Consider an NCD Survey result in which Passionate Spirituality is the minimum factor and Effective Structures is either the maximum factor or very near the top of the profile.

I've encountered this combination quite a number of times through the years and it has led to very interesting, sometimes amusing, discussion. It represents a church with a strong focus on doing things efficiently and in an orderly fashion. In and of itself, it is difficult to fault that. When working with such a church, I encourage them by saying I believe God would be very pleased with their commitment to working out how to best structure and support the ministry they are engaged in. I point out how incredibly important it is to do as they do and review their systems and communications on a regular basis. I usually then say, "I believe God would be genuinely proud of what you've done with what he's given you." Then, after a pause... "I just think you're boring him."

Given such groups don't usually consider themselves as "spiritual superstars", they tend to take the comment with a wry smile and are intrigued to hear more.

I proceed to talk about NCD being about discovering and living out a natural, wonderfully fruitful, partnership with God. Using a team sport metaphor, I describe their church as a team who is on the field conquering pretty much any team they come up against (which usually makes sense to them given such groups often have a number of leaders who can leap relatively tall buildings in a single bound). God, meanwhile, is on the sidelines, suited up in the team uniform, cheering the side on, perhaps saying, "It's great to see what you guys are doing. Just let me know when you're ready to take on a more challenging side as I can't wait to get out there and join you." But for now, he continues to cheer, with an occasional yawn behind his mighty hand.

Presumably, God is capable of the full gamut of emotion we as humans are capable of... and then some. Delight, anger, sadness, compassion, excitement... and boredom. So, when considering our partnership with God, it's worth asking what may bring about his restlessness or the desire for a snooze. "Well-Oiled Community Church" can do a lot just by pretty much following the principles by which God grows everything in the world. However, just because there are universal principles by which God chooses to give things life, doesn't mean he is limited to or constrained by them. Without defying his principles, he can do immeasurably more, above and beyond them, if invited to do so.

Looking at page 2 of the Summary Guide for such a church is instructive.

The right-hand side of this diagram relates more to doing things directly, while the left-hand side relates more to allowing things to be done for or to you.

Roughly speaking you can divide this compass down the middle and what you end up with are quality characteristics on the right-hand side that lend themselves more to us doing things directly (empowering leadership, effective structures, gift-based ministry). On the left-hand side, you have areas that lend themselves to allowing God and others to do things for or to you (inspiring worship service, passionate spirituality, holistic small groups). In the kind of church under examination, you can see the noticeable preference.

A quick read of the lowest Story Guide themes for such a church reveals honest feedback from their side of the partnership with God. It is interesting to consider what God's feedback would be: what he thinks; what he feels; what he is invited to do.

Some of the lowest Story Guide themes for a church of the kind under consideration.

A suggestion I've heard offered to such churches is, "You should pray more." Given the result, you can't really argue with the suggestion, though it's not particularly helpful. Especially since leaders in such churches often already feel convicted about their underwhelming prayer lives and yet they don't really need to pray in order to see things continue along as they are (a well-oiled machine will continue to roll along for some time, especially if running down hill).

A somewhat more helpful question based around God's natural principles is to ask, "How could you create an environment in your church where it was quite natural to ask God to act more?" or, "What would you personally be doing in daily life or ministry if you found you had to ask God for help more than you do now?" Sometimes this will lead people to think about doing more ministry (greater quantity) and therefore need God's help with the workload. In NCD terms, we definitely don't want to be heading down that road. Healthy churches have lower work loads but greater fruitfulness because they are working smarter (with greater quality) rather than harder. And there is not a smarter way to work than to invite the full power of God into your partnership with him. A partnership he does not want to dominate in any way, but wants to enjoy as he watches you delight in what you can achieve together when he is on the field.

So, if this looks like your church, or if you are working with a church like this, have some fun encouraging the people for the great work they are doing and how pleased God would be with it, and then suggest (with a smile) that they might be boring God at the same time. Help them discover what new qualitative challenge they could take on that would stretch their faith in the everyday and open up a new and fresh prayer life they perhaps never imagined possible.

PS. The above has a strong personal affinity with my own life. While fascinated with structures and systems before, my prayer life never grew as much as when I started to work for NCD International and faced extraordinary qualitative challenges and opportunities.