Perceive
In the beginning...
A thoughtful feeling
If you are exploring NCD for the first time it may be because you know there are areas in your church’s life that could be healthier and you'd like to know what they are. Alternatively, you may have a strong sense of where your church needs to go but would like NCD to confirm that. Whatever your reason for exploring NCD, the most effective starting point is to acknowledge your experience and your perception about your church. The NCD Survey will either validate that perception or help you to sharpen it.
Sharpening Tools
To help you sharpen your perception, we recommend that you and your key leaders read some of the NCD resources, discuss your findings with each other and speak to others with experience in NCD (see below). Familiarity with the concepts will greatly help you to get the most out of your survey results. Your denomination may have an NCD Key Contact who can resource you and steer you through the process.
Next time 'round
NCD in the Everyday
The process of using the NCD Cycle year after year to work consistently on releasing greater health in your church will have the natural effect of developing an intuitive ability to determine what action is needed. This is exciting because life-releasing decisions will then be made as a natural part of exercising leadership everyday. The NCD principles flow out of who you are and the decisions you make rather than coming to you as a complete program designed by someone somewhere else.
One exercise you can do to help develop this intuitive abillity is to encourage your leadership to use their perception to assess the health of the church before each NCD survey is done. Once the results are out, the leadership can explore the reasons behind the similarities and differences between their assessments and what the NCD survey shows.
Considerations for NxCD churches during the 'Perceive' stage
On to the 'Test' stage
Helpful Tools for the 'Perceive' stage
3 Color Life Cycle - NCD Survey Workbook
A process for your leadership team download
Color Your World with Natural Church Development
A must read for leaders looking to engage in the NCD process more...
Natural Church Development
The original NCD book. Different to Color Your World in that it provides more information relating to the initial research behind NCD more...
The ABC's of Natural Church Development
A short inexpensive booklet helpful in educating survey participants and congregational members on the basic foundations of NCD more...
NCD Resource Pack
A discounted pack including:
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1x Color Your World with Natural Church Development
- 1x Natural Church Development
- 3x The ABC's of Natural Church Development
more...
NCD CD ROM
Two PowerPoint presentations with comprehensive presentation notes for introducing NCD & Introducing Biotic Principles more...
Color Your World with Natural Church Development - mini seminars
6 free on-line introductory seminars presented by Christian Schwarz (requires broadband) more...
NCD FAQ
Christian Schwarz answers frequently asked questions about NCD on the NCD International web site more...
Personal Assistance
Experienced NCD Pastor's or Coaches capable of providing additional wisdom, objectivity and accountability-
- NCD Key Contacts - Denominational and Non-denominational
- NCD 'Davids' - Pastor's and Lay Leaders with extensive experience
- 'The Vine' - Find an experienced NCD church in your area
- NCD Australia - Contact us to discuss any aspects of the process
NCD Regional Gatherings
These networking events are held at various times of the year in an increasing number of locations around Australia more...