Your Church Can Grow

This is a busy time of year to take two days for training. I give thanks to God for the 30 pastors and laity who gave of their precious time to complete coach training in Natural Church Development. I also give thanks to our National Trainer, the Rev. Dr. Jack Stephenson, pastor of the Anona United Methodist Church in Florida for leading and supervising us. Our own Rev. Varlyna Wright and layman, Jack Scharf, also led units of the training. I led part of the training as well. There was great interaction among the participants. Those who completed the two-day training are now fully certified Natural Church Development coaches.

At the Phase II training for Natural Church Development coaching, we learned about our own personal minimum factors. That is, what is our personality type? How do we deal with conflict? What is our listening style? What part of the trinity of God do we most emphasize? As we gain greater self-knowledge and as we understand better those with whom we work, we learn how to complement one another. We learn how to live out the complimentary gifts of the Spirit that God gives to each of us and thus work together more harmoniously as the Body of Christ. We learned that as coaches of the Natural Church Development process, we need to begin with personal transformation–knowing our strengths, being aware of our weaknesses so that we can move forward. How else could we possible be about the business of helping a church address its corporate minimum factor?

Effective roll out of Natural Church Development in the Greater New Jersey Conference is linked to the success and effectiveness of our coaching clusters. Presently there are 8 clusters for our nine districts. The clusters help coaches stay in touch with the principles of Natural Church Development. They also serve as conduits for churches in their area. A church that is interested in engaging the Natural Church Development process need only be in communication with the cluster closest to it. This cluster will provide an orientation to church leadership about the Natural Church Development process and provide a coach to accompany them through it. For more information, call the Office of Congregational Development at 732-359-1046.

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we move headlong into the Christmas season as our culture packages it. Christmas is often couched in terms of how many shopping days are left until the big day. Now, more than ever, we need to heed the practice of a daily office, taking time to read scripture and pray. Personal prayer time grounds us. It keeps us close to God and the real reason for the season.

For many churches the Sundays prior to Thanksgiving are times to consider our stewardship. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we consecrate to God a percentage of our income. In line with the spirit of giving thanks to God for the harvest, we give back to God joyfully a percentage of what God has blessed us with. The biblical norm is 10 percent but that should not limit our thanksgiving. I highly recommend the resource, New Consecration Sunday, Revised Edition by Herb Miller.

The General Board of Global Ministries has contacted me to write a revision of my resource, The Discovery Church Journey. The revised version will be called, The Church Rediscovers Its Mission. Doug invites comments from readers of the original resource to help re-shape the revision. Write an entry on this blog and/or write a review of the resource at Amazon.com’s page for the resource.

Had a wonderful time today visiting with pastors of the Gateway South District. Several pastors gave testimony to ways in which they are putting into practice the five fruitful practices of healthy congregations. Bishop Devadhar gave a presentation of the book, written by Bishop Robert Schnase, called The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations. Bishop Schnase has created a website forum to share ideas around his book, www.fivepractices.org

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