Cycle Starter Plans

View all

Having understood your church a little better with the help of the NCD Church Survey, its now time to start cycling together towards a healthier church. You’ve chosen to start experimenting and learning more about the topic to the left. Now, select one of the cycle starter plans below and write number 1 in its box. Put this sheet on your wall, then, go do it!

Next time you are meeting with others who are also working through a topic, ask each other the questions from the cycle, starting at “do” and finishing at “plan”. After a cycle you may decide the most important thing to do now is to keep going with the same plan, modify it, or choose another option from below. If choosing another from below, just write 2 in its box and so on.

If you’d like more cycle starter options, or to work on another topic highlighted by your NCD Church Survey results, just visit ncdchurchsurvey.org/cycle-starters

Relevance

  • Consider what can be done through a sermon that cannot be done equally well or better through another forum of church life.
  • Consider whether the busyness of your church's program prohibits you or others from spending quality time with friends and family who do not yet know Jesus Christ.
  • Create a survey for your congregation to discover the top 20 most inspiring worship songs, hymns or pieces of music. For a time during worship services, invite respondants to share why a piece of music inspires them and then feature it.
  • Decide with your small group on a date (no more than 3 months away) at which your group will officially cease and every member must review their small group involvement in light of their personal growth needs. The group will then only restart if the leader to that point or another member has the energy and vision to keep going with it.
  • Establish exact dates (no more than 6 months away) for reviewing the current ministry of every person under your leadership to help them grow in the role, find a more suitable ministry, or take a break if needed.
  • Help your congregation understand that inspiring worship services depend upon every person bringing along their unique gift-based offering of worship to bless God and encourage the church. Help individuals to discover what their offering might be and how it could be expressed regularly before, during, or after the formal part of the service.
  • If each of your individual worship service components always seem to go for about the same length of time each week, consider what is "magical" about that length of time and why it might not be even more fruitful if each one was shorter or longer.
  • Look for any contribution you are making to church life that is not bearing discernible "Kingdom fruit", stop doing it and try something else.