Natural Church Development

Rev. Mike Denman, Assistant to the District Superintendent of the Maumee Watershed District, located in northwest Ohio, gave an inspiring one hour Natural Church Development (NCD) presentation to our Common Cup clergy this afternoon. Natural Church Development is a proven process of helping congregations identify where they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses, and how to go about discerning God's vision in moving forward in faith. Included in the process are congregational surveys and an outside coach to help the congregation implement a plan in line with God's vision.

Several times, Mike shared the importance of our churches to offer excellent strategic ministries in line with God's vision. While this may sound like something most church members and pastors would offer a resounding, "amen," Mike cautioned that this type of strategy would involve change which is very intimidating but is vital in order for any worthwhile vision to move forward.

Mike shared a helpful image with us regarding the Natural Church Development process by having us think of a car with four passengers whose names are vision, relationships, programs, and maintenance. In healthy and growing churches, vision is in the driver's seat and relationships is in the passenger seat. The back seat of the car has programs and maintenance. The key point in all of this is making sure that vision is in the driver's seat.

I have been thinking about a couple of things related to Mike's presentation. The first thing is that even though Faith Community has a clear mission statement which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, our church really doesn't have a well defined vision. Before we can make sure that vision is in the driver's seat, we first need to know what our vision is!

Once we know our vision, the relationships, program, and maintenance fall in line. In most churches, vision usually takes a back seat.

After Mike's presentation, we all agreed that Natural Church Development has a lot to offer our Common Cup churches. More on this later.