These include co-pastoring, university student workers, church planters and hands-on coaches/consultants. Scott is known as a holistic thinker and as one pioneering in and implementing innovative models of ministry. Scott has a reputation as a developer of leaders and one who builds foundationally in the lives of individuals, groups and churches. Delores has a special heart for wives of men in full time ministry. She and Scott both are gifted in connecting and facilitating Christian leaders for mutual encouragement and learning. They are missionaries with the international mission organization, Church Resource Ministries.
Scott and Delores have three grown sons and two granddaughters. They grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and recently celebrated their 40 th wedding anniversary. They are currently enjoying residing in Southern California.
Natural Church Development (NCD) was first introduced in 1996 by Christian A. Schwartz. The hearts and imagination of church leaders were captured everywhere. NCD was based on solid scientific research and sound biblical principles and provided insights on the quality of health in churches based on a massive research project. We discovered that there were eight essential quality characteristics in healthy churches, that healthy churches were growing churches, and that churches could improve their health dramatically by working to improve their minimum factor! But that was then….
As of December 2004 we have surveyed over 35,000 churches worldwide with more than 1 million participants and over 95 million responses. The conclusions are the same—but now we have more than just research. We have a wonderful collection of stories of how God is changing lives and churches!
Schwarz says, “What is the church? The church is people. What determines the health of the church? The health is expressed through the heads, hands and hearts of those people. How can we increase the health of the church? By enhancing the health in our heads, our hands and our hearts.”
Churches of all sizes, in urban, suburban and rural settings are experiencing positive movement toward health and vitality. Over 50 denominations are represented in our database and we see similar trends in every group!
The exciting news about NCD is that your church can enter the process no matter what your starting point is. You may be growing and bursting at the seams or your church may be in decline or near death’s door. The question, “are you willing to take a step to address your minimum factor? Are you courageous enough to admit that you need to take the next step on your journey with God and work to become a healthy balanced church?”
A pastor recently said at a training event, “The amazing power behind NCD is not the survey or the books; it’s the God thing!” (Information taken from “Church Smart – Strategic ministry tools for church leaders” Vol. 6, No. 1)
Let’s discover the adventure God has in store for First Christian Church of Napa! |
