Reviews


NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT

by Christian A. Schwarz (ChurchSmart Resources 1996)

reviewed by Eddy Hall



As a full-time church consultant, I read a lot of good books on how to enhance ministry in the local church, and I recommend a lot of them to the pastors and church leaders I work with. This book was given to me in 1997 and I fell in love with it at first sight. In January of 1998, the Natural Church Development survey became available for use by English-speaking churches, and since then I have used it with every congregation where I have conducted a full consultation.

At first, the work that I did with the survey represented only about 5% of what I did with churches during a consultation. But the more I have worked with the survey, the more valuable it has become to me. Now, this book and the results generated from the corresponding survey more often than not become central to my ministry recommendations for the congregation I am working with.

They survey consists of two questionnaires--one filled out by the senior pastor, the other filled out by 30 lay leaders. The survey assigns the church a percentile score on each of "eight essential qualities of healthy churches." The minimum factor--the one that scores lowest--is the area of church life most in need of creative attention, and the one where an investment of time and energy can produce the greatest return in terms of improved health.

I find that church leaders are far more willing to give weight to a Natural Church Development score than they are to my intuitive observations about what their church needs to attend to (and appropriately so), and so they are more willing to make needed changes.

This tool is designed to be used regularly, like an annual or semi-annual health checkup for churches. Repeating the survey monitors progress and reveals what area of church life needs the greatest attention now.

If you believe it is the nature of a healthy church to grow, and you want to identify and remove barriers to health and growth in your church, you won't go wrong with this book.