Natural Church Development Australia | Community organisation

Natural Church Development Australia

Phone: +61 7 3103 0333

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25.01.2022 The world has dramatically changed - and it is insufficient to address these changes by merely considering external expressions of church, such as the scheduling of worship services, musical styles, marketing strategies, or how contemporary or cool our particular expression appears to be... the key to relevance is found in experiencing the transcendence of God in the midst of our lives... if the church does not help people encounter the transcendent God as active in their everyday lives, it has missed the core of what relevance in a religious context is about. ~ GOD IS INDESTRUCTIBLE ~ Christian A. Schwarz https://3colorworld.org/en/books/indestructible

25.01.2022 Empowerment: transforming the love of power into the power of loveEmpowerment: transforming the love of power into the power of love

23.01.2022 Over the past few years, the public has been shaken by a never-ending series of scandals among church leaders, usually revealing spiritual, emotional or physical abuse... These scandals have their deepest root in disempowering leadership paradigms that reduce people’s freedom, undermine their personal responsibility, and fail to contribute to increasing maturity ... Empowering others addresses the problem of abuse at its very root. GOD IS INDESTRUCTIBLE Christian A. Schwarz https://3colorworld.org/en/books/indestructible

22.01.2022 The NCD Discipleship Series tool for Need-oriented Evangelism has moved into the public research phase. If this is a principle that is important to you, you can help see the tool come to life by taking part in the research. Everyone who does will receive their results for free once the research phase is complete. To find out more, please visit https://myoikos.life

22.01.2022 Would love your comments on why this question often evokes strong emotions when I've asked it of Christians. Why might that be? What's your own response? What response do Christians around you give to that exact question? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. AJ

20.01.2022 As they either start gathering again, or try to navigate what church looks like in the days ahead, we're very encouraged to see an increasing number of churches doing a stocktake of their health with the NCD Church Survey. The principles of NCD apply whether the COVID virus agrees or not. https://ncdchurchsurvey.org/why-ncd

19.01.2022 20 years ago to almost exactly this hour, I was handed this book by my new boss Colin Daines and told I would need come up to speed with it since the team made use of its concepts. I began reading it on the way home on the train and didn't stop until I'd finished the last page. An unquenchable fire was lit. Nothing in Melinda and my or my family's life would ever be the same again. There was a newborn baby lying in the lounge room as I read. And today, exactly 20 years later,... through more a matter of extraordinary God-timing than any other factor, Taylor just emailed me the eBook version of that exact same book that she has just finished compiling. All these years after meeting Christian Schwarz through his research and writing, I continue to have the privilege of working very closely with him as we continue to pursue to their logical conclusion the principles of NCD, signposts to the Kingdom coming on Earth as it is in Heaven. After 20 years, many are surprised that my unshakable feeling is that we have only just begun and that I am more resolute than ever to help individuals, families, teams, churches, organizations and whole regions to stop fruitlessly trying to live against the grain of God's Kingdom, and to align themselves with the natural principles of all by itself growth and the unbelievable blessings and challenges that such a life brings. Things are about to get very very interesting in the NCD world... Adam Johnstone NCD Australia NCD International

10.01.2022 Given the current crisis, we're taking the chance to accelerate work on the very pertinent Oikos projectNCD for your extended household. Visit the link to check it out and, if you can, to take part in the International research phase.

09.01.2022 34 instances of the concept of energy can be found in the texts of the New Testament. So why is it then that, given it has enormous implications for the intrinsic motivation of people inside and outside the church, hardly any Christians (or even theologians!) in the West know the slightest thing about it? Clearly it mattered to the New Testament writers, so why should it not matter to those who claim to be Bible-believing Christians. Through this ground-breaking book by Christian A. Schwarz that theological vacuum and its practical out-workings can begin to be addressed. https://toolshed.ncd-australia.org.au/tools/gods-energy-1

09.01.2022 Been working with Melinda, Lara and Callum on the upcoming "Inspiration Test" which will help people answer the question, "what happens when you enter the room?..." Does it fill with oxygen or does the air become stale and unbreathable? One of three axes of the results will show the Hope continuum which looks at how much you are searching ("must be better!") and how much you are grateful ("could be worse!"). When this hope continuum collapses in a person's life, despair and even suicide become far more likely. For them it feels like they have neither the capacity or resilience to make anything better and that nothing in their world could be worse. As you work through these present days and seek to empower and support those around you, you may find it helpful to see how affirmatively you can agree with the test items we have formulated below. The breath of life flowing through you and the reason for hope you can bring to others is exceedingly important right now. ========== HOPE SEARCHING "must be better!" - I go to great effort to find solutions to the questions I have or problems I see. - It’s very important to me to discover the things I am wrong about. - I look for feedback about my life and what I do, no matter how confronting it might be. - When trying to figure out something or someone, I explore history for any clues I can find. - I’m always thinking of ways the activities or projects I'm involved in could be improved. - Before making decisions, I take time to carefully think through the wider consequences. - I enter into conversations where we ask each other probing questions and wrestle with confusion. - In daily life, I actively look for what I can learn from the people and environment around me. GRATEFUL "could be worse!" - I regularly show my appreciation for the people who have enriched my life. - Whenever someone has done a good job or improved in some way, I tell them. - I express my gratitude every time I have a meal. - Even when facing setbacks, the things I’m looking forward to easily come to mind. - I joyfully embrace difficult things for the sake of growth. - I look for anything worth celebrating and share that good news with others. - When with people who seem to keep talking about the negatives, I make the conversation more constructive. - I often point out what others can do better than I can. ========== The Inspiration Test research phase and personalised results will be available in the coming months. Blessings AJ https://3colorworld.org/etests

07.01.2022 Leadership within the church must focus on continually increasing people’s freedom, maturity, and sense of responsibility. These three values correlate with spiritual and psychological health. They can even serve as a litmus test to evaluate whether or not a given church should be categorised as a sect. If the expression of these three values weakens over the course of time - and if that weakening has been intentional - you can be sure that such a group is a sect. Regardless of the doctrinal statements to which it subscribes, we must call it for what it is. ~ GOD IS INDESTRUCTIBLE ~ Christian A. Schwarz https://3colorworld.org/en/books/indestructible

05.01.2022 It is said amongst some that if a church pays attention to their minimum factor, their strengths will suffer. The way forward, they say, is to focus on what they are good at to build the church up even more! One church that has shown this way of thinking is unfounded, is Gold Coast Central Seventh Day Adventists (GCC SDA). With a belief that the poor health of their Small Groups had been holding them back, they began the journey of intentional focus towards health. And guess ...Continue reading

05.01.2022 The latest book from NCD now available. Very important reading. https://toolshed.ncd-australia.org.au/tools/indestructible

04.01.2022 Even if this book has been written for both Christians and non-Christians, it will only speak to those that represent quadrants C and D. Christians don’t have all the answers, and non-Christians don’t have all the answers. Both have their strengths and limitations. Both have their blind spots, and both have their well-established comfort zones. However, there is a fundamental difference between those who are willing to grow ... and those who are not willing to do so. God is Indestructible Christian A. Schwarz Which group of people are taking most of your time? https://3colorworld.org/en/books/indestructible

03.01.2022 There is one statement made by Jesus that summarises the essence of responsibility particularly well. When he approached a person who was working on the sabbath, Jesus neither said, Don’t do that, nor, Please feel free to do that. Rather, he said: If you know what you do you are blessed; but if you do not know, you are cursed. Responsibility goes far beyond obeying a person or fulfilling the law’s command Many people prefer the ease of abiding by a law rather than be...ing challenged to make their own decisions: How much exactly do I have to do if that is not laid out explicitly? And what should I refrain from doing even if it is not forbidden? When we begin to to ask these kinds of questions, we are beginning to understand what Christian responsibility is all about. ~ GOD IS INDESTRUCTIBLE ~ Christian A. Schwarz https://3colorworld.org/en/books/indestructible * This brief narrative, which seems so highly characteristic of the historical Jesus, is only included in one of the various handwritten copies of the New Testament, the so-called Codex D, in Luke 6:5. Apparently the challenge presented by such a radical understanding of human responsibility was so great that this verse was not included in the normative texts.