AEC1999

Ronald W. Waters

Natural church development is a new way of looking at church health and church growth. Christian Schwarz, head of the Institute for Church Development in Germany, developed it. After years of studying churches in Germany, he conducted a worldwide study in an attempt to find the principles of healthy and growing churches that would be true across cultures and regardless of theological persuasion.

His concept is based on the belief that the church is an organism and that God's principles for growth in the church should be similar to growth and health in other parts of creation. It is not based on natural theology—that somehow we can know God or God's ways apart from Jesus Christ. Rather, it takes into account the processes of nature as it looks at how churches grow naturally. His terminology is sometimes unusual because it is based on these natural growth principles.

Schwarz has shared his insights through three publications:

A third major book, Paradigmenwechsel in der Kirche (Paradigm Shift in the Church), is being translated and is scheduled for release in 1999. This book addresses the theological underpinnings on which natural church development is based. Material from this book was not available at the time of this Council meeting.

Schwarz defines natural church development as "releasing the growth automatisms, by which God himself grows his church" (NCD, 13). "Automatism" is a transliteration from the Greek word translated as "all by itself" in Mark 4:28 (New International Version). The concept is that, in nature, given the right conditions, plants grow "with no apparent cause" (NCD, 12) other than what God has built into that plant. Schwarz believes that in churches, as well as in plants, God has programmed into their genetic code the qualities that will make them healthy and allow them to grow. The key is that we as human leaders must learn how we may best cooperate with what God is already doing.

Schwarz claims to have discovered the principles of natural church development from three sources: 1) empirical research, 2) observing nature, and 3) studying Scripture, with the Scripture being the final arbiter of truth (NCD, 13).

Throughout his ministry years, he has been interested in church growth. That interest led him to study materials produced by leaders in the church growth movement. He also studied at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. He became somewhat disillusioned with many of the "principles" espoused by this movement, however. He noted that many of them were based on case studies of one or only a few model churches (and often very large churches). He concluded that principles should be drawn from looking at many model churches—different sizes, in different cultures, in a variety of contexts (both in freedom and under persecution). From many models, one should be able to abstract the common principles, then individualize those principles for any church in any context (NCD, 16-17). He concluded that improving the quality of church life should be a better stimulus and predictor of quantitative growth.

After conducting several studies of growing and declining churches in Germany, he engaged Christoph Schalk to assist in designing a worldwide study. Schalk's training was in organizational psychology, and he brought to the team the skills to design the research project. The result was a study of over one thousand congregations from thirty-two countries, in eighteen languages, and on every inhabited continent of the world. Church growth and church planting consultant Bob Logan has said, "There has never been such an extensive, statistically valid, worldwide church growth research project ever conducted" (NCD, 3).

Through his earlier study of church growth literature and of growing and declining congregations, Schwarz had identified the basic qualities of healthy and growing churches. The research project allowed him to test those insights in a truly trans-cultural setting. An appendix in the Implementation Guide (pp. 229-234) describes some of the research methodology used in this project. Reliability and validity studies were conducted to verify that the data gathered accurately reflected the concepts being studied. The result was validation through correlation of eight qualities of health that are present in growing churches worldwide.

The eight qualities Schwarz uses to define healthy churches are¹:

1. Empowering leadership—leaders focus on equipping and training other Christians to do ministry; leaders are committed wholly to church growth.

2. Gift-oriented ministry—ministry tasks are distributed according to the spiritual gifts of the people; nearly every Christian is using his/her God-given gifts to build up the church.

3. Passionate spirituality—the spiritual lives of the church members are characterized by prayer, enthusiasm, and boldness; most members live out their faith with power and contagious enthusiasm.

4. Functional structures—the forms, practices, and structures of the church are designed to most effectively accomplish ministry in this time and place (form follows function); church structures are evaluated as to whether or not they contribute to the growth of the church.

5. Inspiring worship service—attending worship services is inspiring and uplifting to those who attend; worship is a high point of the week for the majority of the congregation.

6. Holistic small groups—there is a continuous multiplication of small groups that meet the real needs of people; the loving and healing power of fellowship is experienced in these groups.

7. Need-oriented evangelism—evangelistic activities relate directly to the needs of the people the church is trying to reach; nearly all Christians use their spiritual gifts to help fulfill the Great Commission.

8. Loving relationships—relationships among the members of the church are characterized by a high level of loving affection; Christ's love permeates nearly all church activities.

From the research project, Schwarz and Schalk have standardized the data from each country. Based on answers to a questionnaire completed by the pastor and 30 lay leaders in a congregation, a profile can now be generated of that church's quality index for each of the eight characteristics.

Identification of these eight quality characteristics has generated the most attention for Schwarz's research. For anyone undertaking even a cursory study of the Scriptures and of church growth literature, there are few surprises in Schwarz's findings. Many leaders of the church growth movement have identified most or all of these qualities through intuition or observation of significant models of growing churches. What is significant is that no one else has gone to such lengths to find an empirical basis for the validity of these qualities.

Schwarz concludes that none of the eight characteristics can be missing if a church is to be both healthy and growing (NCD, 38-39) and that addressing and improving these qualitative characteristics will result in quantitative growth as a natural "by-product" (NCD, 42). He also discovered that there is a 99.4% probability that any church anywhere in the world that scores 65 or above in all eight of the characteristics will also be a growing church. In fact, he has not found a church yet that disproves this hypothesis.

Schwarz recognizes that congregations have limited energy; therefore, they should direct that energy strategically where it will have the most impact. He recommends that once a congregation has discovered its index on the eight quality characteristics, it should then focus its attention on its "minimum factor." The minimum factor is the quality that has the lowest score.

This concept is contrary to most strategies of organization development which encourage building on organizational strengths while all but ignoring the weaknesses. Because Schwarz sees these eight characteristics as the "vital signs" of church health, he contends that ignoring areas of weakness will prevent a congregation from reaching its full potential.

He illustrates this concept with a visual aid he calls the "minimum barrel" (NCD, 53-54). This barrel has eight staves at different heights. He writes the name of the quality with the lowest score on the shortest stave, the highest score on the longest stave, and the others appropriately in between. He then pours water into the barrel until it starts to run over the side at the shortest stave. The water represents the outpouring of the blessing of God's Spirit of new people into a congregation. One would not want to stop the flow of these blessings. But the barrel (and, by analogy, a church) will only be able to hold more blessings when the areas of lowest quality are addressed and increased.

He further illustrates it from nature: when there is a chemical imbalance in the soil, it will not become more fertile by increasing the chemicals that are already in abundance. Instead, a successful farmer will fertilize in a way to correct the imbalance (NCD, 54-55).

Schwarz does not recommend ignoring the strongest qualities. Rather, he recommends that a congregation use its strengths to improve its weaker qualities. In so doing, the weaknesses and the strengths are enhanced (NCD, 56-57).

One of Schwarz's chief criticisms of the church growth movement is a reliance on what he calls "technocratic thinking." He contends that many of the strategies employed are based more on a machinery or robotic model than on an organic model—that technocratic thinking is more short-sighted and often contributes to greater problems in the future (NCD, 62-65). Instead, he has proposed six biotic principles—concepts that are observable in nature and that are more appropriate to the church as an organism. Using these biotic principles will allow the "all by itself" concept to work effectively.

During a natural church development consultants training in March 1998, Schwarz indicated he arrived at these biotic principles more from observation of nature than from his research projects. He believes that addressing the eight quality characteristics from a biotic approach will generate the most positive, long-term, and far-ranging results.

The six biotic principles are²:

1. Structured interdependence—how the parts are integrated into the whole is more important than the individual parts themselves. Question to ask: will the long-term effects of a particular intervention be beneficial to the total church life and ministry or will it negatively impact some other area of ministry?

2. Multiplication—every form of organic growth eventually reaches its natural limits; further growth may best be achieved by creating other, similar units. Question to ask: is a particular action reproducible—does it contain within it the dynamics of multiplication or does it simply contribute by addition?

3. Energy transformation—use destructive energy in productive ways. Question to ask: is this action/intervention utilizing the energy of resisting forces or is it fighting that energy?

4. Multi-usage—the results of ministry are transformed into energy that, in turn, sustains the ongoing ministry of the church. Question to ask: will the results of this action further expand the resources of this ministry or will they drain our resources?

5. Symbiosis—the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship. Question to ask: will this action contribute to cooperation and complementation or will it push us toward either competition or uniformity?

6. Functionality—the function of all created things is to bear fruit ("by their fruit you shall know them"); when we bear fruit we live on, even when we die. Question to ask: will this action produce qualitative and quantitative fruit for the kingdom of God or is it just another good activity?

Schwarz observes that each of the eight quality characteristics contains a biotic element and that element is found in the adjectives (empowering leadership and passionate spirituality, for example). In fact, these elements make his quality classification system unique among other writers on the subject.

While the empirical research behind the eight quality characteristics is important, I believe that the biotic principles hold even more promise for congregations that are committed to health and growth. Unfortunately, because Schwarz has used technical terminology for these principles, I'm afraid that they will be lost on most congregations and consultants as well. Yet, they have great potential for congregations who will take them seriously and apply them thoroughly in their decision-making processes.

To help congregational leaders learn these principles, Schalk has developed a seven session training program on the biotic principles, included in the Implementation Guide (pp. 123-191). The training session for each biotic principle includes an introduction to the concept, step-by-step instruction on that principle, two examples/case studies to try out the principle, and worksheets. A final session integrates the six principles. Schalk and Schwarz recommend using this training program only among leaders, not with the congregation as a whole, because of its technical nature. The goal of the training is for leaders to learn the concepts so thoroughly that they become part of the conceptual framework for all decision-making.

Another significant aspect of natural church development (and another one I fear will be missed or ignored by many) is the theological paradigm undergirding this concept. Schwarz says, "Natural church development is not just one church growth method among many. It is a different theological paradigm altogether. It introduces a different way of thinking for Christians" (NCD, 83). He gives only a brief introduction to this paradigm in Natural Church Development. His forthcoming book will address it more comprehensively.³

The concept is that there is a law of polarity in all creation demonstrated by two poles: a dynamic (or organic) pole and a static (or technical) pole. The dynamic pole (illustrated by the concept of organic growth through the "all by itself" principle) produces the static pole (illustrated by the organizational aspects). In turn, the static pole stimulates the dynamic pole. The dynamic pole emphasizes God's role; the static pole emphasizes the human role. Like magnets on the pinion of an electric motor, both poles are necessary for effective operation (NCD, 84-85).

Unfortunately, churches tend to settle in on only one of the poles, leading to one-dimensional thinking. Some churches come down on the "spiritualistic" side, focusing only on the dynamic pole. They tend to give overly simplistic and spiritualized answers to anything, seeing an extreme dichotomy between the dynamic and the static poles and rejecting the organizational/static elements. An example in church history is the Gnostic heresy (NCD, 90-91).

Other churches tend toward the static pole, placing much more emphasis on human effort and nearly ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit. It is often observed in providing a solution that has a mechanistic simplicity (if you do A, B will automatically result). This leads to mentally combining both the dynamic and static elements under the static pole, leading to a monistic perspective (NCD, 88-89).

Schwarz contends that natural church development attempts to keep both poles in balance. He holds forth a "reformation principle": that the heart of every reformation movement is a desire to develop the dynamic side to balance the static pole. He believes that denominations or congregations that are most open to this "reformation principle" are also the most likely to embrace natural church development (NCD, 94-95).

This concept warrants further development on Schwarz's part and further scrutiny on the part of all who consider natural church development. Hopefully, his forthcoming book on this paradigm shift will contribute to further understanding and assessment.

Schwarz concludes Natural Church Development with a ten-step plan of action. These steps incorporate all the principles in the book into a comprehensive approach. The action steps challenge a church to design its own program for implementation of the natural church development paradigm. The steps include (among others) building on spiritual momentum, conducting a natural church development profile to discern the minimum factor, application of the biotic principles in leadership decision-making processes, and the setting of qualitative goals.

Interestingly, he also encourages congregations to "exercise your strengths" (NCD, 116) by putting them to use in addressing the minimum factor. As part of this step, he encourages congregations to consider the contextual factors that may also impact the church's health and growth. Generally Schwarz focuses on local institutional and spiritual factors because these are areas over which a congregation may have some control.⁴  Here, however, Schwarz does emphasize the need to study and understand the impact of contextual factors on congregational growth.

The action steps also include a call for continual monitoring of the quality characteristics through conducting periodic (every six months or once a year) quality profile assessments followed by emphasis on the new minimum factor.

Notes

¹ Descriptions following each characteristic are adapted from NCD, pp. 22-39, and IG, pp. 47-122.

² Descriptions and questions for each principle are adapted from NCD, pp. 66-77, and IG, pp. 126-186.

³ At the NCD consultant's training session in March 1998, Schwarz indicated that Paradigmenwechsel in der Kirche is very theoretical and theological and that it would likely have a limited audience; hence, ChurchSmart had not elected at that point to publish it. Apparently, there has been enough interest shown to warrant its translation into English.

⁴ A consortium of sociologists, denominational researchers, theologians and historians developed an interpretive framework with two dimensions for studying church growth and decline: national vs. local factors and contextual vs. institutional factors (see Dean R. Hoge and David A. Roozen, eds., Understanding Church Growth and Decline, 1950-1978, New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1979, pp. 39-40). C. Peter Wagner later proposed a third dimension: spiritual factors (see Donald A. McGavran, revised and edited by C. Peter Wagner. Understanding Church Growth. Third ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990, 17).

Taken from An Anabaptist Look at Natural Church Development (© 1999 New Life Ministries). Permission to reproduce for local church use only is granted. Provided by New Life Ministries, 6404 S Calhoun St, Fort Wayne, IN 46807, through its web site at www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org

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