Natural Church Development (NCD) Growth Team Progress Report and Recommendations

1. NCD Goals:
1. To determine Gloria Dei’s minimum growth factor (need-oriented evangelism)
2. To determine the root cause of the minimum growth factor
3. To recommend an action plan to improve the minimum growth factor, thereby increasing the growth potential of the church
2. NCD Progress to Date
1. Completed a questionnaire in July 2004 (by approximately 30 involved congregation members) to compare us to 20,000 churches worldwide on 8 quality characteristics of vital, healthy, growing congregations.
• The survey results indicated that our area for greatest improvement was Need-oriented evangelism.
2. Defined need-oriented evangelism as reaching out to current and potential members to meet their needs and assist them in achieving spiritual growth.
3. Created the first Gloria Dei "Growth Team" (Karen Adamson, Anita and Bruce Bernardo, Mary Beth Frederick, Abigail Hoffman, Pastor Koch, Pastor Rothaar, Liz Rudy and Julie Wallen)
4. Conducted focus groups to determine why need-oriented evangelism is our weakest growth characteristic
• Several hundred invitations were sent via regular mail and e-mail to past and present members, with a particular focus on typically inactive members, members removed and former prospects.
• However, almost all attendees were active members of the church.
• Communicated goals and efforts of NCD and Growth Team, through Visitor, announcements, skits, Lenten prayer project and Lenten Reflections
3. Focus Group Results
1. The focus group results confirmed for us that as a whole, most congregation members are “content with” (rather than “excited about”) their experience at Gloria Dei. And invitations to non-church members to join us happen "when convenient" or "if the opportunity arises".
2. So, we’re "celebrating and sharing Christ’s love", and not "CELEBRATING AND SHARING CHRIST’S LOVE!!!".
4. Conclusions/Action Plan – Targeted to:
1. Potential congregation
• Establish a standard of behavior for consistently inviting non-members, friends and family to join us for worship, special events and ongoing activities (including general advertising, DG Chamber of Commerce, etc.)
• Documented, consistent process for tracking, reporting and following up with visitors (e.g. sign-in sheets for and follow-up phone calls to visitors), including visitors to worship, special events and ongoing activities
• Each person must have personal contact. Thank them for attending; find out about them and invite them back again.
• No one who visits Gloria Dei for worship should leave without someone having a conversation with them - learn something about them; encourage them to return; thank them for worshipping at Gloria Dei.
• Regular prayer opportunities for those in need (such as the Timothy and Apphia exercise during Lent)
2. New members
• Establish a new member mentor program, where mentors attend a (shepherding) training program and are responsible for helping new members to assimilate to the life of the church. The most important goal of this program would be to facilitate the building of relationships between new and existing members. Each new member or member family would be assigned a mentor who would orient them to the church (introduce them to other members with similar interests, opportunities for involvement, etc.).
3. Existing members (especially those who are non-active, or active on a limited basis)
• Establish a phone group that would routinely call inactive members with invitations to worship, upcoming events, etc. Callers would also contact regular attendees who missed multiple services, and conduct exit interviews" with members who were leaving the church.
• Initiate affinity groups to encourage small-group fellowship for members with common interests
• Encourage NCD gift identification of all members by offering a workshop entitled, "What Color is Your Spirit?".
• The workshop would be facilitated by church members trained in the gift identification process, and attendees would have an opportunity to complete the survey during the session.
• The spiritual journey of gift identification should not be automatically linked with job assignments. Participants would be encouraged, but not required to put their information into a gift database.
• The main purpose of a gift identification process is to create a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm about one's spiritual gifts. It is our hope that when church members discover their gifts, they will be inspired to use those gifts for the benefit of their own growth, and the growth of the church.
4. Next steps for Council – ASAP Action Items (new programs, initiatives, behaviors need to begin now)
1. Press all current and past members to seek out one person to spearhead the tracking of visitor information.
• This person should:
• be absolved of all other church obligations to focus on this function
• receive training provided by synod, congregational of other Christian resources and confirmed in front of the congregation just like the Sunday school teacher, etc.
• The council should pledge the support of resources and staff for the constructing of a mechanism for tracking visitors, facilitating the flow of visitor/potential congregation names/info from committees/programs/and special events.
2. Seek out a person or two as Shepherd and provide them with education, support of staff and money, confirmation before the congregation to set up the shepherding/mentoring program
3. Seek out one or two people as gift counselors and provide then with education, authority and a budget just like a and b
4. Seek out 1-2 people to initiate affinity groups
5. Conduct the next survey this summer

---



What is Natural Church Development?

Growth Team Takes a "Post-it Poll"

Gloria Dei’s Natural Church Development Growth Team recently participated in a focus group lead by our NCD coach from the ELCA, Nancy Snell. The purpose of the focus group was to collect feedback from the members of the Growth Team as to why "need-oriented evangelism" is Gloria Dei’s "minimum factor".

As some of you may recall, about 30 involved Gloria Dei members (from various age ranges) completed a survey last summer to determine our strengths and areas for improvement related to church growth. Gloria Dei scored high in growth factors such as empowering leadership and strong small groups. Our primary area for development (or weakest link, the term lovingly used by those of us on the Growth Team) is "need-oriented evangelism". Need-oriented evangelism means reaching out to current (and potential) members to ensure that needs are being met.

While the Growth Team wanted to jump right in and identify solutions to "fix" our minimum factor (being the eager and energetic group that we are!), our coach Nancy recommended we take a "step back" and analyze the reasons or "root cause" of the problem. In other words, she suggested we collect feedback from members about why need-oriented evangelism is our weakest link.

With this goal in mind, the Growth Team participated in a focus group where Nancy asked various questions, and team members wrote their responses on "post-it notes" (hence taking a "post-it poll"). Each individual’s responses were posted on the wall, and at the end of the exercise, the post-its were grouped and we identified common trends. All of the responses were later typed onto a list for review by the group and for further discussion.

This exercise was a good "test run" for the Growth Team before taking our post-it poll "show on the road". We are planning several additional focus groups during the month of October to ask many of you for your feedback on this topic. All of the feedback from those focus groups will be compiled and then shared with the congregation. With this feedback, our goal will then be to identify several opportunities for improvement and to eventually turn our "weakest link" into one of our strengths as a congregation.

Stay tuned to the Visitor, announcements and blue sheet for more information about the Natural Church Development, the Growth Team and opportunities to participate in an upcoming post-it poll. Feel free to e-mail the Growth Team at ncd@gloriadeichurch.org for more information.

---

What is "Natural Church Development"?

Natural Church Development (NCD) is an approach to church growth that strives to release the growth potential which God has put into every church. Our goal in using the NCD resources at Gloria Dei is to grow our church in several ways:



Growth in the number of our members Growth in the quality of our worship and activities Growth in the satisfaction of our members Growth in the enthusiasm within our church Growth in inviting others to share Christ's love Growth in the number of our members

How have we initiated NCD at Gloria Dei?

Last summer, a sample of congregational members completed a questionnaire designed by the Institute for Natural Church Development. Our results were compared to a database of results from over 20,000 churches worldwide. The survey showed that our area for greatest potential growth was "need-oriented evangelism." In other words, improving our efforts towards increasing need-oriented evangelism, and removing any obstacles we may find in this area, will prayerfully release the "all by itself" growth by which God himself grows his church.

What is "need-oriented evangelism"?

God's call is for Christians to use their gifts to serve others, to guide them to the gospel, and to encourage contact with a local congregation. The key to need-oriented evangelism is for the congregation to focus its efforts on the questions and needs of others, where they are in their life's journey. Is our congregation's evangelism driven by a genuine desire to meet people at their point of greatest need?

What is "The Growth Team"?

After receiving the questionnaire results, our church council was encouraged to recruit congregational members to implement the NCD program within Gloria Dei. The members of our Growth Team include:

Karen A Anita and Bruce B Liz B Mary Beth F

Abigail H Pastor George Koch Chuck L

Pastor Michael Rothaar Liz R Julie W

It is the goal of the Growth Team to lead the congregation in growth by initially studying need-oriented evangelism at Gloria Dei. If you have questions or insights that might help the team, please contact the Growth Team at ncd@gloriadeichurch.org or leave a message with the church office (630-968-6231). We will continue to update the congregation of our ongoing efforts.