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NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT
This article first appeared in The Salvation Army Ontario Division’s Corp Mission Connect newsletter in February 2024. The author, Captain Laura Van Schaick, is the corps officer at Barrhaven Church in Ottawa and the secretary for women’s ministries in the Ontario Division. Barrhaven Church is one of the churches further along the NCD journey and will be conducting their third Survey this year. NCD has contributed to elevating community engagement and nurturing spiritual development within Barrhaven Church.
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The Natural Church Development (NCD) health survey poses this crucial question, asking members to agree or disagree with the phrase, “I know what my spiritual gifts are.”
When the majority of survey respondents disagreed with this statement, the Church Health committee in Barrhaven understood the need for action. As part of the NCD Discipleship Resources, The 3 Colors of Your Gifts offers a framework for church members to not only discover their spiritual gifts, but also to collectively explore how to best use these gifts for optimal church health. Interested participants were initially invited to complete an online survey, delving into their preferences for ministry activities, both current and past. Part of the survey was conducted by themselves, while another part of the survey was conducted by two individuals familiar with the participant.
Subsequent to the survey, each participant received a personalized Gift Profile which outlined their strongest, and weakest, spiritual gifts. NCD defines spiritual gifts as, “a special ability that God gives, according to his grace, to each member of the body of Christ to be used for the development of the church.” While given individually, these gifts are meant for corporate use, a concept explored in the 3 Gift Workshop.
Bill Bickle from NCD UK & Canada conducted the workshop in Barrhaven Church, guiding participants on grouping spiritual gifts into the red, green, and blue of the Trinitarian Compass. The workshop also focused on maximizing ministry potential collectively, leveraging individual gifts. Through a thoughtful analysis of our current programs and their alignment with the predominant gifts in our congregation, we gained insights into where we were ministering from a place of strength and where we were possibly missing the mark.
Several weeks later, armed with this newfound knowledge, Barrhaven Church hosted a ministry trade show, where ministry opportunities were highlighted based on which spiritual gifts were best utilized in each. Church members were able to prayerfully explore whether the ministries they are currently active in align with their spiritual gifts, or if there were other opportunities more suited to their giftings.
NCD founder Christian Schwarz shares, “God doesn’t call you to a task for which he hasn’t endowed you with the corresponding gifts. In other words, if you discover your gifts, you know to which areas of ministry God is calling you. If you discover that you have a particular gift, but don’t use it, you can be quite sure that you aren’t living up to your calling.”
Conducting a 3 Colour Gift Workshop is an excellent way to ensure your church is living up to its calling. It’s just one of the ways NCD can be utilized to foster overall church health.