Natural Church Development
St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Natural Church Development, the healthy way to grow Churches.
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Natural Church Development
St. Andrew's Church has entered a "cycle" of Natural Church Deveolpment.
It is a process whereby we measure how we are doing in eight quality characteristics. The results rate us against the average of the data already collected from more than 26,000 Churches world-wide.
The results tell us what our weakest area is, and gives us the tools to develop an action plan which will strengthen all aspects of our Church.
Then we measure ourselves again to see how we've grown.
Our Strengths
Our results have shown us that our strongest area is "Gift-oriented Ministry". That means that St. Andrew's does quite well at engaging the people of the Church in ministries (or service) which is suited to their natural talents. People here are encouraged and challenged in their service on committees, guilds and groups and other ways.
We also show strengths in "Empowering Leadership" which means that the leadership encourages and assists the people of the Church to do their part for the Church, rather than attempting to "keep ministry for the experts."
Similarly we have "Holistic Small Groups" which also measures how people can find a small group where they can fit in and learn, grow and give of their time and talents.
Our Growing Edges
The survey has also shown us some areas in which we need to grow.
Although the people here appreciate their Church and feel good about being a member of St. Andrew's, it appears that we are not so good about sharing that feeling with others. We can do better at getting the message out to others that we have a growing community of faith to which all people are welcome.
Also, although spirituality is at the heart of all that we do in our faith, we seem to spend more energy in doing things than we do at being still and listening for God's guidance.
Our main focus at St. Andrew's for the time being will be in the area of "Passionate Spirituality." We will be encouraging personal spiritual disciplines, strengthening the spiritual experience of our worship and trying to help St. Andrew's Parishioners live a faith that is "contagious." Because, when it comes to our Church and our faith, it is just too good to keep to ourselves.
In our plans for the future we will be using our strengths in our small groups, ministry and leadership areas to help address our need for growth in spirituality and evangelism. Please join us in our efforts to make St. Andrew's an even better place to be.
To learn more connect to the international Natural Church Development webpage.
And watch this space to see new developments in regards to this exciting new program at St. Andrew's.
A Focus on Quality and not just numbers.
We plant
We water
God gives the increase
