Historically, when a church saw their NCD results for the very first time, they had to deal with two issues at once: their minimum factor and the overall level of their results. In quite a few instances, especially when the results are low, this can cause a significant emotional response.

It is therefore worth considering the value of helping churches to only have to deal with one of those dynamics at a time, to make it easier for them to accept their results (and make your own job much easier and less stressful).

The use of numberless results as a first step in the NCD process allows for this (see the sample Summary Guide and Story Guide that are part of the NCD Result Guides advanced profile. Such numberless profiles only require the church to consider one point to begin with: is it reasonable that this could be our minimum factor knowing that something has to be our minimum factor? The question of the level of the results is left to the side to begin with. And, if in the meantime, they have begun to accept their minimum factor, it becomes much easier to then accept the level of their results as a secondary step.

This approach is helpful even if the gap between considering the numberless results and the numbered results is only a matter of minutes. However, allowing those few minutes for them to come to terms with just their minimum factor before needing to accept the level of their results can make all the difference in terms of their acceptance of the overall result picture.

Even when a church begins to work on action plans, they don't necessarily need to deal with the overall level of their results. Whether their average is 25 or 75, they still need to focus on their minimum factor. Though of course, most churches do want to know their overall level, eventually. It is just better many times to wait a little in order to warm them up to the process before addressing that topic, or else the process may crash before it really gets started.

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