In 1994-1996 a major research project was conducted on the causes of church growth: 32 countries, 30 members from each participating church, 4.2 million responses (Schwarz, Natural Church Development Handbook, 1998). It enabled a “quality index” to be developed, based on 8 quality characteristics: empowering leadership; gift-orientated ministry; passionate spirituality; functional structures; inspiring worship services; holistic small groups; need-orientated evangelism; and loving relationships (see below for a summary). Schwarz argues that measures should be developed for each characteristic based on quality not quantity:

“The point of departure for natural church development is, therefore, not goal setting in the area of quantity (3,400 in church by 2002), but in the area of quality (By the end of November, 80 percent of all regular attenders at worship services will know their spiritual gifts). In this area, we dare not neglect setting challenging, attainable, time-bound, and measurable goals.”

Empowering Leadership

“Leaders of growing churches concentrate on empowering other Christians for ministry. They do not use lay workers as helpers in attaining their own goals and fulfilling their own visions. Rather, they invert the pyramid of authority so that the leader assists the Christians to attain the spiritual potential God has for them. These ministers equip, support and motivate and mentor individuals, enabling them to become all that God wants them to be.”

Gift-orientated Ministry

“The gift-orientated approach reflects the conviction that God sovereignly determines which Christians should best assume which ministries. The role of church leadership is to help members to identify their gifts and to integrate them into appropriate ministries. When Christians serve in their area of gifting, they generally function less in their own strength and more in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Passionate Spirituality

“The concept of spiritual passion and the widespread notion of the walk of faith as “performing one’s duty” seem to be mutually exclusive…The nature of this quality characteristic becomes evident by examining the prayer life of the Christians surveyed. While the amount of time (quantity) a Christian spends in prayer plays only a minor role with regard to the quality and growth of a church, the question as to whether or not prayer is viewed as an inspiring experience, has a significant relationship to the quality and quantity of the church.”

Functional Structures

“One of the 15 sub-principles comprising the quality characteristic functional structures is the “department head principle”. I have chosen this sub-principle because it typifies the core of the quality characteristic: the development of structures which promote an on-going multiplication of the ministry. Leaders are not simply to lead, but also to develop other leaders. Anyone who accepts this perspective will continually evaluate to what extent church structures improve the self-organisation of the church. Elements not meeting this standard (such as discouraging leadership structures, inconvenient worship service times, demotivating financial concepts) will be changed or eliminated. Through this process of continual structural renewal, traditionalistic ruts can, to a large extent, be avoided.”

Inspiring Worship Services

“The word “inspiring” deserves clarification. It is to be understood in the literal sense of inspiration and means an inspiredness which comes from the Spirit of God. Whenever the Holy Spirit is truly at work (and his presence is not merely presumed), he will have a concrete effect upon the way a worship service is conducted including the entire atmosphere of a gathering. People attending truly “inspired” services typically indicate that “going to church is fun”.

Holistic Small Groups

“They must be holistic groups which go beyond simply discussing Bible passages, to applying its spiritual message in daily life. In these groups, members are able to bring up the issues and questions that are their immediate personal concerns…The meaning of the term “discipleship” becomes practical in the context of holistic small groups: the transfer of life, not rote learning of abstract concepts…it allows us to infer the level of importance given to small groups in growing churches: they are not a supplement, like a nice but dispensable hobby. No, much of the essence of true church life is worked out in small groups. Our research confirms that the larger a church becomes, the more decisive the small group principle will be with respect to her further growth.”

Need-orientated Evangelism

“Our research shows that in churches with a high quality index the leadership knows who has the gift of evangelism, and directs them into a corresponding areas of ministry…The key to church growth is for the local congregation to focus its evangelistic efforts on the questions and needs of non-Christians.”

Loving Relationships

“…it can be demonstrated that there is a significant connection between laughter in the church and that church’s qualitative and numerical growth…Unfeigned, practical love has a divinely generated magnetic power far more effective than evangelistic programmes which depend almost entirely on verbal communication. People do not want to hear us talk about love, they want to experience who Christian love really works.”