Important
The Transforming Churches Process will commence on 1st October 2010 – follow this link for more information
The NCD Survey
Analysing the Local Church
The NCD Survey is a diagnostic tool for discovering the quality of the church as it is now and for implementing the NCD principles.
The international research was used as a foundation for developing the Survey which gives local churches an accurate annual profile of their health. Although it began to be used in the UK in 1996, a new survey was carefully developed building on all the best parts of the previous survey and this was implemented in 2007.
The Survey is based on:
- internationally-validated, user-friendly questionnaires completed by the church leadership team and 30 key people (chosen because they are a member of a small group and are aware of the values and direction of the church)
- computer software arising out of the original research programme, but changed and developed in 2007 to use an Excel spreadsheet for the analysis
- an annual standardisation which measures the church against other churches in the UK.
In essence, the Survey profile gives a rating for each of the eight quality characteristic, but it holds a wealth of information about:
- The relative strengths and weaknesses of the quality characteristics
- The potential interrelationship of the quality characteristics. You might ask, "So why is Holistic Small Groups high but Loving Relationships low?"
- The trends of different quality characteristics from profile to profile
- and most importantly, the 'Minimum Factor', the principal focus for discussion, analysis, strategic planning and action!
A question of values
One of the unique features of NCD is that the Survey measures the church’s health in terms of the quality characteristic adjectives, not the nouns.
For example, the profile does not measure whether the leadership of the church is strong or visionary, but the degree to which it is empowering. The profile does not measure how much 'ministry' is taking place in the church, but the degree to which people are using their spiritual gifts to do that ministry. The adjectives are vital because they represent essential values for healthy growth.
For NCD to be of maximum benefit to a church, its leaders must own these adjectives as values themselves and actively seek to incorporate them into the life of the church.
The Minimum Factor
The basic strategy to improve the health of the church is simplicity itself – work at improving the health of the quality characteristic that is least developed. Christian Schwarz calls this quality characteristic the Minimum Factor. Since all eight quality characteristics are essential to healthy growth, it makes sense to work at addressing the lowest characteristic, that part of the body which is making the least contribution to its overall health and growth. The strategy is one of progressively addressing each Minimum Factor as it arises through doing successive Surveys. This helps the leadership stay focused on what is important for healthy growth, set goals which will bring maximum health benefit and direct resources effectively.