49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Says some common things in an uncommon way!, June 4, 2002
This review is from: Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches (Hardcover)
I believe it was actually here on Amazon.com that I read someone's assesment that this book looks like an infomercial. Whoever said that... was right! You will be impressed by Schwarz's graphics and charts-- although some of them will take a bit of deciphering to comprehend. And, you'll like the easy lay out of this book (in five parts: here's what we're talking about, here's when to do it, here's how to do it, here's why... now, do it this way...
My only negative critique of Schwarz is that he starts off by pummelling the church growth movement-- and its highly pragmatic orientation (which he caricatures like "do this and your church is guaranteed to grow by x amount of people in the next year"). I have no problem that he takes this approach to the movement at the outset of his book (we could stand to look at the issue from many perspectives, and I think there does need to be some balance here), but Schwarz's theories CAN come close to being just another pragmatic approach, if not read and implemented carefully.
His work is invaluable in that it causes us to stop, step back, and look at the issue of QUALITY growth as opposed to seeking out QUANTITY growth. Of course, I'm not so sure that many church growth books would actually disagree with this idea. Schwarz's conclusion is that if you get the quantity, quality will happen (see-- this can quickly sound like pure pragmatism, if you're not careful).
I think, however, he is aiming at a more organic view of growth-- than a managerial or business model. In this, his comparison in the middle of the book between a robot and a human is helpful. Sure, you can create a robot (or a church) by doing this certain thing. But, it can't change, can't adapt, can't maneuver, can't reproduce itself. On the other hand, sometimes humans are messy... but they can adapt... they are living... and so should be the Body of Christ, the Church.
The way Schwarz lays out his eight "biotic" (life giving) principles is helpful, especially in how he illustrates how they affect each other-- and the idea of the minimum factor, the idea of interdependence in the system, etc... In this, those charts ARE helpful.
Much of what he writes is not new. What is helpful, though, is that there has been a comprehensive survey going on behind the scenes of this book-- and Schwarz lets you in on the preconceptions he had, what he thought he might find out but didn't, where he was wrong in his initial gut takes, etc. In other words, the most helpful aspect of this information is HOW he says it, and how you can work through it and apply it.
Much of what is in this book I have read (in different ways) in Callahan's book on "12 Strategies of Effective Churches," in Aubrey Malphurs book "Planting Growing Churches," and others. An interesting study might be to chart all of these out side-by-side, and see what the commonalities are... Just a thought. If you're only going to be one of those books, though, get this one. The way in which the information is presented (graphically and linguistically) places this at the top of the list.
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Natural Church Development, December 25, 1999
This review is from: Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches (Hardcover)
Schwarz does an extensive scientific study on what makes churches grow. The research shows 8 quality characteristics of a healthy (and therefore a growing) church: Loving Relationships, Empowering Leadership, Need-Oriented Evangelism, Functional Structures, Holistic Small Groups, Inspiring Worship Service, Passionate Spirituality and Gift Oriented Ministry. As a Pastor I found the information contained in this book to be extremely helpful as it caused me to concentrate on the minimum factor in our church. There is a corresponding survey that must be taken to get full use out of the research and help you identify what your strengths and weaknesses are in your church. If you don't think scientific research can be effective at measuring intangible things like spirituality, or spiritual gifts then this book is not for you. Otherwise it will be an excellent investment.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Single best resource for ministry planning I've found, July 14, 2000
This review is from: Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches (Hardcover)
As a full-time church consultant, I read a lot of good books on how to enhance ministry in the local church, and I recommend a lot of them to the pastors and church leaders I work with. This book was given to me in 1997 and I fell in love with it at first sight. In January of 1998, the Natural Church Development survey became available for use by English-speaking churches, and since then I have used it with every congregation where I have conducted a full consultation.
At first, the work that I did with the survey represented only about 5% of what I did with churches during a consultation. But the more I have worked with the survey, the more valuable it has become to me. Now, this book and the results generated from the corresponding survey more often than not become central to my ministry recommendations for the congregation I am working with.
They survey consists of two questionnaires--one filled out by the senior pastor, the other filled out by 30 lay leaders. The survey assigns the church a percentile score on each of "eight essential qualities of healthy churches." The minimum factor--the one that scores lowest--is the area of church life most in need of creative attention, and the one where an investment of time and energy can produce the greatest return in terms of improved health.
I find that church leaders are far more willing to give weight to a Natural Church Development score than they are to my intuitive observations about what their church needs to attend to (and appropriately so), and so they are more willing to make needed changes.
This tool is designed to be used regularly, like an annual or semi-annual health checkup for churches. Repeating the survey monitors progress and reveals what area of church life needs the greatest attention now.
If you believe it is the nature of a healthy church to grow, and you want to identify and remove barriers to health and growth in your church, you won't go wrong with this book.
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