Natural Church Development
July Update

Natural Church Development (NCD) is a process to help churches identify areas they need grow to in order to become healthier. St. Martin’s decided to go ahead and venture through this process to help us make good decisions about our church.

Church members completed a survey and those surveys were sent to Church Smart headquarters. The results examined how well our church scored on eight different Quality Characteristics. The idea behind this process is to work on the LOWEST Quality Characteristic. In theory, working on the area we scored the lowest in should also make improvements in the other seven areas.

So, how did we do? The majority of our scores were within the “average” range of 25-65. Below please find our scores for all eight Quality Characteristics with a brief explanation of each:

Gift Based Ministry Score = 57: Our members have identified their gifts and integrate them into areas that match their gifts.

Inspiring Workshop Service Score = 46: Worship service is “fun” and allows members to have the shared experience of God’s awesome presence.

Holistic Small Groups Score = 44: Our small groups (whether they be a guild, a group that meets regularly, or a breakfast group) allow members to feel a sense of community.

Loving Relationships Score = 43: Practical demonstration of our love for one another.

Empowering Leadership Score = 40: Our leaders at the church motivate and support others to develop their gifts.

Effective Structures Score = 29: Structures and systems in our church fulfill their purpose.

Passionate Spirituality Score = 31: Faith is lived out in our church with commitment, fire and enthusiasm.

Need Oriented Evangelism Score = 23: Members of the church purposely set out to have relationships with people outside of our church community and try to meet the needs of the community.

So, what is the next step in this process? Focus groups. Our Health Team (Jenny Jones, Sandi Ker, and Rich Poppenberg) will be providing a time after both the 8:00 and 10:00 services on the following dates:

July 12
July 19
July 26

At these meetings, our goal is to provide you with additional information about NCD and about our lowest Quality Characteristic. Then, and most importantly, we will be asking you WHY you think it is our area of most needed growth. It is important for us to find out the why before we jump to solutions, as we want to make sure our solutions help the situation the best!

Pray about it. Pray for your Health Team. Come to a focus group. Share your ideas. Help us make St. Martin’s healthier!