A Natural Church Development survey has been created to enable individual churches to be measured in each of these eight areas. Questionnaires are filled out by 29 active, involved lay persons and by the pastor. The data from these questionnaires is compared to the data previously entered from ALL the Christian churches in the U.S. that have ever taken the survey. The results are then computed and can be printed out so the church can easily see their strengths and weaknesses in each of these eight areas.
The survey was designed by Christoph Schalk, a social scientist and psychologist, who drafted the new questionnaire with rigorous standards for objectivity, reliability and validity, and used approved methods from social science for the analysis of the data. This allows the results of the survey to be based on sound scientific research. This research project was one of the most comprehensive studies on the causes of church growth ever undertaken. Churches from a total of 32 countries participated. The survey questionnaire, which was to be completed by 30 members of each church, was translated into 18 languages. This research provides worldwide scientifically verifiable answer to the question, "What church growth principles are true, regardless of culture and theological persuasion?"
The survey questions do not ask members to "appraise" the church, but to describe "actual behavior." Each church's responses are compared to the roughly 4 million previously collected answers and creates a church profile. The NAD Evangelism Institute processes the surveys and returns the church profile, complete with graphs, showing what the church members' answers determined was the minimum factor. This then gives the church a starting point for building the quality of their church. Some churches then choose to work with a trained coach to assist in setting goals and intentionally seeking to improve their minimum factor.
The survey kit includes:
The kit costs $295.00 and can be ordered by calling the NAD Evangelism Institute at (269) 471-8303.
**Please note, the NAD Evangelism Institute is only able to assist Seventh-day Adventist churches in the United States with the NCD Survey. If your church is another denomination and located in the United States please contact the U.S. Partner, NCD America. If your church is in another country, please work with the NCD Partner for your country. NCD Partners can be located via the NCD International website.
This report provides a deeper level of analysis to the NCD Survey. While the standard survey report gives information on eight key areas of church health, this report goes deeper and shows your church which questions were asked for each of the eight areas and how your church answered the individual questions compared to the national average
The Profile Plus report is included in the results packet.
