Pastors and lay members of churches in the South Carolina Conference are not alone when they wonder if there is a secret to successfully growing their church. The concepts of NCD, now being used extensively by the Florida and North Alabama Conferences, are based on a book by the same name by Christian A. Schwarz. Schwarz conducted studies in over 1000 churches in 32 countries and on five continents and discovered God-given principles that churches can use to assess the congregation and focus on in order to develop a quality of church life that “naturally” brings numerical growth. From his research, Schwartz identifies eight Biblical characteristics that are needed for growth: 

Empowering Leadership Gift-oriented ministry Passionate spirituality Functional structures Inspiring worship Holistic small groups Need-oriented evangelism Loving Relationships

The key is that he does not call for churches to work on all the characteristics at once. Instead, using a scientific survey provided by NCD with a relatively small sampling, a church can identify its strongest characteristics, and, determine its lowest “minimum factor.” Usually, it's the minimum factor which limits church growth. He then shows how a congregation, working with a coach, can use its strengths to improve its weakness area.

The action steps help congregations set goals, identify obstacles, monitor effectiveness and continually address minimum factors.

Now that you have an overview of what Natural Church Development is about, let’s take a look at how it applies to St. Paul’s Waccamaw United Methodist Church.

In 2007 members of the congregation were invited to participate in a survey about different areas of our church and how we interact with the community. The surveys were sent to a group of members who came and answered the questionnaires. These questionnaires were “graded” by the NCD …..the questionnaires indicated that St. Paul’s Waccamaw UMC weakest area at this time is “need-oriented evangelism”.

On April 22, 2008, Rev. Brian Rainwater came to St. Paul’s Waccamaw to explain the process of using the NCD plan to implement plans and projects for the growth of our church, and to see which of the eight characteristics we were lacking. 

Rev. Brian Rainwater is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church on loan to South Carolina from the Missouri Conference. Brian became acquainted with Natural Church Development back in 1998. Working on his doctorate, Brian read Christian Schwartz’s book on the subject and found it to be the best 125 pages of reading UMC in Lexington, SC, Brian coaches churches through the NCD process and serves on the national team of NCD trainers. Brian and his wife, Cassie, have two children; Bethany and Cana. In his spare time you can find Brian wandering the fairways of the nearest golf course.

Those attending the first meeting were very interested and enthusiastic when it came time for us to say what we thought what needed fixing. He will meet with our own NCD committee and discuss projects that we can implement to “fix” our lack of need-oriented evangelism. It is important to remember that this is not a quick fix…..it will take several years and a commitment on everyone’s part to do what needs to be done. Once we start fixing our problem area another survey will be taken to see if it has improved and what other areas we need to work on. 

NCD Committee Updates

As a result of the NCD meeting, the highest voted reason that contributed our church’s minimum characteristic (Need Oriented Evangelism) was “Don’t know the needs of the unchurched”. During our last NCD meeting we discussed various way to learn the needs of the unchurched. As a result, we were given a homework assignment to ask three people, “What are the needs of our community?"

Our church health team is asking the congregation to assist in this homework assignment by discussing this question with your church friends. We are also requesting each of you to ask three people in the community the same question. You can turn the answers into the church office.

Thanks,
The Church Health Team 

Natural Church Development
Future Planning Subcommittee: Church Health Team

Person to Person: Need Oriented Evangelism

In the May 20th Messenger, you were asked to talk to others about the needs of our “Community.” When the Church Health Team met on May 19th, they shared ideas they had gathered from members of the congregation as well as the surrounding community. We're sharing some of those results with you now, hoping to generate more conversation among you, while encouraging you to participate in this process.

Committee findings to date include needs for the following:

• Senior support group for “single” women and men, each
• Recreational center for young people
• Softball fields
• Community driven Christian education for the un-churched
• Baby-sitting services
• “Parents Night Out” (could be part of baby-sitting services)
• Single parent support group
• Day care
• After school program
• Book club
• Tutoring services

Please help us identify additional ideas. Add your voice to this project as we continue to explore ways to reach out to the community and identify their needs. Your ideas can reach us by dropping them in the collection plate on Sunday or in the box of the Future Planning Committee, just outside the office door.

The Church Health Team

Natural Church Development

Excerpts from "Needs-Based Evangelism", a book by Robert D. Pierson, are included in this report of our June Team meeting. Quotations from the book are identified in italics, providing some definition for you as we explore this need for St. Paul's Waccamaw.

1 Corinthians 9:22 I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
" Growing churches are churches meeting needs…reaching the secular world. Our goal is to help people follow Jesus Christ, so the world is made better. Too often mainline churches have not been involved, not meeting the needs... losing congregations to churches that understand the needs that people have today."

"Needs-based evangelism is defined as meeting needs with a proclamation of the gospel. We must witness as we share and help. When the homeless are fed, they need to be invited to our churches. When the youth are on a church basketball team, it should include prayer and worship. When a parenting class is offered, the gospel needs to be proclaimed. This is needs-based evangelism."

The Natural Church Development Team continues to examine our opportunity for meeting community needs. We are committed to developing needs-based evangelism programs across our church.

"Wherever the needs are, the church should be there with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of our programs need to be focused on evangelistic ministry. With every program possibility considered, we need to ask, will this lead people to find and follow Christ? Needs-based evangelism is one of the most effective and clear means of reaching new people for Jesus Christ. Churches all across America that are clearly meeting the needs of the people in the community are growing. Growing churches have programs and ministries to help families function. We must be open to what those needs are and see where we, as individuals and as a church, have resources to help."

The Natural Church Development Team met with our consultant, Brian Rainwater. He asked us to share joys that have occurred in our church. The following were included:

• Beginning a new Sunday school class on world religions, growing to 17 members
• Hosting Vacation Bible School, with two neighboring churches joining us for a total of 85 children
• Welcoming a new Associate Pastor
• Welcoming a new committee member who will be assisting with communication
• Confirming six youth into the church
• Approving a new external church sign

The team shared suggestions regarding community needs. Thank you, members of the congregation, for adding your ideas to our research. Following discussion, the question was: "to whom do we direct our efforts?" The recommendation was that we focus on no more that one or two groups of people. At our next meeting we will discuss these ideas further and determine a direction for our future needs-oriented programs. If you have any comments or recommendations, please forward them to Joe Mayhew jasonjoe@earthlink.net or 235-9303.

Natural Church Development
August 11, 2008

Prior to our committee meeting, David Canine shared information regarding the “Good News Club” activities at the elementary and intermediate schools. He also brought information about the open house at the new intermediate school so that we might present an After School Care flier for parents. This should give us additional insight on community interest. During our meeting we discussed the content of the flier and who could attend the event. Additional discussion included ideas about startup costs, fees, and our ability to provide care for occasional days when school was not in session, and the need for the support of the congregation. As a congregation, we must support all of our children's ministries in order for them to grow. We also should make a commitment to this new opportunity. What does the word commitment mean to you? The Bible tells us Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established…. A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:3, 9) Our Joy and Friendship Sunday school classes have been discussing the need to support our children's ministries, an After School Care opportunity as well as a new playground. Wherever you meet in small groups, take time to talk about how you can make a commitment to support this service to the families in our community. 

Joe Mayhew, Chair