John W. Fogal, Sr. – a pastor and District Superintendent within the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) for many years – has coached over 200 churches through the NCD process. Learn how he has seen God working through NCD in the C&MA.
Back in the 1980s, the C&MA had the reputation of being one of the fastest growing denominations in the USA (even more so worldwide with our strong mission emphasis overseas). That growth continues but at a slower pace. Looking deeper, however, it was discovered that the growth was coming from new churches being planted and from a very small percentage of churches that are growing the most. We found that if you looked only at the churches in existence in 2000, for instance, and took off the top 10% of those churches that grew the most, the remaining 90% declined more than 34,000 in average attendance by 2007, getting worse with each passing year. (Our total average worship service attendance in 2007 was 281,000.)
We shared this information at every opportunity and gradually people began to see the need to do something. Leaders realized that we needed to continue our emphasis on church planting AND give equal emphasis to helping existing churches become healthier so they could accomplish what God intended for each church.
We also observed that local church leaders were attending church growth seminars; coming home with a spark of enthusiasm; then, typically, settling back into the same old ruts. They had a good, biblical philosophy of ministry but most were not able to translate philosophy into practice. So, we began to share the benefits of starting with a reliable, objective evaluation of the church’s health and promoted the NCD Survey as the best tool to do that. Here is some of our rationale.
The NCD Survey …
- gives the church the least painful wake-up call that motivates to action.
- serves like a “soil test” or the “blood work” done as part of an annual physical exam.
- is like having an eye exam before being fitted for glasses rather than the optometrist giving you his glasses that help him see clearly.
- enables the church leaders to become proactive rather than reactive.
- provides an excellent way to monitor the progress of becoming healthier.
- means that the people (not the pastor or outside consultant) are saying what is needed and when people are involved in the process, they are much more likely to change.
- tells the church what needs to change in order to become healthier.
- pinpoints the problem area in time to treat it.
- overcomes the typical problem related to translating biblical philosophy of ministry into practice.
We tried to walk a tight rope (sometimes successfully) between church leaders being fully prepared before doing the NCD survey so they were already committed to follow through with the process AND giving the NCD survey to any church that wanted it, hoping that the results would motivate them to action. We realize that the more we do this, the more we need to “raise the bar” up front. Too many churches have taken the survey and then did little or nothing – resulting in the “conclusion” that NCD doesn’t work. Their disappointment (in that there was no quick, easy fix) did not encourage other churches to get involved.
In the early stages, we tried to select churches that were relatively healthy (we needed early wins) so the rest of the churches did not think that “church health” was only for those churches that were gasping for their last breath. The question we asked was, “Is the church you serve as healthy as it can be?” The universal answer is “NO”, just like it is with our physical bodies.
From the beginning we saw the need for coaching. Perhaps as many as 90% of our churches need an “outside assistant.” We found the NCD coach training to be extremely helpful. We now have a certified NCD coach trainer in the C&MA serving as our trainer.
Some of the results we have seen
So far approximately 20% of the C&MA churches in the USA have used the NCD survey tool. We have many encouraging local church stories to tell. One example - the most recent 2nd survey (18 months after the first one) showed the average scores went from 28 to 62 and the average attendance grew from 50 to 85. There is a totally new atmosphere in the church. Overall, there are just over 100 of our churches that have already repeated the survey. Not all of them had a coach. But, when they did, the average health scores improved by 8.6 points and the average attendance increased by just over 20%.
Lessons we have been learning
- Perseverance. You would expect that when a church sees what God is doing through this ministry (worldwide and in the C&MA) they would line up to get involved. But, there are strong forces that keep churches from wanting to examine themselves and become healthier. We must persevere. And, we are energized by the continual flow of new insights and resources coming from the leaders of NCD. This is a great example of steadfastness and continuous development.
- Momentum. There appears to be “ceilings” that require extra spiritual energy to “break through” as we go along. For instance, “early adopters” get on board but “middle adopters” need more (and different) encouragement to get on board. There are lulls in this ministry during different seasons of the year and some extra things need to be done to regain the momentum.
- Focus. We have a built-in tendency to spread ourselves too thin by trying to have a smorgasbord of ideas and resources to offer churches. This often becomes a distraction and is not very effective. Seeing NCD as “principle-based” rather than “program-based” has helped us get focused on one very basic process that has an individualized application for each local church.
- Intentional Support. The lead person in the judicatory must be clear about his/her positive support for helping churches become healthier. That person must be a major recruiter of churches to get involved. However, it seems to work best if this ministry is delegated to a staff person who can give full attention and on-going oversight to the focused ministry of helping churches become healthier. Having a position like this says volumes to the churches about the importance of becoming healthier.
- Champion for Church Health. It is relatively easy to acknowledge the importance of church health but we are so often bound by the tyranny of the urgent. So, in practice, we can look back over months when we had good intentions but nothing has been done to help existing churches become healthier. There must be a “champion” for church health who never gives up.
- Training. Training as many NCD coaches as possible is something each judicatory must do. There are pastors who can coach one or two churches a year through the NCD process, in addition to their pastoral responsibilities, and we need to find and train them. But, we are learning that, in the beginning, the bulk of this ministry is best done by one person who does it full-time. Then, that person becomes the Mentor Coach of the NCD Coaches.
- Paradigm Shift. It is not easy for churches to make the paradigm shift to qualitative goals from quantitative goals. Numerical attendance goals have been so ingrained in us that even those who feel the strongest about church health still tend to measure their effectiveness by attendance growth. This is a long-term, uphill battle – that can be won!
- NCD Coaches as Encouragers. No church plans to plateau or decline but when that happens, those churches rarely seek help until it is too late. Therefore, denominational leaders must take initiative without being intrusive. It is the “successful” pastor/church that seeks help from an “outside assistant” and new resources. One of the best ways to urge pastors/lay leaders to consider using the NCD survey tool and resources is by telling stories of what God has done in other churches that have diligently worked through the process. Also, we have learned that NCD coaches must be seen first and foremost as encouragers who “come along side of” pastors and churches to help them become healthier – not just to hold them accountable.
- Detailed Analysis Report. We have a denominational “Profile Plus.” It is an invaluable tool and I’d encourage every group to spend whatever it cost to get one. As you prayerfully study it, you will learn so much about your group’s “culture” that will be so helpful in your planning for the future. You can also see the relative strengths and weaknesses as well as the interplay of various questions in the survey. By comparing repeated surveys, you may also see areas where there is no change. “Energy transformation” should mean change. If we are investing energy and nothing is happening, then we need to find the blockage/resistance. This is not a substitute for each individual church doing a survey and applying basic biblical principles on an individualized basis. But, it does give denominational leaders a framework for helping churches within that group become healthier.
Rev. John W Fogal Sr is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He has served as a pastor for 22 years and then as a District Superintendent for 18 years. Since being trained as a NCD coach in 1999, he has coached over 200 churches through the NCD process. In 2004 he was certified as a NCD coach trainer and is now training/coaching the coaches.
