Critics of the church growth movement have often emphasized the need for quality congregations. "Don't focus on numerical growth, concentrate on qualitative growth." Christian Schwarz agrees wholeheartedly!
Through careful research, Christian Schwarz has verified the link between church health and growth. Having worked among German churches for a number of years, he has broadened his studies to include churches from around the world. There has never been such an extensive, statistically valid, worldwide church growth research project ever conducted.
The study examined 1,000 churches in 32 countries from 5 continents. A total of 4.2 million pieces of data were collected and thoroughly analyzed, using approved methods from social science. The research followed stringent scientific procedures assuring the accuracy of the results. Christoph Schalk's thesis at the University of Wurzburg demonstrated the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.
- Reliability = the consistency of the results, i.e. you get the same results if you repeated the survey
- Validity = the relevance of the results, i.e. the survey measures what it's supposed to be measuring
Who was studied?
- 1000 different churches on five continents
- 32 countries
- 18 languages
- 4.2 million pieces of data
- large and small
- growing and declining
- churches persecuted by the state and churches financially supported by the state
- well-known churches and totally unknown churches
- churches from areas currently experiencing great spiritual revivals, as well as from regions which appear to be more spiritually developing
The result: The research results confirm what many leaders have known intuitively -- healthy churches are growing churches, making more and better disciples in loving obedience to Christ. Natural Church Development is a “principle-oriented” approach. “Models” are concepts that one or sometimes many churches in some part of the world have experienced positively. But imitating these experiences may not be the right answer for churches in other situations. On the other hand, “principles” are those elements that have been proven to apply to growing churches around the globe. Eight essential qualities (principles) were identified, which can be measured quantitatively.
- Empowering Leadership
- Gift-based Ministry
- Passionate Spirituality
- Effective Structures
- Inspiring Worship Services
- Holistic Small Groups
- Need-oriented Evangelism
- Loving Relationships
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