Don Follis 3/8/2002 religion column:
"The health of a church can be determined"
Here's the good news about healthy
churches. They grow by themselves.
Like plants, good churches grow automatically. That's what Christian
Schwarz says. Schwarz heads the Institute for Natural Church
Development
in Germany.
A parable Jesus taught is
the example Schwarz uses to describe what he
means by automatic growth. In the parable, a person scatters
seed on the
ground. "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed
sprouts and
grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces
grain
-- first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head."
(Mark
4:27-28).
For years Schwarz observed
churches trying to model themselves after other
churches. He saw many struggling churches wasting their energy
on
human-made programs. The desire to discover life-producing principles
of a
healthy church led Schwarz to conduct research in 1,000 churches in
32
countries on all six continents.
What motivated the massive
endeavor was the realization that without
thorough research it would be impossible to decide which principles
of
success are universally applicable and which are simply myths.
Nearly a
decade ago, Schwarz and social scientist Christoph Schalk worked for
several years to sharpen a questionnaire with rigorous standards for
objectivity, reliability and validity. They followed approved
methods from
social science for analyzing the data.
In all 1000 churches, in
18 different languages, 30 key people and the
pastor completed surveys. Churches surveyed were from every conceivable
style and background -- city and jungle churches, charismatic and
liturgical churches, denominational and independent churches, churches
with
pipe organs and churches with bongo drums.
The German team then analyzed
4.2 million responses. They discovered that
eight characteristics always are evident in every healthy and growing
church across the world, regardless of denomination, size or location.
These are the eight principles:
1) Leaders within a church are empowered
to do their work; 2) Church members know and use their spiritual gifts
to
edify the church; 3) People are passionate and excited about their
Christianity; 4) Church structures are functional; 5) Worship services
are
the high point of the week for the majority of the congregation; 6)
Small
groups provide people with a holistic fellowship that is loving and
healing; 7) Church members use their gifts to serve nonChristians with
whom
they have a personal relationship; and 8) The church is known for its
loving relationships.
Schwarz's research shows
that there is no one single factor that leads to
growth in churches. All eight elements are essential and must
in unison.
Moreover, no church wanting to grow qualitatively and quantitatively
can
afford to overlook any one of these quality characteristics.
The key to a healthy church
is the harmonious interplay of all eight
factors. The differences between growing and declining churches
in all
eight areas are significant. There are some exceptions.
For example, a
church can grow numerically, but have a below-average quality.
It may have
effective marketing techniques.
Without question though,
the most spectacular discovery of Schwarz's
1,000-church survey is his finding that truly healthy churches had
a
quality index of 65 or more in all eight required principles.
There was
not one exception.
To understand Schwarz's
methods and his quality index system, you can test
the quality indexes of your own congregation. Natural Church
Development
in Germany partners with a Chicago organization called ChurchSmart,
who
distributes the surveys.
For $150, ChurchSmart will
send your church 31 questionnaires. Key
congregational leaders and the pastor will fill out the 95-question
survey.
It takes about 30 minutes to complete. The surveys are
returned to
ChurchSmart and scored. Each participating church then receives
its
quality indexes in the eight areas and suggestions for improvement.
In
fact, every church does have a quality area that is least developed.
After reading and analyzing
Schwarz's discoveries in his book "Natural
Church Development," I think every church should have its profile done.
This is not a gimmick, and it's very inexpensive. Schwarz says,
"Natural
church development is a declared enemy of any attempts to build the
church
of Jesus Christ in one's own strength."
To get a copy of Christian
Schwarz's book or to order the surveys for your
congregation, call ChurchSmart at 1-800-253-4276. Obviously,
this survey
will not do your church any good if the pastor and church leaders have
no
desire to learn from it.
Congregations that take
the surveys seriously can begin to work on their
weaknesses and watch their church beginning growing automatically.
Don Follis is an Urbana minister. Reprinted with permission from
the
Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, copyright 2002.