church Health

• Inspiring Worship Personal and corporate
  worship encounters with God that are directed by
  the Holy Spirit, infused with His power,
  transform participants, and instill a sense of
  inspiration.
• Holistic Small Groups The presence of vital and
  multiplying small disciple-making communities in
  the church used for evangelism, discipleship, and
  pastoral care
• Need-oriented Evangelism Strategies for
  individuals and the church to reach the lost
  through points of their specific needs in their
  lives
• Loving Relationships An atmosphere of joy and
  trust in the church that fosters affirmation and
  encouragement and is expressed by practical
  authentic Christian community

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PRINCIPLES NOT METHODS

• It is VITAL to note that these qualities relate
  to principles and values that determine the shape
  or form of expression they take in church life
• The value or principle is NEVER negotiable
• The form or outworking the principle takes is
  ALWAYS negotiable

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The Eight Natural Church Development Quality
Characteristics
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Eight Qualities for Church Health Empowering
Leadership

• Empowering Leadership does the church empower
  its members to do the work of the ministry?
• Effective Leadership grows out of an intimate
  relationship with God (disciplines, His
  voice/direction)
• Character relationship with God produces the
  Christ-like character and internal guts to lead
  well
• Empowerment the key to leadership is empowering
  others to function in their gift and calling (Eph
  28-10), thereby increasing the spiritual
  maturity base of the church for serving the Lord
• Satisfaction Individuals are most satisfied in
  the church when they are being used by God in
  their area of gifting and calling to produce
  fruit
• Delegation the job of a leader is to equip,
  support, enable, and mentor individuals to do the
  work of the ministry in the church

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Empowering
Leadership

• Key Questions
• Match is the pastor matched properly to the
  congregation (values, culture, personality)?
• Delegation does the leadership share the work
  of the ministry with the congregation?
• Gifting does the congregation have a defied and
  deliberate way to help the members discover,
  develop, and be deployed in their area of
  gifting?
• Vision does the leadership have a clearly
  defined and articulated vision for the church and
  ministry and has it been communicated well to the
  congregation?
• Equipping does the leadership have a structured
  and defined mentoring and equipping mechanism to
  train individuals to the mature exercise of their
  gifts?
• Change Is the leadership skilled in conflict
  resolution and leading the congregation through
  seasons of change

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Gift-oriented
Ministry

• Gift-oriented Ministry does the church help its
  members discover, develop, and exercise their
  God-given gifts in appropriate ministries?
• Gifting God has sovereignly given gifts to each
  individual to exercise in ministry and the
  building up of His church (Eph 28-10)
• Pa 139 God has invested certain gifts in each
  person according to His plan
• These gifts are described in the Scriptures (Rom
  124-8 I Cor 1228-31)
• These gifts can be developed and deployed for use
  in the local church
• A person is most satisfied when their gifting is
  identified, they are trained to use it, and they
  can make a meaningful contribution to the church
  by using it

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Gift-oriented
Ministry

• The deployment of the church members to do the
  work of the ministry threatens the artificial
  clergy and laity paradigm that has existed for
  many years
• NO FACTOR IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR CONTENTEDNESS as
  measured by the NCD study

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Gift-oriented
Ministry

• Key Questions
• Does the church have a way to measure the
  spiritual gifts that are resident in their lives
  and to help them understand what they are and how
  they are used?
• Does the church have a defined process for
  matching individuals with defined gifts to
  appropriate functions in the church that use
  their gifting?
• Does the church place a high and public value on
  serving according to ones gifts and reward such
  service?
• Is their a coaching and training mechanism in
  place to develop and deploy individuals to serve
  so that they mature in the exercise of their
  gifting under supervision?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Passionate
Spirituality

• Passionate Spirituality Do the Christians in
  the church live committed lives and practice
  their faith with joy and enthusiasm?
• Spiritual Passion flows from intimacy with God
• Prayer and intimacy leads to a conviction that
  God is powerful, in control, and will act in
  powerful ways
• Prayer and intimacy leads to a strong sense of
  calling, vision, and direction
• Prayer and intimacy leads to an optimistic,
  overcoming, can-do attitude as peoples minds
  are renewed and they witness the results of faith
• Prayer and intimacy tap into a dependence upon
  God and the opportunity for His supernatural
  intervention

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Passionate
Spirituality

• Key Questions
• Do individuals in the church have a highly
  developed and structured personal devotional life
  and regularly exercise the spiritual disciples or
  prayer, Scripture reading and memorization,
  meditation, fasting, and intercession?
• Does the church have a highly developed corporate
  devotional life and regularly exercise the
  spiritual disciples or prayer, Scripture reading
  and memorization, meditation, fasting, and
  intercession?
• Do members of the church seem to have a
  contagious faith that they share with others
  (i.e. on fire)?
• Is there a generally optimistic attitude about
  life, the church and its direction?
• Is prayer considered to be an inspiring
  experience in the church?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Passionate
Spirituality

• Legalism Churches that tend toward legalism
  usually have a below average spiritual passion
  because they perceive themselves as doing their
  duty.
• Quantity The amount of time people spend in
  prayer is only minor in significance QUALITY
• Quality the perception of how meaningful and
  inspiring the time spent in prayer is or not has
  a significant relationship to quality and
  quantity!
• The passionate spirituality factor greatly
  influences how enthusiastic individuals feel
  about their church

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Passionate
Spirituality
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Eight Qualities for Church Health Functional
Structures

• Functional Structures Do existing structures
  promote multiplication of the ministry and are
  they easily changed as needed for greatest
  effectiveness?
• Nature models structure functionality
• Life Life is highly structured structure and
  life are not opposites (church should be highly
  organized)!
• Parts Each part in an organism plays its own
  defined role and works together for the good of
  the whole (church and ministries the same!)
• Living organisms are organized and designed to
  multiply (so should be the church!)
• Effectiveness in nature is judged by the
  efficiency that are part brings to fulfilling its
  purpose to benefit the whole, with the least cost
  or energy possible to the organism
• Old parts, pieces, or unhealthy parts are
  discarded or removed if they endanger the good of
  the organism in nature (surgery, cancer, etc).
• Is there a sharp focus to church activities or do
  they diffuse time and resources in many
  directions (swamp analogy)?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Functional
Structures

• Key Questions
• Does the church have a highly defined and
  functional organizational structure?
• Is that structure and the lines of authority
  understood by the leadership and members of the
  church?
• Does the leadership structure allow for
  accountability, oversight, and management of the
  church?
• Does the church have a vision, goals, and
  strategic plan to implement them that has been
  reduced to written form and communicated to the
  church?
• Is church leadership creative and responsive when
  managing change?
• Is church leadership skilled in conflict
  resolution?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Functional
Structures

• Designing functional structures
• Who/what are you (vision and mission)?
• Where are you/it supposed to go (goals and
  objectives)?
• How will you/it get there (strategic measurable
  plan)?
• Are you/it there yet (measurable plan)?
• Traditions can be a roadblock to functional
  structures

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Inspiring
Worship

• Inspiring Worship does personal and corporate
  worship provide for an encounter with the living
  God and bring Him glory and honor?
• Is the worship service inspiring?
• Is there the inclusion of the leading of the Holy
  Spirit in the preparation of the worship and
  order of service?
• Is there evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work
  in the worship service, or is His presence merely
  presumed?
• Do the people come to church out of a sense of
  obligation to do God or the pastor a favor, or do
  they come because it is fun and they want to be
  there?
• Do people feel pressured to attend church because
  of obligation, assuming God will bless their
  sacrifice, or do they want to be there?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Inspiring
Worship

• Key Questions
• Does the worship service leave people feeling a
  sense of inspiration?
• Is there adequate care for children so that the
  worship experience is not unduly interrupted for
  others?
• Does the preaching and the worship meld together
  to form a unit that ministers a common theme or
  idea?
• Do visitors feel comfortable in the worship
  service and can they enter into it?
• Is the worship God-centered and does it celebrate
  the Christina experience?
• Are there signs or evidence of the work of the
  Holy Spirit in a meaningful way through the
  worship service?
• Does the Holy Spirit seem to direct and is His
  personal presence felt in the service during the
  worship time?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Inspiring
Worship

• People who feel that the worship is inspiring
  tend to view going to church as something that is
  fun rather than a duty
• When people feel inspired, the worship will draw
  people all by itself
• Inspired Worship is a key factor in church health

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Holistic
Small Groups

• Holistic Small Groups Are there holistic small
  disciple-making units in the church of some kind
  that provide an avenue for personal growth,
  relationship, nurture, care, and church
  multiplication?
• Continuous multiplication of small groups is a
  universal principle for church health and growth
• They are a natural place to serve one another
• They make intimate relationship possible because
  of reduced numbers
• They become a source for the transfer of life,
  care, and discipleship to the participants
• They provide a means for multiplication as a
  by-product of discipleship and growth

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Holistic
Small Groups

• Key Questions
• Is there an atmosphere of transparency, trust,
  and sharing in the small group?
• Is the group spiritually-oriented despite its
  other foci?
• Does the small group meet felt needs of the
  participants?
• Does the small group have relevance to daily
  life?
• Is the small group sensitive to the presence of
  guests and can they be integrated into the group
  in a deliberate and decisive way?
• Does the group have the internal mechanism to
  identify, disciple, and deploy new leaders and
  distribute work and responsibilities?
• Do members of the small group actively
  participate in the group?
• Is there accountability that ties the small
  groups and the church together in a meaningful
  way, harnessing the relationship, ministry, and
  evangelism that occurs there?
• Small groups may take on a variety of forms (cell
  church, home church, care groups, interest
  groups, Sunday school, etc.)

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Hol,istic
Small Groups

• Small groups must have a focus and be
  application-oriented in some way to produce
  health
• The larger the church, the more important are its
  small groups
• One of the most important and basic elements of
  church health!

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Need-oriented
Evangelism

• Need-oriented Evangelism Does the church and
  its members intentionally cultivate meaningful
  relationships with pre-Christian people?
• Focusing evangelistic efforts on the needs and
  questions that unsaved people have around us
• Average Christian has 8.5 meaningful
  relationships with unbelievers
• A programmatic approach is often not as
  successful as a relational approach
• Ministries of the church can be developed as a
  hook to draw the lost or capture their
  attention (benevolence, service)
• Each Christian has the responsibility to share
  their faith, but all are not evangelists

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Need-oriented
Evangelism

• Key Questions
• Is there a deliberate plan to facilitate personal
  evangelism in the church, or do the people in the
  church view evangelism as the job of the pastor
  and a select few?
• Are there relational evangelism strategies
  present in the church that utilize existing
  relationships that church members have with
  unbelievers?
• Is there a sensitivity to the needs of the
  unsaved in the corporate service?
• Is their a structure means to assimilate and
  disciple new Christians in the church?
• Relationship is the key to evangelism (87 of the
  people get saved because of a relationship
  connection)
• Cultivate and use existing relationships within
  your oikos (sphere of influence)

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Loving
Relationships

• Loving Relationships Is there a practical
  demonstration of Christian love in the
  congregation that draws the unbeliever into the
  church and fosters community?
• There is a direct correlation between the ability
  of a church to tangibly demonstrate love and its
  growth potential
• Key Questions
• Is there an atmosphere of joy and trust in the
  church?
• Does the church have a web of interdependent
  relationships that exist outside of church time?
• Is the atmosphere of the church one of
  affirmation and encouragement?
• Does the church practice intentional conflict
  resolution or avoid conflicts?

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Loving
Relationships

• Practical love is a magnet for the world and the
  unbeliever
• Christian love is directly proportional to the
  amount of time that people spend together OUTSIDE
  of church.

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Loving
Relationships

• There is a strong correlation between the amount
  of laughter that can be heard in the church and
  the churchs potential for growth

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Summary

• Summary and Implementations
• Eight Quality Factors these were the eight
  factors that emerged that were most critical to
  church health, growth, plateau, and decline
• Schwarz developed a survey and methodology to
  measure the eight quality characteristics in the
  church and normalized the results to a median of
  50 - growing churches scored above the 50 and
  declining churches below 50
• All eight factors were interrelated with rise or
  fall of any one factor affecting the level of the
  other factors

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Measuring the Eight Quality Characteristics in a
Church
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Eight Qualities for Church Health Measurement

• Schwarz has developed a survey that measures the
  level of each of the eight Quality Factors in a
  church.
• Survey questions are given to 30 church members
  and answers correlated and scored

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Measurement

• Survey results Every church in which the
  quality factors reached 65 or above for all
  factors was a growing church (99.4 probability
  of growth if all factors are 65 or above)

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Measurement

• Schwarz found that is ALL of the eight factors
  are at 65 or above the church has a 99.4 of
  being a church that is healthy and growing
  numerically

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Measurement

• The factors that fall below 65 are called
  MINIMUM FACTORS, and represent a DRAIN on church
  health and vitality
• They must be addressed FIRST

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Eight Qualities for Church Health Measurement

• Of the three churches measured at the right,
  which church has the greatest odds of growing
  The one with NO factor below 65
• Which factors are the minimum factors? The ones
  that are the LOWEST for any given church

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The Minimum Factor
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Natural Church Development Timing and Minimum
Strategy

• Church growth is blocked by the quality factor
  that is least (65 or below)
• Focus key resources (time, people, funding) to
  address the minimum factor
• Focus stronger areas and factors on the weak area
  to create a synergistic effect and revitalize the
  weaker area
• The analogy in nature is the application of
  fertilizer nitrogen, lime, potash, and
  phosphoric acid which nutrient is missing or
  needed?
• Barrel analogy the shortest stave (quality
  factor) determines how much water health) the
  barrel can hold

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Natural Church Development Timing and Minimum
Strategy

• The minimum factor that is draining church health
  must be identified and addressed effectively
• No single quality is the solution to all problems
  they are all interdependent and necessary for
  growth and health
• There is no relationship between what method
  works in an individual church setting and what
  method will work in another setting working the
  principle and selecting the right method for your
  individual context and culture is what is needed
• The solution for one church may actually be
  counter-productive in another church
• Use strengths to address areas of weakness

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Natural Church Development Eight Qualities for
Church Health

• There are a few exceptions to the rule where some
  churches have lower quality index readings but
  employ marketing and contextual factors that
  cause growth
• If any of the eight quality factors are below
  65, they act as a drain for the health of the
  church and can effect church growth

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Building Spiritual Momentum
• Prayer life and devotional life (individual and
  corporate) (Ps 421)
• Centering of life and activity on God (Matt
  1038)
• Dying to self and self exaltation (I Pet 56)
• Hunger for His presence and direction (Mat 56)
• Atmosphere of expectation faith (Heb 116)
• Discipline (rod and staff)

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Determining Minimum Factors

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Natural Church Development Applications

• What are the least developed qualities?
• How are the least developed qualities manifesting
  themselves as sickness in the church?
• What strategy to address the minimum factors is
  appropriate for your church culture and vision?
• What is causing the church to be less healthy in
  these areas
• Outside consulting and perspective
• How can the stronger qualities be recruited to
  help the weaker ones?

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Setting Qualitative Goals
• Precise and define strategies
• Measurable and verifiable strategies
• Outcome-based strategies (what are you trying to
  produce?)
• Time-specific strategies
• Minimum-factor targeted strategies
• Published and declared strategies (corporate
  communication and involvement)
• Identifying Obstacles
• Identify areas of resistance
• Looks for symptoms of imbalance in bipolarity
  (technocratic or dualistic imbalance and
  symptoms)
• Looks for hidden resistance below the surface
• Look for paradigm resistance (late and
  non-adopters)
• Recruit outside perspective
• Spiritual gifts (word of wisdom and knowledge
  with discerning of spirits)

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Applying Strengths to Minimum Factors
• What is my minimum factor/ most obvious or costly
  weakness?
• What strengths can be brought to bear on these
  weaknesses?
• Are there individuals who champion the cause for
  the existence of the weakness?
• Are there worn out paradigms in operation that
  are being protected by a select group or
  individual?

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• How can I work my church culture to address the
  weaknesses effectively?
• Do I have a measurable and time-specific strategy
  to address the weakness?

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Monitoring Effectiveness
• Number and type of negative factors
• Ongoing measurement of factors
• Tracking progress
• Communication with the church (synergy)

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Working on New Minimum Factors
• Continual process
• As minimum factors increase, what were strengths
  now become weaknesses
• Weakness is an opportunity for new strength (II
  Cor 1210)
• Refocusing the congregation and leadership on new
  weakness
• Speed is not important quality and quantity of
  increased in minimum factors is the goal

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Dont allow the leadership and congregation to
  get comfortable or proud
• Chart movement of all factors since they are
  interrelated and affect one another as they
  change, even for the good
• Focus on the minimum factors dont get tempted
  to focus where there is already success!

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Multiplying Your Church
• Health churches eventually reproduce
• Focus is on the eight quality characteristics,
  not growth!
• There are four distinct phases to church
  multiplication
• Conception
• Pre-natal
• Birth
• Reproduction
• The growth is driven by church health, not
  numbers

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Natural Church Development Applications and
Case Studies

• Partnership with the Holy Spirit
• The Holy Spirit is a living being He functions
  in a biotic/living manners!
• Scripture captures the essentials for church
  health and the Holy Spirit favors and supports
  His Word
• The Holy Spirit is the one responsible for growth
  (Acts 514).
• The Holy Spirit causes the church to grow
  automatically (Mark 428)
• Are my methods proving ineffective (no measurable
  increase in minimum factor)? CHANGE THEM
• Are my methods devouring resources (energy, time,
  funds, people) without increasing minimum
  factors?
• Am I relying too much on my own strength rather
  than the Holy Spirit?
• What changes do I fear because of tradition, fall
  out, or fear of the unknown/fear of failure
  (faith journey