An Update on the work of the Church Health Team
You are invited to read the Update which appeared in the February 2010 Chimes. Click here. Read the March 2010 Chimes piece on the Visitor Friendly Church by clicking here.
A summary report of the accomplishments of the 1st cycle of Natural Church Development at Princeton UMC was published in the Chimes and on the Church Health Team website page this past summer. Our church created new Mission and Vision Statements to give all of us unity in the direction of our service work for the Kingdom of God. We started new initiatives for becoming a more welcoming church through Radical Hospitality, and towards improving each one’s spiritual development through Intentional Discipleship.
PUMC has now begun our 2nd cycle of the Natural Church Development process with the Church Council’s appointment of a new Church Health Team and the completion of the 2nd PUMC Health Quality Characteristics Profile Measurement. A comparison of this year’s measurement with our profile from 2006 shows we had a dramatic improvement in our church health quality index due to the work the entire church has done during the 1st cycle of Natural Church Development. If you are familiar with the Quality Characteristics of PUMC from our past Church Health Team communications, you will be impressed with these results
- Our average Quality Index score rose 34%, from 37 in 2006 to 50 in 2009, compared with a typical church increase of 10 to 15% from one cycle to the next. From being almost in the very low health quality category, we are now at the median score for over 55,000 healthy churches in over 70 countries. Should you say something about the scale so that people understand the number “50” in terms of its relative value.
- Our previous lowest score, called the Minimum Factor, for Needs-oriented Evangelism, went up 116%, from 19 to 41. This is the characteristic on which the Church Health Team focused during the 1st cycle.
- Other notable improvements were for Passionate Spirituality, up 75%, Effective Structures, up 49%, and Gift-based Ministry, up 32%. Our previous highest score for Empowering Leadership, also called the Maximum Factor, went from 50 to 61, a 22% increase.
- Our new Minimum Factor (lowest score) characteristic for the 2nd cycle is Inspiring Worship Services, which at an index score of 39 is the only PUMC characteristic that didn’t increase (unchanged) from 2006. This is where the new Church Health Team will direct its efforts for the next year and half of this cycle.
If you are not familiar with this process, these terms and their significance to our church, the Church Health Team will assist you in the coming months to know more about this vital process for keeping PUMC relevant to our mission in this world and in this community. Natural Church Development means Christians at PUMC can release the divine growth forces by which God Himself grows His Church.
While our scores are improving, we have much work yet to do, as only one of our characteristics has risen above 60, and the spread between lowest and highest scores is still a little wide for supporting a sustained healthy environment for growth. The church will still be working to improve the quality of our Evangelism characteristic through strategic plans the Church Council has endorsed, because PUMC average attendance is still declining, and there are many people in our community who do not know the joy we share in a risen Christ, who has commissioned us to make more of them His disciples.
Many of you know about the on-going work we have done to identify church and community needs, as a first step toward using our service in these needs to help grow the Kingdom of God (Needs-oriented Evangelism). While we are beginning to improve this characteristic, it is now only “slightly ahead” (41 vs. 39) of our new Minimum Factor, Inspiring Worship Services. What is this new low characteristic for us? Inspiring worship is a personal and corporate encounter with the living God. Both personal and corporate worship must be infused with the presence of God, resulting in times of joyous exultation and times of quiet reverence. Inspiring worship is not driven by a particular style or ministry focus group – but rather in the shared experience of God’s awesome presence.
This new Minimum Factor is a natural extension of work from the previous cycle, as our church will want to provide inspiration and a high quality worship experience for new people who come to us through our improving Evangelism efforts. The new Church Health Team will be seeking ways to improve the quality of all facets of our worship experience at PUMC. They will be coming to you for help and suggestions in that work.
