Dear friend,

Today I want to invite you to become part of a worldwide project that has the potential of transforming tens of thousands of churches on all six continents, millions of believers and many more millions of people who do not yet know Christ. Let me explain the background.

Click Christian's photo for the Campaign invitation video

Results of the NCD Process

In the past few years, more than 40,000 churches in 70 countries have become involved with Natural Church Development. The results are en- couraging. Churches that have done three or more NCD surveys have seen the following changes within the 31 months between the first and the third surveys:

• The quality of these churches increased an average score of 6 points.
• The growth rate increased by 51% on average.

Notice that these figures are not some selected highlights, the "Hallelujah stories,” so to speak. No, these are the average results of all churches involved, including the struggles, including the failures. In other words, any church that launches an NCD process — and sticks with it — is more likely to experience these results than not.

These numbers in themselves may still sound rather abstract, but if we translate them into ordinary language, they mean something highly significant: more love, more forgiveness, more Christ-centeredness, more answers to prayer, more energizing worship, more outreach (as a whole, there are 170 individual areas in which the quality has increased). These numbers also mean that more than a million people have joined the participating churches due to their involvement in the NCD process.

The Campaign Idea

At NCD International, our constant questions are: How can those churches that have already been involved with NCD be better supported to focus their energies even more, so that they can experience more sustainable fruit with less energy investment? And how can we encourage those churches that haven't yet been involved, to launch their own NCD process? To address these questions, we have developed a concept that is based on our own learning experiences in 40,000 churches: the "Color Your World Campaign.”

It is a five-week process targeted at involving all church members in relating the essence of NCD to their own heads, hands, and hearts. The Campaign is designed to be a highlight of the annual church calendar; a time-limited period in which all activities are focused on the same goal; a spiritual enterprise that starts wherever we are and leads us two or three decisive steps forward.

Please download an information sheet and discuss this opportunity with your church leadership team.

I am looking forward to co-operating with you in this concerted effort.

Together in His service, Christian A. Schwarz

There are a number of tools available to help your church on the Campaign journey. Most of these tools are available for download when you register your church for Color Your World. Others are available through your NCD National Partner.

(Please note that for the Campaign, these tools are currently only available in English. Other languages will be progressively added in due course.)

Following is a brief explanation of each and how to obtain them.

Invitation from Christian Schwarz

Click the image for version options

This short video invitation from Christian Schwarz can be used in your worship services on the lead up to the Campaign to provide an overview and encourage people to participate. It can also be used by your small group leaders at the beginning of the Campaign.

It is available in a number of downloadable formats.

Pastor Workbook

Click the image for a sample

The Pastor Workbook is the starting place and roadmap for your Campaign journey. A copy will go into the hands of each member of a small Pastor Team responsible for steering your church through Color Your World. With the help of instructions, checklists, scripts, creative suggestions and links back to this web site, the workbook will guide the Pastor Team in...

- developing 5 worship services in line with the themes of Color Your World

- identifying and supporting the Color Your World small group leaders

- taking care of the organisational details of the Campaign

The Pastor Team will also have the opportunity to empower selected people in the church for some other optional roles detailed in the Pastor Workbook. These include...

• a 3 Color Dinner Team
• a Color Your World News Team
• a Prayer for Light and Color Team
• a Decoration Team

(available for download after registration)

Small Group Leader Workbook

Click the image for a sample

Whether you have many experienced small group leaders or will need to ask some people to specially lead a group during Color Your World, the Small Group Leader Workbook will make life easier. It provides checklists and step-by-step instructions for facilitating 5 weekly interactive group sessions. These sessions include discussion around the week's reading topics, quizzes for fun, discovering the 'Color Profile' of each member and your church as a whole, exploring your church's NCD Survey results, as well as prayer times and practical weekly exercises to help each member to color their world.

More experienced group leaders are also given the freedom to shape the sessions to best fit their unique small group.

(available for download after registration)

Reading Recall Videos

These downloadable 7 minute videos are also available for your small group leaders to show at the beginning of group sessions to help members recall the readings of the week. Each of the 5 weekly videos conclude with a discussion starter from Christian Schwarz. If needed, help is provided through the Color Your World web site on how to produce these videos in a format convenient for your small group leaders to use.

(available for download after registering your church)

The Color Your World book

Click the image for a sample

The book, Color Your World with Natural Church Development is the primary text studied each day by all Color Your World participants. Churches registered for Color Your World can obtain a discount of up to 50% on this book.

We know that people read in very different ways. Some take hold of a book and read it from cover to cover. Others read some sections and leave others alone. Still others prefer to just look at headlines and pictures. Because of the format of the full-color, illustrated, Color Your World book, your people get a choice. In less than 5 minutes a day, those who are not avid readers can gain an overview of the topics according to a simple pattern.

Of course, keen readers can fully study and even explore the online infomation beyond the book. It's only natural since in one respect, Color Your World is about the diversity that makes up God's creation - even the reading styles of His children.

(available from your NCD National Partner)

Click the image above for a sample of the Reading Guide Introduction including the summary reading pattern.

Reading Guides

Click the image for a sample of Week 1

Your participants will be taken through the Color Your World with the help of a set of Reading Guides. Each week-long guide outlines the daily readings. To prepare for their weekly small group discussion, the readers are encouraged make notes in the guide about their reflections and questions from the Color Your World book.

(available for download after registration)

Promotional Material

Click the image for a sample of the Poster

To help get your people on board for the Color Your World journey, there are a number of promotional tools available. These include a video invitation from Christian Schwarz, a Color Your World poster, participant invitations and more.

To also assist in this promotional phase, a number administrative worksheets are also provided.

Most of these are provided in template form to allow you to customize them for your unique church.

(available for download after registering your church)

The Natural Church Development Church Survey

The NCD church survey is an integral part of Color Your World. Each participating church will complete an NCD survey within the 12 months prior to the Campaign.

Each Color Your World church will also complete another NCD Survey during the year following the Campaign. This enables your church to objectively assess its progress and the helpfulness of the Campaign.

(available from your NCD National Partner)

Other Color Your World theme materials

Other Color Your World theme-related materials like video projection backgrounds are also available.

(available for download after registering your church)

Also available to anyone with a 'Color Your World with Natural Church Development' book is much of the artwork contained in the book.

(available by entering the code in the Color Your World book into the NCD International web site)

Support from the Color Your World Team

Color Your World is intended as a creative, highly interactive event. Therefore, throughout the Campaign, registered churches have access to ongoing assistance from the Color Your World team.

At any stage, simply click on one of the 'I have a question' links throughout the site, choose a communication option, and we will be happy to assist your team in finding ways to call out the artists of life from within your church.

The Color Your World web site

The communication hub throughout Color Your World is the web site you are currently on. Membership is free and allows leaders of your church and church members access to the growing pool of experience within the Color Your World community as well as their own space (blog) to share ideas with others. The site is a very flexible tool that allows you to be kept informed by a number of means. Why not take the time now to set up an account (and in the process give us permission to keep you up to date via email before, during and beyond Color Your World).

Click here to download a summary of the Campaign to share with your leadership team.

What time suits your church?

The Campaign is designed in such a way that you can work it into the most convenient time of your church calendar. To work out the dates that might suit you best and to produce a printable calendar, please download the appropriate file below.

Campaign Date Calculator - Letter Format.xls

Campaign Date Calculator - A4 Format.xls

NOTE: If this download does not start immediately upon clicking the link, right click the link and select 'Save target as...' or equivalent option.

(Campaign currently available in English)

We want to see as many churches as possible around the world experience the Color Your World Campaign. So, apart from continuing to translate the materials (currently only available in English), we have sought to make it affordable for all.

PLEASE NOTE: The tools for the Color Your World Campaign are immediately available in English. If Color Your World with Natural Church Development books are available from your NCD National Partner, and you are happy to use the Color Your World tools in English, then please proceed.

Before you register for the Campaign you need to have completed or be preparing to complete an NCD Church Survey some time in the 12 months prior to the Campaign start date. To arrange this, please contact your NCD National Partner.

Please go through the following steps to register your church and gain access to the downloadable Campaign tools.

Step 1: Create an account on this web site

To register for the Campaign you must be a member of this web site which will serve as your primary information and support source thoughout the Campaign.

Please note that the user who registers for the Campaign will be given a higher user access level on the site allowing them to download the various Campaign tools to get your church started. This would usually be the pastor or the church administrator.

Create an account on this web site if you have not already done so.

Step 2: Select your country

Please select your country from the list below.

The Color Your World site

One simple way to keep informed about Natural Church Development or the NCD Campaigns is to visit this site on a regular basis and also ask questions on the forums. However there are other simple ways to be kept informed with the help of this site.

Color Your World Mailing List

If you would like to be on the Color Your World mailing list, please create a free account on the site. Make sure you tick the box permitting us to send you update emails. Feel free to fill out some of the other information in the registration process or update your account later to help us to send you more specific information and help others connect with you on the site.

If you already have an account, make sure you have checked the mailing list box by

• going to my account,
• clicking on the edit tab
• and then About me.

Subscriptions

One of the other free benefits of being a member of the Color Your World site is that you can subscribe to an individual post, a particular member's blog, a forum or any specific topics that are of most interest to you. Whenever a post or reply is made to one of your subscriptions, you will receive an email. You can then click on the link in the email and be taken directly to the new content in your area of interest. If you have an account and you are logged on, you need only click on one of the subscribe links at the bottom of most posts around the site.

Alternatively, click on my subscriptions and subscribe or unsubscribe to the many topics available.

RSS Feeds

If you are familiar with RSS feeds you will be able to take advantage of this very dynamic technology through the site. Having set up your subscriptions, just click on my subscriptions feed and watch as the world is colored. (You will need an RSS reader or a web browser with RSS capability to access this feature. If you don't know what RSS is, you may know someone who does.)