Second Anabaptist Evangelism Council:
Natural Church Development Gets Mixed Review
ELGIN, IL — Christian Schwarz’s Natural Church Development (NCD) movement came in for mixed reviews as some 46 persons from nine Anabaptist denominations and six educational institutions gathered here Feb. 20-21, 1999, under the auspices of the second annual Anabaptist Evangelism Council.
While giving Schwarz high marks for shifting the discussion on church growth from "numbers" (quantitative) to church "health" (qualitative), the theologians asked to assess the new model cautioned against using secular research methods when analyzing the church rather than seeing congregations as vessels to establish the "reign of God." Schwarz bases his test for a healthy church on a cross-cultural survey of 1,000 churches in 32 different countries.
Several practitioners, some of whom are already deep into using Schwarz’s model in their churches, claimed that despite their theological misgivings the NCD listing of eight quality characteristics of a healthy church offer them a "test" for health presently found nowhere else. "At the very least," said Noel Santiago of Souderton, Pa., a Mennonite Mission board consultant working with six Franconia Conference churches, "it allows us to start talking about health with a model that gives us a systematic way and language with which to challenge our values and identity."
Santiago’s sentiments were echoed by Chris Arney of Abbotsford, B.C who is working with 13 Mennonite congregations in British Columbia, by Ed Boschman of Phoenix, AZ, who is working with 60 churches in the Mennonite Brethren constituency and by Keith Weaver, Antonio Ullao and Nathan Showalter, who together are working with more than 12 churches in the Lancaster (PA) Mennonite Conference.
"The New Testament is not a manual or distillation of a research project; it is more like a trunk or file drawer--more like a messy bulging set of file folders," said Tom Yoder Neufeld, professor of Bible at Conrad Grebel College, who looked at Schwarz through the lens of the New Testament. "Followers of Jesus spent little time focusing on numerical growth of the church and had little time to strategize or count."
Lois Barrett, executive secretary of the Commission on Home Ministries for the General Conference Mennonites, who tested Schwarz’s work through a missiological and ecclesiological perspective, said ". . . there is no evidence that the researchers (Schwarz’s) interacted with the key themes of the Bible, especially the reign of God. There is no mention of Jesus in the description of the eight qualities.
"We cannot assume," she continued, "that growing or not growing is an indication that we are faithful." She observed that Schwarz’s test of health grew more from behavioral indicators than from an understanding of God’s future--an adequate eschatology.
But for N.Gerald Shenk, professor of church and society at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg,
Va, who himself had done a study of "15 Churches that Work," the battle lines were not so clearly defined. Coming to Schwarz with a positive attitude, he said he did not have so much trouble with the outlines, nor with the approach, but more with its applicability. "Does it fit our situations?" he asked. "It seems to make enough sense to be plausible, but the tool may be too simple, the outcomes too restrictive."
Shenk said the Schwarz test could be "depressing" to a congregation and suggested rather a "possibility tree" where persons are asked about their dreams instead of about their problems. "The cause and effects may be the same," he explained, "but the ‘possibility tree’ may get people excited about thinking through their future."
Which led to the suggestion by Ron Yoder of the Mennonite Board of Missions who met personally with Schwarz in a recent seminar, to present the Anabaptist concerns to Schwarz and ask him to respond. From his meeting with Schwarz, Yoder was sure Schwarz "recognizes that his model is not adequately enriched by the things our theologians are calling for, that he would share the concerns being raised."
While the spirited discussion didn’t bring consensus on what to do with Schwarz’s model it did result in a feeling of appreciation for the coming together of diverse groups within the Anabaptist family around a common interest--church vitality and growth. Of the many suggestions for "where to go from here" came the idea of "doing church planting together," an idea whose time has come "since we know each other better."
An Internet "listserv" site was suggested by Tara Hornbacker, associate professor for ministry formation at Bethany Theological Seminary, to continue the Schwarz discussion.
New Life Ministries, sponsor of the event, received an invitation from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, to hold next year’s event on their campus, Feb. 19-20, 2000. While the specific topic of discussion will be decided by the New Life management team, it will likely continue this year’s interest in church planting.
Attendees at the Council represented these denominations: The Brethren Church of Ashland, Ohio, Church of the Brethren, Conservative Mennonite, Conservative Grace Brethren, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada, the Evangelical Mennonite Conference of Canada, Mennonite Brethren, the General Conference Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Church. Educational institutions had representatives from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Ashland Theological Seminary, Bethany Theological Seminary, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, Conrad Grebel College and Eastern Mennonite Seminary.
by Dick Benner, 2-25-99
For more information about the Anabaptist Evangelism Council or to order a copy of the proceedings booklet, contact New Life Ministries at 1-800-774-3360 or by e-mail at mailto:Lifenewmin@aol.com.
For information on the proceedings booklet, click here.
For information on the first Anabaptist Evangelism Council meeting in February 1998, click here.
