The following eight quality characteristics make up the Natural Church Development model outlined in the book by Christian A. Schwarz, Natural Church Development. After completing a series of surveys, a church is evaluated on each of these characteristics in order to provide a portrait of church health.
Empowering Leadership
“¢ Leaders of growing churches invest the majority of their time in discipleship, delegation, and multiplication.
Gift-oriented Ministry
“¢ The role of church leadership is to help its members to identify their gifts and to integrate them into appropriate ministries.
Passionate Spirituality
“¢ A church, regardless of how orthodox its dogma and view of Scripture, can hardly expect to experience growth as long as its members do not learn to live their faith with contagious enthusiasm and to share it with others.
Functional Structures
“¢ Development of structures that promote an ongoing multiplication of the ministry is essential.
Inspiring Worship Service
“¢ People attending “inspired” services typically indicate, “Going to church is fun.” (Inspiring worship is not about being “seeker sensitive” or having “contemporary” music.)
Holistic Small Groups
“¢ Holistic small groups go beyond just discussing Bible passages to allowing members to bring up those issues and questions that are immediate personal concerns.
Need-oriented Evangelism
“¢ It is the task of each Christian to use his or her gifts to serve non-Christians with whom one has a personal relationship.
Loving Relationships
“¢ Unfeigned, practical love has a divinely generated magnetic power far more effective than evangelistic programs that depend almost entirely on verbal communication.
