Your Journey Blog

Five Reasons for Embracing Natural Church Development - Part 2

Last week we looked at the first three reasons for embracing the Natural Church Development paradigm in your church. This week we will continue in our discussion by adding two more reasons and one bonus reason.

4. The survey provides a measurable process for improving the quality of your ministry.

There are two ways to measure the health of your church.

1) Quantitative Growth is built around key numbers and thier percentages.

• New Visitor Ratio: How many new visitors do you need in an average month to grow your church?
• Baptism Ratio: What is a healthy percentage between the average worship attendance and the number of baptisms annually?
• Giving Ratio: What is a healthy dollar amount given per person on an average Sunday?
• Serving Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of average attenders and those engaged in a ministry?
• Small Group Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of those attending on an average weekend and those engaged in a small group?
• Membership Ratio: What is a healthy percentage of those attending on an average weekend and those who are committed members?
• Leadership Ratio: How many new leaders are added to your leadership community annually?

2) Qualitative Growth is measured through the attitudes, feelings and perspectives towards people, programs and the progress of the church.

In doing the NCD Survey every year you can see the measurable results of your teams work in improving that weak area of your ministry and how that affects all the other ministry areas.  Here is an example of one church's journey.

This church put significant energy in improving the structures or systems which resulted in a increase of 14 points.  They improved the overall quality of the ministry by 20 points.  Meaning, they significantly raised the morale of its leaders.  Six out of the eight areas had a positive growth.  Only two areas slipped in quality which could be interpreted as people feeling that there was too much focus on structures and systems that spiritual formation and relationships took a hit.   In addressing their new area of focus, which is need-oriented evangelism, they will need to give attention to the "how to" by strengthening that area with a greater sensitivity to relationships and a deeper dependence on God in the process.

Doing repeated surveys will not only help you raise the quality of your ministry but it will also help you in tackling it in a more constructive and sensitive way.

5. The survey helps the pastor and leaders think of ministry in terms of process.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul wrote, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."  (Ephesians 4:12-14)

When Paul speaks of equipping he is talking about a training process.  A process that the KJV refers to as perfecting the saints for ministry.  NCD helps the church think though and answer the following questions:

1. What is our process for multiplying leaders throughout the church?
2. What is our process for equipping people in evangelism?
3. What is our process for stimulating spiritual formation in our new believers and faithful followers?
4. What is our process for promoting healthy relationships throughout the church?
5. What is our process for launching small groups?
6. What is our process for deploying people into ministry and service?
7. What is our process for insuring that our worship services are inspirational?

Bonus Reason for Embracing NCD

Most churches have a weakness that they tend to ignore; they want to grow further in the area of their strengths.

To say "build on your strengths" as a universal rule is misleading. A church must build on its strengths and deal with its weaknesses. No church can do without any of those eight quality areas.

A church's weak area may be evangelism, for example. If they are good in prayer, they tend to go on with prayer. But they should direct more spiritual energy towards evangelism.

It's like a human body. If you have problems with your heart and need surgery, the doctor cannot say, "You have a nice voice. Focus on singing." You need heart surgery first. Then you can build on your strengths. Building up your weak points is the only healthy rule.  HT

To learn how to get started with Natural Church Development and enjoy the May Discount choose one of the following options.

NCD Starter Package

NCD Advance Package

A marketing lesson from the apocalypse - Seth Godin

If you're reading this blog, then the world didn't end, at least in my time zone.

How does one market the end of the world? After all, you don't have a big ad budget. Your 'product' is something that has been marketed again and again through the ages and it has never worked. There's significant peer pressure not to buy it...

And yet, every time, people succumb. They sell their belongings, stop paying into their kid's college fund and create tension and despair.

Here's the simple lesson:

Sell a story that some people want to believe. In fact, sell a story they already believe.

The story has to be integrated into your product. The iPad, for example, wasn't something that people were clamoring for... but the story of it, the magic tablet, the universal book, the ticket to the fashion-geek tribe--there was a line out the door for that. The same way that every year, we see a new music sensation, a new fashion superstar. That's not an accident. That story is just waiting for someone to wear it.

And the some part is vital. Not everyone wants to believe in the end of the world, but some people (fortunately, just a few) really do. To reach them, you don't need much of a hard sell at all.

Too often marketers take a product and try to invent a campaign. Much more effective is to find a tribe, find a story and make a product that resonates, one that makes the story work.

That's the whole thing. A story that resonates and a tribe that's tight and small and eager.

I hope you can dream up something more productive than the end of the world, though.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

How to Make Effective Video Testimonials

According to Wikipedia a testimonial... "consists of a written or spoken statement, sometimes from a person figure, sometimes from a private citizen, extolling the virtue of some product. The term testimonial most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens."

You would think Wikipedia would be caught up with the 21st century because testimonials can, and increasingly are, in video format as well as written. Video testimonials are an effective way to build immediate credibility with prospects or reaffirm a recent purchase by a new customer. 

Video testimonials:

• are more believable & trusted
• are remembered longer 
• generate higher response rates
• add substance to your website
• are affordable to make
• promote
• and can be used in multiple locations e.g. website, Facebook, YouTube, blog, etc.

How To Make Effective Video Testimonials

Of course having the equipment and software is only one part of the process. In order to create an effective video testimonial you will want to:

• make sure the sound is satisfactory  
• liaise with your client and find a convenient time and date
• prepare the content and questions in-advance
• add subtle dissolves to ensure the video flows well while conveying the most important content

The video below was filmed using a FLIP HD video camera purchased at Costco for $180. The editing was done on a MacBook Pro using iMovie software that comes installed on the Mac. Each video was shot in less than five minutes. The editing took about 3 hours because it was my first time using iMovie. Next time I should be able to do it in half that time now that I know how to use the software.

Additional benefits of videos is that they can by tracked and measured to determine:

• how many times they are viewed
• where the viewers are coming from (geographic location, keywords, referring sites) 
• where they go after viewing the testimonial
• if the viewer purchased a product (if you sell online)
• how much of the video was viewed (where the viewer dropped off)  HT

Children's Discipleship Materials

Children's Discipleship Materials by Gary Rohrmayer

Life's Biggest Adventure: Guiding Your Child on their Spiritual Journey

One of the positive trends we are seeing take place in children's ministry is not just teaching children spiritual content in a loving, fun and safe environment but there is a great emphasis on training parents in how to disciple their children.

Life's Biggest Adventure is a tool for parents to use with their grade school aged children as they guide them through the following questions:

• What is the gospel?
• How do I know I am a Christian?
• What is baptism?
• Why do we take communion?
• How do I pray?
• How do I start reading the Bible?
• How do I deal with temptation?
• How do I tell my friends about Jesus?

I'm so thankful for Life's Biggest Adventure!   It's one thing for me as a pastor to tell parents they need to disciple their children, but it is quite another to be able to offer them an easy-to-use tool that helps them to impart their faith to their kids.  And I'm even more grateful for what this book has meant for me as a father.  Fathers are called to spiritually lead their children, and this book helped me to be a better dad as my son and I worked through the book together.  He took new steps of growth, and it culminated with his decision to be baptized as a follower of Christ.  I will treasure the memory of those sessions with my son for the rest of my life!    Mark Albrecht, NorthBridge Church, Antioch, IL

PURCHASE HERE

Five Reasons to Embrace Natural Church Development - Part 1

How can the Natural Church Development Survey help your church? 

1. The survey will close the gap between lay leaders and pastoral staff.

Pastors who are sold out to the cause of Christ think about ministry 24/7.  How much time do your committed lay leaders think about ministry in the local church?  As a lay person in my church I now know the answer to that question.  Not as much as the pastor thinks!  This alone can cause a gap of misunderstanding.  What the pastor feels are the needs of the church are not necessarily what the congregation perceives.  NCD Survey is a great way to close that gap of misunderstanding and bring more harmony and health into the church constructively.

I can't tell you how many times pastors have said, "My staff and I thought we knew what the weak systems were in our church but we were completely caught off guard by the results.  If we had gone in our own direction we would have wasted so much time, created confusion and addressed only our felts needs as staff and not the real needs of the congregation."

2. The survey will help you identify the weak system that needs to be addressed in your ministry from the perspective of your key leaders.

I am a big proponent of systems theory.  Too often we think we have a people problem but we really have a systems problem.  I define church systems as reproducible and interconnected processes by which the church actualizes its values and achieves its mission.

I believe every healthy church values leadership, evangelism, spiritual formation, service, loving relationships and small groups. So the question is, do you have a reproducible and interconnected process that:

• empowers leaders into the harvest?
• insures inspirational worship gatherings?
• encourages evangelism throughout the community?
• stimulates spiritual passion in every believer?
• promotes healthy relationships in your community of faith?
• connects people in healthy small groups?
• deploys people into ministry?
• builds organizational health?

The Natural Church Development Survey will help pinpoint the underdeveloped system that needs attention. Thus it gives you a starting point in your strategic planning process.

3. The survey reveals the real morale and needs of your key leaders and influencers in the church.

The quality side of ministry is so soft and subjective because it is based on peoples attitudes, feelings and perspectives. The NCD Survey can give you a true read on the morale of your key leaders.  For a church that scores a total average score in the 50s it has an above average morale.  For the church that scores below 50 they have a below average morale.  In my work the highest score I have seen is 77...not only is this church one of the fastest growing churches in our region but also has a high level of optimism that fuels the growth.

From this sample profile we see that the key leaders and influencers in the church feel that the church is a great place to be with an average score of 57, this is an above average health score which means that the quality of the services are in a healthy range.  They might be experiencing some level of numerical growth but probably plateaued and are facing a growth barrier. NCD International reports that a church whose average score is 65 or over above is experiencing numerical growth.

What else can we learn from this snapshot?

Areas of Strengths: We see here that the leaders felt their church has a strong worship experience, high level of relational harmony, great sense of spiritual passion and good systems and structures. 

Areas for Focus: Here we see that the leadership system needs to be developed more fully.  What your leaders are communicating through this score is a need to be empowered for ministry, spiritual development, better delegation, clearer goals, stronger communication within the leadership structure, and more support in their ministries through coaching.

Quality growth is measured by the attitudes, feelings and perspectives of your key leaders towards the programs, people and progress of the church.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 Next Week

To learn how to get started with Natural Church Development and enjoy the May Discount choose one of the following options.

NCD Starter Package

NCD Advance Package

Seth Godin on Selling vs. inviting

Selling is often misunderstood, largely by people who would be a lot more comfortable merely inviting.

If I invite you to a wedding, or a party, or to buy a $500,000 TV ad for $500, there's no resistance on your part. Either you jump at the chance and say yes, or you have a conflict and say no. It's not my job to help you overcome your fear of commitment, to help you see the ultimate value and most of all, to work with you as you persuade yourself and others to do something that might just work.

If the marketing and product development team do a great job, selling is a lot easier... so easy it might be called inviting. The guy at the counter of the Apple store selling the iPad2 isn't really selling them at all. Hey, there's a line out the door of people with money in their pockets. I'm inviting you to buy this, if you don't want it, next!

The real estate broker who says that the house would sell if only he could get below market pricing and a pre-approved mortgage is avoiding his job.

The salesperson's job: Help people overcome their fear so they can commit to something they'll end up glad they invested in.

The goal of a marketer ought to be to make it so easy to be a salesperson, you're merely an inviter. The new marketing is largely about this--creating a scenario where you don't even need salespeople. (Until you do.)

Selling is a profession. It's hard work. Ultimately, it's rewarding, because the thing you're selling delivers real value to the purchaser, and your job is to counsel them so they can get the benefit.

But please... don't insist that the hard work be removed from your job to allow you to become an inviter. That's great work if you can get it, but it's not a career.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

100% Increase in Spiritual Decisions made on Easter

I received the following great email from Pastor Bruce Fosdick at The Rock Southwest in Littleton, Colorado which made me reflect on Jesus words, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  (Luke 19:10)

Hey Gary,

I wanted to send you an encouragement.

Every Easter at The Rock of Southwest we would have 100s of new people for Easter, but when it came to decisions for Christ, our numbers were very low.  An example was last year we had 6 people receive Christ within a day that had over 1200 adults in church service.   We're an outreach church and see 100s come to the Lord throughout the year, but Easter always seems to be low numbers, especially considering the amount of new people who attend that day.

At the church planter's and coaches training in Arizona last August, you handed out the "The Spiritual Journey Guide" pamphlet.  I read through it and then I wrote myself a note that said:  "This may answer our Easter Sunday conversion issue.  Order 2000 and go through it step by step during the service".  So, this year we decided to do exactly that as part of the sermon.  I told the congregation 3 weeks earlier to pray for me that I could give a very clear call and that people would respond.  They invited the people and I delivered the message.

We had 1400 people and we gave a pamphlet to every person.  In the last 10 minutes of the sermon I read
through all 7 types of people from "Searchers" to "Followers".  I challenged everyone to to pick which one was closest to their relationship with God.  I added some fun stories but still had them go through the "Moving Forward" and Faith Commitment.   It ended up being a great challenge and people responded very well. 

Though we don't have a perfect system of knowing exactly how many people actually receive Christ, we had 110 people lift their hands to receive our "New Believers" bags at the end of the service. To have us go from 6 converts to 100 is very amazing to us.   In fact a few Elders actually said this, and I quote:  "The decision to go through that pamphlet step by step was probably the wisest sermon decision you've ever made"

I know such stories are good to hear.  So, I wanted to pass on to you. 

Thanks for the encouragement,

Bruce Fosdick,
The Rock of Southwest
Littleton, Colorado

You can download Bruce's Easter Sermon 

Download 4-24-11_Easter

 

Find out more about The Spiritual Journey Guide