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Mission Theology and the
ELCA
How Does Natural Church Development Relate?
“Marked with the cross of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered
and sent for the sake of the world.”
In one sense, the ELCA mission statement might have said, “... sent into
the world for the sake of the Reign of God.” The Lord’s Prayer reminds
us that God’s dream (and therefore ours in faith as well) starts and
ends with “Your Kingdom come, your will be done…” Followers of Jesus are
not simply to rejoice in the gift that is theirs but also to pray for
and work for the Reign of God. It is this work that characterizes the
work of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that
Christ so frequently reminded those with whom he spoke that, “The Reign
of God is at hand.”
God is a missionary God. God is not watching to see what will happen
here in our midst. God is engaging our world in order to insure the
outcome. God interacts in order to reconcile a fallen world in a way
that transforms creation more fully into the Reign of God. This call
comes to the world, not as a form of coercion but as a gracious and
freely offered invitation, offered in love to a world broken and needing
to be healed.
God comes to be the missionary. In this way God chooses not simply to do
mission in this world from afar but to come as a participant. This is
what the incarnation is all about. It is a reminder that God is so
deeply committed to seeing the Reign of God come to fruition and
completion that God is willing to get involved. As God comes to the
world in Jesus Christ, the Reign of God is not only an idea to be
conceived but it is embodied in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus.
God invites us to participate. Through the gift of faith in Jesus Christ
and trusting in his work, the Holy Spirit claims people to be disciples
and gathers them into communities of faith. These faith communities, the
body of Christ for the world, are gathered and empowered by the Holy
Spirit both to support the ministry of the participants and to be an
apostolic community, committed to continuing the work of the Reign of
God. In a sense, the gift of faith also brings with it a call to
mission. This mission is to be an instrument of God’s missionary work.
God’s mission is the basis for the church to be Christ’s body in the
world. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, the church is a “colony of
the Kingdom of God.” It embodies that to which it points and for which
it works.
What we do when we gather matters. The ELCA mission statement is “Marked
with the cross of Christ, we are claimed, gathered, and sent for the
sake of the world.” The crucial link between the claim of God on our
lives and being sent in mission to the world is often made when the
community gathers. When the gathered community emphasizes being
missional and healthy then the sense of being sent is strong. However,
as a gathering of people of faith from the world, the church is easily
co-opted as instrument or expression of the world. Its missional
character is easily compromised. It may not proclaim, equip, inspire,
and strengthen the discipleship of the people. It may not send them out
to infiltrate the world with the gospel but to be “normal” people who
live more as signs of the times and less as signs of God’s Reign.
Grounded in God’s Word and the Sacraments and sent for the “sake of the
world” is not always easy. What we do when we gather matters. How we
support the discipleship of individuals and communities of faith is a
key purpose for the Church.
How Natural Church Development Helps:
The gathering of congregational members in order to support and equip
them for discipleship is therefore a priority for a healthy and
missional church. How the various aspects of congregational life work
together to provide a system within which healthy ministry can take
place is essential. A way of assessing congregational life in order to
strengthen it for evangelical outreach was a listed priority in the 2003
Evangelism Strategy. While various kinds of tools are at various stages
of development in many parts of the church (denominations, para-church
groups, etc.), Natural Church Development brings several years of being
put into practice; an ecumenical, global and multicultural research
base; and an accessible and understandable framework in which to analyze
congregational life. The practical decision to be as proactive as
possible in moving the church forward made Natural Church Development a
good choice to consider for use within the ELCA.
Natural Church Development (NCD) assesses eight (8) quality
characteristics of congregational life that have been determined to be
essential in the life of a faith community.
These eight quality characteristics are:
-
Empowering
leadership
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Gifts Oriented
Ministry
-
Passionate
spirituality
-
Effective
(functional) Structures
-
Inspiring
Worship
-
Need-oriented
(contextual) Evangelism
-
Holistic small
groups
-
Loving
relationships
In understanding these
areas of congregational life the research shows that all eight areas are
important and that it is the adjective that is important.
To assess this, NCD looks at how the gathered community functions and
helps correlate that to the ability of a congregation to grow. Using an
assessment tool to survey active congregational members, scoring is done
on a gradient defined by the context (usually but not always based on
national or linguistic boundaries) in which the congregation is located.
The results give direction as to which of the eight areas would most
strengthen the character of the church’s life together. The NCD research
shows that working on the quality characteristic which most limits the
capacity (referred to in NCD literature as the “Minimum Factor” or in
some ELCA generated materials as the “Maximum Leverage Point”) is most
likely to strengthen the ministry. NCD provides insight into improving
the quality of congregational life with research to show that numerical
growth is most likely in congregations which have a higher quality of
ministry. NCD uses sociological research tools and a biological model as
a paradigm into which to interpret the data.
The research base for NCD was ecumenical, multicultural and global but
it does bring with it certain assumptions. Underneath the NCD tool is a
set of principles referred to by NCD as “biotic” or “life-giving”
principles. Using biological models, it applies six principles of how
life functions in organic systems within nature. The six principles are:
-
Interdependence
-
Multiplication
-
Energy Transformation
-
Multi-Usage
-
Symbiosis
-
Functionality
A key assumption within
NCD is that the church is organic in its nature, that the “body of
Christ” language is more than a literary device but is a real
description of what it means to be the church. Improving a quality
characteristic in the congregation’s life is not about adding or doing a
program. It involves the development of contextually appropriate
ministry grounded in these principles. The idea is to release the
natural potential of a healthy body to do the work to which God has
called it.
Data collected ecumenically shows that about 85% of those congregations
who do an assessment, spend a year working on their area of concern, and
reassess their congregation one year later have both experienced
qualitative growth in the assessment scores and numerical growth in
worship attendance. Initial results within the ELCA point to similar
outcomes.
In addition, it is clear that the application of principles (for example
interdependence or multiplication) has already changed for the better
how we can assist congregations do evangelical outreach and stewardship
more effectively. As the ELCA has come to better understand asset based
ways of working in the church, NCD provides an accessible and helpful
framework in which congregations can reflect on their ministry. It also
provides room to then use asset mapping and mobilization as a primary
way to build realistic and contextually appropriate solutions to real
life ministry situations.
NCD presumes and assesses interaction with the surrounding context and
presupposes that a missional consciousness is present, although it does
not require it. Therefore, it is possible for a congregation to improve
its health assessment, grow in numbers, and still be incomplete in its
ministry. Therefore, in addition to NCD, the following questions need to
be considered in helping grow strong ministries:
-
What is the missional
consciousness of the ministry? Does it see its role as an instrument for
the Reign of God or is the vision and mission something less than that?
-
The assessment looks at
the health of the congregation in connection to the local community. It
does not look at broader connections to the wider church
(denominationally, ecumenically or globally). How does this ministry
relate to other expressions of the church?
-
Connections and service
to the community are well assessed in “Needs-Oriented Evangelism”
(modified to use the more holistic “Contextual Evangelism” for custom
generated ELCA materials). However, there is not assessment of advocacy
and justice – issues that are important within the ELCA. What
commitments and actions does the ministry take in these areas?
As a result of these
three critiques, NCD is best employed within a framework where mission,
values and guiding principles are clarified. Then the helpful
information that the NCD tool does provide can be used in a process that
helps build healthy, vibrant and growing congregations which embody
these areas of congregational life.
Having said all of this, it is clear for a church that is “claimed,
gathered and sent for the sake of the world,” that NCD is a helpful tool
to assist us in being effective in mission and ministry. The ELCA is a
church that has been most clear about the claim that God has on our
lives to give us the gifts of Christ. We have been less clear on how to
best organize our gatherings in ways that promote healthy ministry and
clearly assist in sending us out to effectively engage the world.
Natural Church Development, while it has limitations in the areas
mentioned above, gives a clear and accessible framework in which
congregational leaders (clergy and laity together) can be assessed based
on their own experiences of the church. With coaching and effective
resources, congregations can be more effective in ways that help them to
move forward. Within a clear biblical, theological and missional
mindset, the NCD tool provides congregations with the guidance they need
to build healthy ministries that can grow both in the quality of
ministry and in numbers of faithful and engaged participants.
What’s On the Horizon?
Natural Church Development is a tool currently being utilized within the
ELCA churchwide organization in a variety of ways. It brings access to
information about ministries that is informing and influencing processes
around congregational life and renewal as well as in the starting of new
congregations. Additional plans are being made to expand the use of NCD
in order to serve synods and congregations in helping shape healthy and
growing ministries.
To be truly useful, clarity of missional purpose is essential. Most
important is how the congregation’s ministry participates in what God is
doing to bring about the Reign of God in Jesus Christ. Translating that
into a long term and contextually sensitive process rather than generic
and short term programs is a key bridge to practical, effective
ministry. In such a framework, the use of a tool (such as NCD) can then
effectively assist in many and various ways as, “Marked with the cross
of Christ forever, we are claimed, gathered and sent for the sake of the
world.”
Back to Natural
Church Development
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