Natural Church Development at Immanuel

Our Natural Church Development Team is comprised of chair Dave Reimann, Council Liaison: Nancy Hartford, Bob Badertscher, Pastor Erick, Jennifer Timm, and Connie Young. Bruce Belanger from Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos serves as our coach.

The survey results indicated our minimal factor is Passionate Spirituality. What was measured: To what extent is the spiritual life of our members characterized by prayer, enthusiasm, and boldness? Passionate spirituality refers to the vibrancy and deepening of a believer's personal walk with Christ. Typically, spiritual maturity is measured by: how long someone has known the Lord, knowledge of the Bible, attendance at activities, participation in programs, awareness and utilization of spiritual gifts, and stewardship. Passionate spirituality is not something you have, rather it is a path you are on, where continually learning from and growing closer to Christ.

Why was Passionate Spirituality identified as our minimal factor? This was the topic of discussion at a focus group meeting held on January 21, 2007. Over 30 participants provided valuable insight to the Church Development team regarding Passionate Spirituality at Immanuel. Some of the major themes identified are: Too shy, Lutheranism, fear of appearing too religious, too busy, need more reasons to study the Bible, need more knowledge of how to pray, need to share testimonies, need accountability, lack of knowledge of spirituality.

Action Plan
Throughout the year, we encourage you to listen to your heart and prayerfully consider participation as we work together in addressing issues related to Passionate Spirituality. The NCD Team developed an action plan and has been implementing it this year. The Team actively sought input and helps from various church Teams. Completed and ongoing activities include:

• Prayer Ministry
• Lenten Prayer Vigil
• Encourage all committees to incorporate prayer into their meetings
• Labyrinth Walk
• Beginning prayer classes
• Stewardship- Spiritual Gifts
• Placed Points to Ponder in the weekly bulletin
• Articles in The Light
• NCD weekend was held on September 15-16. A special emphasis was placed on Passionate Spirituality
• Working with Youth on a "silent-witness" fund raising events (wooden silhouettes of the church)

Passionate Spirituality and You
Passionate Spirituality is an important aspect to a successful church. We are probably all spiritual to some degree if we regularly attend church. But are we Passionate? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do we integrate faith into all areas of our lives?
• Do we sense God's presence and involvement in the different areas of our lives?
• Are we enthusiastic about our church?
• What are we doing to learn and teach God's desires for our church's future?
• In what ways do we spend personal time connecting to God during the week?
• Do we read the Bible on our own and are we integrating what we read into our everyday life?
• Do we reflect our experience of God in our conversations with others?
• Do we talk about God's work in our lives?
• Do we inform people of prayer needs?
• Do we pray for each other?

Please reflect on the questions above and discuss them with your family and friends.

What other steps can you take to improve your passionate spirituality? There are many ways, but consider the following options:

• Increase your prayer.
• Is there time in your busy daily schedule for scripture and prayer? One resource is the Daily Texts from the Moravian Church (a full communion partner with the ELCA). For over 250 years, the Moravian Church has been providing this ecumenical daily devotional. Today, these daily texts reach 1.5 million people worldwide in over 50 languages. You can sign up for these texts and receive them daily via email by visiting www.moravian.org/daily_texts.
• The ELCA has a Daily Bible Reading that can be read online and subscribed to via email. See www.elca.org/ScriptLib/CO/bible/tbrBibleView.asp for more information.
• Work to develop enough passion about your spirituality to talk about it with others.

Assessment
In early 2008, we plan to conduct the survey again to assess our progress. We will report our findings back to the congregation during the spring of 2008.The survey results indicated our minimal factor is Holistic Small Groups. The NCD process is a way for congregations to continually monitor their effectiveness, making special efforts to improve any minimal factors. By employing this process in an ongoing manner, we can keep improving our church.

Please feel free to contact any of the NCD team members for more information. Thank you for your support in this process!