Why Do Demographic Research for Church Ministry?

by Dr. Mark Platt
Presentation Workshop Notes

There are 10 reasons to do demographic research for church ministry:

1. To find the vast blocks of unchurched populations and to determine the amount of unchurched in your area that need Christ as their Lord and Savior.

2. To ascertain and meet the spiritual needs of people in your area.

3. To sharpen your church's vision and mission.

4. To determine the strategy for growing your church.

5. To use your resources efficiently for our Lord.

6. To prioritize the people and places that are the most reachable and needy.

7. To eliminate unresponsive areas and difficult populations.

8. To meet unchurched people as you gather the information.

9 To assess the real target area of your church that needs to be reached with the Good News.

10..To determine the heart and culture of your area.


Essentially
THE BIBLE determines our theology.
NEEDS determine our strategies.
CULTURE determines our style.
DEMOGRAPHICS determines our plans.


The Demographic Data will affect:

* your philosophy of ministry.
* your church name.
* your preaching style/theme/illustrations/persuasion
* your archecture.
* your evangelism methods.
* your worship style.
* your leadership style.
* your worship sevice times and days of the week.
* your church government.
* your music.
* your target audience.
* your church priorities.
* and many other things.

WHERE TO GET THE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA FOR YOUR CHURCH:

http://www.perceptnet.com/

http://www.link2lead.com/

Also click on: Meeting Community Needs Assessment Pack from www.buildingchurchleaders.com/ .

NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT: A SUMMARY

Dr. Paul Null, CBA, NorCal director of Next Generation Churches, has a passion to see all local churches grow in a way that is healthy and reproducing. Jesus said: "... I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Mt. 16:18). These are some principles it is believed that God uses in "establishing strong healthy churches today to reach tomorrow's generation."

Links that help:
Church Smart Resources: The ABC's of Natural Church Development
Church Administration

Based on Natural Church Develpment by Christian Schwarz

Natural Church Development is a "principle-oriented" approach. "Models" are concepts that one or sometimes many churches in some part of the world have experienced positively. But imitating these experiences may not be the right answer for churches in other situations. On the other hand, "principles" are those elements that have been proven to apply to growing churches around the globe.

What was Studied?

* 1000 different churches on five continents
* 32 countries
* 18 languages
* 4.2 million pieces of data
* large and small
* growing and declining
* churches persecuted by the state and churches financially supported by the state
* well-known churches and totally unknown churches
* churches from areas currently experiencing great spiritual revivals, as well as from regions which appear to be more spiritually developing

The Study Result - showed 8 Healthy Quality Characteristics

The results of the study showed there are 8 Healthy Quality Characteristics God uses to build his church!
* Empowering Leadership
* Gift-based Ministry
* Passionate Spirituality
* Effective Structures
* Inspiring Worship Services
* Holistic Small Groups
* Need-oriented Evangelism
* Loving-Relationships

The Adjective Makes the Difference !

The key in each of these 8 Quality Healthy Characteristics is the adjective, which can be considered a summary of the Six Growth Forces (note below) as they apply to that characteristic of: empowering, gift-oriented, passionate, functional, etc.. Every local church as some sort of leadership or worship or structure. Not all emphasize the adjectives at the front of each of these 8 Quality Healthy Characteristics. Below are some brieft definitions:

1. Empowering Leadership -

Effective leadership begins with an intimate relationship with God, resulting in Christ-like character and a clear sense of God's calling for leader's lives. As this base of spiritual maturity increases, effective pastors and leaders multiply, guide, empower and equip disciples to realize their full potential in Christ and work together to accomplish God's vision.

Leaders must consider it as one of their most important tasks to help Christians develop greater degrees of empowerment. They equip, support, motivate, mentor and coach individuals to become all that God wants them to be.

2. Gift-based Ministry -

The Holy Spirit sovereignly gives to every Christian spiritual gift(s) for the building of God's Kingdom. Church leaders have the responsibility to help believers discover, develop and exercise their gifts in appropriate ministries so that the Body of Christ "grows and builds itself up in love." The role of church leadership is to help its members identify their gifts and integrate them into ministries that match their gifts. When a person lives according to their spiritual giftedness, they are no longer working in their own strength, but the Holy Spirit works in them. Studies show that most Christians are either not involved in ministry or they function in a ministry that does not match their gifts.

3. Passionate Spirituality -

Effective ministry flows out of a passionate spirituality. Spiritual intimacy leads to a strong conviction that God will act in powerful ways. A godly vision can only be accomplished through an optimistic faith that views obstacles as opportunities and turns defeats into victories. The important issue here is not the way spirituality is expressed, but the fact that faith is actually lives out with commitment, fire and enthusiasm. The methods a church uses are really a secondary concern. A church that lives its faith with passionate fervor will experience success with many a method.

4. Effective Structures -

The Church is the living Body of Christ. Like all healthy organisms, it requires numerous systems that work together to fulfill its intended purpose. Each must be evaluated regularly to determine if it is still the best way to accomplish the intended purpose. The most important criterion for forms and structures in the church is if they fulfill their purpose or not. Church structures are never an end in themselves but always only a means to an end.

5. Inspiring Worship -

Inspiring worship is a personal and corporate encounter with the living God. Both personal and corporate worship must be infused with the presence of God resulting in times of joyous exultation and times of quiet reverence. Inspiring worship is not driven by a particular style or ministry focus group -- but rather the shared experience of God's awesome presence. Is the worship service an inspiring experience for those who attend? It is not whether our services target Christians or non-Christians, whether they celebrate "in the language of Canaan" or in a more secular language, or whether we worship using a liturgical or a more free-flowing approach. Inspiring worship services are often described as "fun."

6. Holistic Small Groups -

Holistic small groups are disciple-making communities which endeavor to reach the unchurched, meet individual needs, develop each person according to their God-given gifts and raise leaders to sustain the growth of the church. Like healthy body cells, holistic small groups are designed to grow and multiply. Growing churches have developed a system of small groups where individual Christians can find intimate community, practical help and intensive spiritual interaction. In the groups, not only is the biblical text discussed, but they apply biblical insights to everyday issues.

7. Need-oriented Evanglism -

Need-oriented evangelism intentionally cultivates relationships with pre-Christian people so they can become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who are actively participating within the life of the church and community. Using appropriate ministries and authentic relationships, believers can guide others into the family of God. Growing churches are not "pushy" or "manipulative" in the way they share the gospel, rather, their secret is in the way they share the gospel that meets the questions and needs of pre-Christians.

8. Loving Relationships -

Loving relationships are the heart of a healthy, growing church. Jesus said people will know we are his disciples by our love. Practical demonstration of love builds authentic Christian community and brings others into God's Kingdom. Unfeigned, practical love endows a church with a much greater magnetic power than all the marketing efforts of this world. Growing churches manifest a measurably higher "love quotent" than stagnant or declining ones.

No Quality Characteristic Can Be Missing

Three things can be said with a high degree of certainty:

1. These are universally valid qualities.
2. They can be transferred to our own situation.
3. Each of these has a positive relationship with both the quality and the quantitative growth of the church.

No one single factor leads to growth in healthy churches; it is the interplay of these eight elements as they relation to the Six Growth Forces that makes the difference.

The "All-by-Itself-Principle"

The secret of growing churches does not consist in pushing or pulling the church in human strength and efforts -- but in releasing and developing the potential God himself uses to build His church. Then growth occurs all by itself! This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man 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 and then full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sicle to it, because the harvest come. -- Mark 4:26-29

The church is designed by God to grow so growth happens automatically if we remove the obstacles that prevent growth. Growing churches use this growth princple.

The Minimum Factor

Imagine a barrel with eight staves, each representing the eight Quality Characteristics. The staves in the barrel only reach as high as the score of the characteristic. With this analogy, you can only fill the barrel to the leve of the lowest stave. So to increase the capacity of the barrel, we must increase the height of the lowest stave. Now focusing on the Minimum Factor does not mean that we don't pay attention to the other seven areas. As stated before, all eight characteristics are vitally important to healthy growing churches. Focusing on the Minimum Factors helps us to set timely priorities. Since all eight areas can't be worked on with the same amount of energy and concentration, we need to find areas, which will yield the greatest long-range return on our investments.

Remember, Minimum Factors can change quickly -- especially when there is a conscious attempt to improve on this one area.

6 Growth Forces

The principles behind all the Quality Characteristics are the Six Growth Forces. The survey assesses each of the eight Quality Characteristics by measuring the degree to which each is lived out in a "biotic" (or life) way. Any plans to improve your Minimum Factor must take into account these Six Growth Forces.

Interdependence - Individual units are connected to each other in a larger system. Changes in one ministry will affect other ministries in the church and community. Synonym: Connecting.

Multiplication - Healthy organisms do not grow endlessly, but reproduce themselves. Synonym: Reproducing.

Energy transformation - Momentum or energy already flowing, whether positive or negative, can be redirected to accomplish God's purposes. Synonym: Harnessing.

Sustainability - Resources used should increase the capacity for on-going growth and development, as well as serve multiple purposes. Synonym: Sustaining .

Symbiosis - Different ministries can cultivate cooperative relationships so the mutual benefit is greater than operating separately. Synonym: Cooperating

Fruitfulness - Eaching ministry needs to produce discernible results in line with its intended purpose. Synonym: Evaluating

The NCD Process

The NCD Process is a change process that will help a church address their Minimum Factor. A coach is beneficial to help a church engage in the NCD Process with integrity to see the results maximized.

Step 1 - Prepare - Prepare your church to engage in the total NCD Process. Getting leadership buy-in, mobilizing intercessors and choosing a Church Health Team are all a part of this step.

Steo 2 - Diagnose - Analyze the health of your church. This step begins with taking the survey followed by an in-depth analysis of your Minimum Factor. It concludes with identifying 3-5 key issues to address.

Step 3 - Plan - Plan to address your Minimum Factor. In this step the Church Health Team will develop a strategic plan to address your 3-5 key issues identified in Step 2.

Step 4 - Implement - Implement the strategic plan developed in Step 3. Staying focused on carrying out the plan and overcoming obstacles along the way will be the task of the Churhc Health Team.

Step 5 - Evaluate - Evaluate the process you used and the results of your effort. Use the Six Growth Forces to determine increased health in your Minimum Factor, then plan to re-take the survey.

Biblical Promises for Change

Jeremiah 32:27 "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?"

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

Isaiah 41:13 "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Psalm 37:3-5 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is ab le to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen

Zechariah 4:6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not be might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty."

Philippians 4:3 Yes and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the caused of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Mark 9:23 "'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

More Strategic Tools for Church Leaders

By: Dr. Paul Null

These notes are a workable summary of the book: Natural Church Development by Christian Schwarz. ENJOY!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Schwarz, Christian. Natural Church Development
(Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 1996) ISBN 1-889638-00-5

Schwarz, Christian. The SBC's of Natural Church Development
(Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 1998) ISBN 1-889638-04-9

Schwarz, Christian A & Schalk, Christoph. Natural Church Development Survey and Implementdation Guide (Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 1998) ISBN 1-889638-03-X

Logan, Robert E., & Clegg, Thomas C. Releasing Your Church's Potential,
(Carol Stream, IL: ChurchSmart Resources, 1996) ISBN# n/a

To order NCD productions, to become an NCD coach, or to locate an NCD Consultant to administer the survey with you church, contact: your NCD publishing partner at www.ncd-international.org or in the USA:

ChurchSmart Resources
3830 Ohio Ave. w. St. Charles w IL w 60174
Phone: +1.800.253.4276 w Fax: + 1-630-443-7929
E-mail: ChurchSmart@CompuServe.com
http://www.ChurchSmart.com

ABC's of Natural Church Development

In just 20 minutes you can discover the most important principles of church development as they relate to every Christian & every church.

NCD Discipleship Resources is the name of a series designed to help you put the principles of Natural Church Development (NCD) into practice. Each book in the series covers one of the eight quality characteristics of growing churches. Since NCD Discipleship Resources are based on extensive research of churches on all six continents, they present principles that God is using all over the world to build his church regardless of culture, devotional style, or mentality. Natural Church Development is all about releasing the potential that God has already implanted in his church - rather than trying to make the church grow in our own strength.

Christian Schwarz is founder & director of the Institute for Natural Church Development, located in Germany. His books on the theology & practice of church development have been published in 42 languages. In his seminars & writings, Christian has concentrated on presenting complicated theological concepts in ways that can be understood & applied by a wide audience.

"I Will Build My Church ..." and He'll use YOU to do it!

Paul Null
Executive Director

Dr. Paul Null is the Executive Director of Next Generation Churches. For 35 years, Paul has pastored small, medium, and large churches with integrity and growth. He is leader, mentor, and key strategist for the total ministries of NEXTGEN. Paul works with pastors and staff to maximize their ministries, pastoral search committees find God's leader for their church, and with congregations in transition and sometimes in crisis.

We are Next Generation Churches, an association of churches who banded together over fifty years ago to defend and promote the spread of God’s Good News through Jesus Christ. Our heritage is Baptist. Our hearts desire is to honor God and bring Him pleasure in everything we do. We exist to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ by multiplying healthy Christ-following churches in Northern California and Nevada. We envision healthy, multiplying congregations in every viable geographic location in our states in partnership with one another and with other like-minded churches regionally, nationally and globally.

We value . . .

. . . the fellowship of our ethnically and culturally diverse churches (and pastors) regionally, nationally and globally.

. . . the discovery, training, development and encouragement of spiritual leaders.

. . . the spiritual and organizational health of our existing churches.

. . . the launching of new churches in partnership with our existing churches.

This blogsite is designed to introduce you to us and provide you with information about Next Generation local church planting. Also vist our state and national websites linked at the left side bar. At those websites we have also other links to assist you in your spiritual walk so, welcome! My prayer is that your visit with us will be beneficial.