Question:
I'd always been told and have communicated to others that the Growth Forces (Biotic Principles) are such an important aspect of NCD. So why does the NCD Survey Workbook not mention them?
Answer:
The Growth Forces are still a central part of NCD and always will be. It might be comforting for those who love the Growth Forces to know that one of the authors of the NCD Survey Workbook is also a co-author of one of the most widely used Biotic Principle training presentations used in the NCD world (and personally also loves the Growth Forces). So why are they not mentioned in the NCD Survey Workbook.
There are a number of misconceptions about the Growth Forces. One is that the usage of the Growth Force terminology, or trying to 'force' the Growth Forces into action plans, is an appropriate application of them (of course both of these approaches can and frequently do serve to achieve exactly the opposite of what the Growth Forces are intended to do - more on this later).
The other major misconception is that a church cannot make (or has not made) true progress with their NCD results if they haven't learnt about the Growth Forces and how to systematically and conciously apply them. It is not uncommon that a church will improve by 10 or 15 points on average and yet the comment from an NCD coach or enthusiast might be 'Their progress is encouraging, but I don't think they've done it biotically.' Unfortunately this comment serves to make the church feel like second class citizens in the NCD world but more importantly, it simply isn't true.
Consider this.
The original observation by Christian Schwarz of Growth Forces at work in healthy churches did not relate to churches who understood the terminology and systematically applied the Forces as discrete principles. These churches had applied the essence of the principles without ever knowing what they were called. Christian simply observed that the Growth Forces (as he understood them) were clearly in operation in healthy growing churches.
That is, a HEALTHY GROWING CHURCH = A BIOTIC/GROWTH FORCE CHURCH.
In the early days of NCD, the three main NCD paradigm elements were...
- the Quality Characteristics
- the Biotic Principles/Growth Forces
- the Bipolar approach
Over subsequent years, other NCD paradigm elements have emerged...
- the 3 Color Trinitarian Compass approach, and
- the 3 Color Life Cycle
What every one of these paradigm elements have in common is that their full development or expression = a HEALTHY GROWING CHURCH - regardless of whether the other paradigm elements are understood or even known about.
For example,
- a church with all the Quality Characteristics well developed is a HEALTHY GROWING CHURCH whether or not the Growth Forces are intellectually understood or not.
- a church who has learnt to apply the 3 Color Life Cycle in any and all ministry decisions and environments is a HEALTHY GROWING CHURCH whether or not they have ever heard of the Quality Characteristics.
- a church who has learnt to apply the Growth Forces in all situations is a HEALTHY GROWING CHURCH whether they have heard of or understand the 3 Color Trinitarian Compass approach.
- etc. etc.
In this way, the various NCD Paradigm elements can be understood as 'vocabularies'.
It is possible to make the statement 'I would like a glass of water' in hundreds of different languages. If I only speak English but someone makes the statement to me in Spanish, I will not be able to respond, no matter how simple the request. But as long as the statement is made in a language that the listener can understand, it can be responded to.
It is well known that NCD is published in over 40 spoken languages. The often unrecognised other blessing is that within each of these languages, there are a number of sub-languages (Quality Characteristics, Growth Forces, 3 Color approach, etc.) that will be understood best by different people. So if, like many, you've passionately presented the Growth Forces (or any other NCD vocabulary) to a group only to met by vacant stares or snoring, do not be disheartened for the sake of NCD. You simply weren't speaking their preferred language.
The NCD Survey Workbook doesn't speak about the Growth Forces simply because the greatest majority of churches come to the NCD Survey process because of an affinity with or at least acceptance of the Quality Characteristics. If within a group of key influencers working through the workbook you discover that someone really likes the Growth Forces, or the 3 Color approach, or the Bipolar paradigm etc. make sure that you encourage them to feed into the process from that perspective. It will only serve to enhance the progress of a church if everyone is speaking their preferred language and not being forced to understand a language that is not their 'native' tongue.