Cycle Starter Plans

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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

Fellowship

  • Allow more time than usual in an upcoming meeting when you will visibly put aside the agenda, your diary, your phone and all other distractions to purely focus your interest and attention on the person or people with whom you are meeting.
  • Ask anyone you come across in your church or small group, who seems to have some longer-term tension with another person, to tell you one or more positive things about that person, then encourage them to communicate those to the other person in some way.
  • Connect with members of your ministry team in a social context where there is no agenda other than enjoying each other's company and relating to one another.
  • Develop a creative way of promoting your church's small groups, helping people to identify the unique details of each (e.g. meeting time and frequency, age group, gender, topics, format, etc.)
  • Invite some people from your church that you don't know very well into your home or out somewhere for a meal.
  • Speak to or send an affirming note to at least one person each week who you believe has done a good job of something in their life. It may be recent or something you have observed over time.
  • To help others feel more comfortable in sharing the issues they are facing in daily life, be prepared to share the challenges and difficulties you face.
  • Write down all the negatives you can think of to do with collaboration. Be honest and thorough. Then (understanding that collaboration has been proven by NCD as essential for long-term healthy growth), write down as many benefits of collaboration you can think of. Keep growing your list until it is more convincing than your list of negatives.