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

Multiplication

  • Aim for the goal of spending more than 50 percent of your ministry time developing other people to work in your specific area of ministry.
  • Consider establishing smaller sub-teams for planning church life based around the overarching NCD areas of Fellowship, Service and Faith (see the NCD Summary Guide). Encourage regular feedback from those groups to the core leadership and the congregation.
  • Discuss with your small group what it would take to ensure the group is always open to newcomers and the pathways by which those people are likely to end up in your group.
  • Encourage some of the key people involved in facilitating your church's worship services to look for and train another person with similar gifts to their own. Involve the new people in helping to facilitate the worship services in some way at the earliest opportunity.
  • If you are a small group leader, ask one of your members to colead part of your small group meeting. Ask them to do so again if they enjoyed it and would like more experience.
  • If you have a leadership role in your church find someone willing and able to help you do your role and take the time to train them to the point where they feel equipped to do it effectively.
  • 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.
  • Use the NCD Stewardship Test process to help your team or group to more effectively use their available time, treasure, and talent. 3colorsofstewardship.life