Steps Toward a Healthier Community

Natural Church Development (NCD) includes several individual and congregational self-assessment tools and models for addressing the needs identified by these tools. NCD is a world-wide movement and process of intentionally working toward greater fruitfulness and overall health in a congregation. Skyline Church is committed to utilizing NCD methods and tools in our evaluation and planning from January 2007 through May 2009.

The primary tool in the NCD process is a congregational survey, designed to identify a church's "Minimum Factor", or one of eight quality characteristics, attention to which will result in the greatest benefit for overall church health. It is taken annually by 30 people in the congregation who are active in leadership and corporate spiritual development. A secondary tool is a 3-color (or trinitarian compass) survey designed to identify the theological starting point for individuals and for the congregation. It is taken any time by at least a third of the worshipping congregation in order to give meaningful results.

• May 2008 Survey Report
• Comparison Report
• May 2007 Survey Report

Natural Church Development is a world-wide movement. Please look at the six mini-seminars on Natural Church Development in order to familiarize yourself with NCD theory and process. If you don't have the time (about five minutes each for the six mini-seminars), you can read our notes on the NCD process.

NCD basics involve an understanding of:

1. WHAT (8 quality characteristics),
2. WHEN
   • our minimum factor, or the least-developed quality characteristic which will yield the greatest long-term return on our investments (ours is Passionate Spirituality)
   • which "Change Compass" or color zone (area of theological focus) we need to develop in order to reflect God's nature more faithfully (ours is the Red zone - Commitment)
3. HOW (6 growth forces - or biotic principles).

Our minimum factor is Passionate Spirituality. Our primary strengths are Gift-based ministry, Holistic Small Groups, Loving Relationships, and Innovative Worship Services. An NCD Insights into Passionate Spirituality lists 16 questions that deal with four major facets of passionate spirituality at Skyline.

The NCD Coaching Guide to Passionate Spirituality is another great resource to review as we consider ways to increase our spiritual passion at Skyline. The action points (after the first one) are taken directly from the the NCD Implementation Guide (pp. 63-73).