Natural Church Development
In partnership with synods, the Congregational and Synodical Mission unit strives to equip congregational leaders in the development of healthy, missional communities of faith. These healthy, missional congregations create systems that work together for the edification of church and world. These systems are fueled and sustained by strong biblical and theological foundations and sense of clear purpose for the ministry.
As these systems move forward, they need to be evaluated and improved. We have selected a proven and effective tool to assess the health of a congregation. It comes as a result of a research and process called the Natural Church Development (NCD).
The NCD tool assesses:
- Empowering Leadership
- Gifts-oriented Ministry
- Passionate Spirituality
- Effective (functional) Structures
- Inspiring Worship
- Need-oriented (contextual) Evangelism
- Holistic Small Groups
- Loving Relationships
Research shows that all eight of these areas are important and that it is the adjective (empowering, passionate, etc.) that is important.
If interested in pursuing this process, contact the Director for Evangelical Mission at your synod office or the churchwide NCD team coordinating this work.