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The NCD Survey is easy to take. The
challenge begins when the Survey results are received. The experience of
the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) denomination in North America has been
that most churches did not know how to address their Minimum Factor, or
would begin a change process only to become bogged down in details and too
discouraged to continue. We wanted to change that...
Lyle and I began praying for guidance and
met with Bob Logan (CoachNet) and David Wetzler (ChurchSmart) to discuss
possibilities. As a result, we invited five people to join us in becoming
the first NCD Coach Trainers for the Adventist church.
Those seven people participated in a 3-day
planning session with Bob Logan to develop an NCD delivery system
contextualized for the Adventist church. At the end of the third day, a
system was in place.
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front row, left to right: Brad Cassell, Bill
Peterson, Tom Evans
back row, left to right: Sherilyn Carlton, Marilyn Elliott,
Eric Brown, Bob Logan,
Lyle Litzenberger, Runette Litzenberger |
In the fall of 2003, the pilot for this
delivery system was begun with two local conferences working together. It
has now been used in six different locations, and will be introduced into
five additional locations before the end of 2005.
The delivery system is holistic in nature,
and includes four training sessions:
(1) NCD Introduction (1-day seminar).
The local conference invites pastors, and each pastor brings two or three
key lay leaders. The purpose of this event is to create interest and
motivation for NCD. Pastors and lay leaders return to their churches,
motivate church leadership to become involved in the NCD process, prepare
the church, and take the NCD Survey.
(2) NCD Coaches Training – Phase 1 (3-day
training). Individuals chosen by the local conference attend this
basic training and become "apprentice" coaches assigned to experienced
coaches, to work as a team to coach implementation teams (IT) through one
NCD cycle.
(3) Implementation Team Training (14
hours). A coach team is assigned to each IT to work together when the
ITs receive their church profiles, and as an appropriate process is
designed for the last four steps of the NCD cycle. Each brief teaching
segment, covering the recommended tasks of the IT, is followed by a
"practice" session with the help of their coach team.
By the end of the IT Training, a
relationship has begun between the coach teams and their ITs, and a
coaching agreement has been created. Each IT returns to its church with
the next coach session scheduled, a timeline created, and tools to help
them with their work.
(4) NCD Coaches Training – Phase 2 (2-day
training). This advanced training is scheduled six months after the IT
Training to allow coach apprentices to gain coaching experience. A second
IT Training should be held soon after the Phase 2 training, where coach
apprentices are assigned to a second IT.
Coach apprentices receive certification
after coaching two churches through the NCD cycle. Once fully certified,
the new coaches are no longer formally connected with an
experienced coach.
The coaching relationship with a church not
only serves to guide a church through the NCD process, but also to
discover potential coaches for future training from among leaders who have
done well in implementing NCD in their churches.
This delivery system is serving the
Adventist church well. In the last year we have trained 91 coaches, most
of whom are working as coach apprentices with at least two ITs. We now
have churches that have been involved in the NCD process long enough that
the positive effects are being realized, providing testimonies that will
influence other churches to get involved.
NCD is changing our churches! At a pastors'
meeting in one of our conferences, a conference leader stood up and told
the pastors of two recent experiences where two congregations are heavily
involved in NCD. The churches said to the conference leader, "We have
direction, we have vision, we know where we are going. Send a pastor when
you wish, but make sure he is in-sink with the direction this church is
going. If you can't find one, don't send one." The conference leader said,
"I was totally blown away. Finally, two churches that know where they are
going and what they are going to do!" You could hear a pin drop in the
room. The conference leader continued, "Our wish for you as conference
administrators is that every church would do NCD and every pastor take the
coaching."
The promise we have claimed from the
inception of our new NCD delivery system is found in Ephesians 3:20 and
21: "Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is
able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever
through endless ages." (NLT)
Lyle and Runette
Litzenberger are NCD Coordinators for the North American Division of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church |
