Pastors and lay members of churches in the South Carolina Conference are not alone when they wonder if there is a secret to successfully growing their church. The concepts of NCD, now being used extensively by the Florida and North Alabama Conferences, are based on a book by the same name by Christian A. Schwarz.  Schwarz conducted studies in over 1000 churches in 32 countries and on five continents and discovered God-given principles that churches can use to assess the congregation and focus on in order to develop a quality of church life that “naturally” brings numerical growth. From his research, Schwartz identifies eight Biblical characteristics that are needed for growth: 1.         Empowering Leadership 2.         Gift-oriented ministry 3.         Passionate spirituality 4.         Functional structures 5.         Inspiring worship 6.         Holistic small groups 7.         Need-oriented evangelism 8.         Loving Relationships      The key is that he does not call for churches to work on all the characteristics at once.  Instead, using a scientific survey provided by NCD with a relatively small sampling, a church can identify its strongest characteristics, and, determine its lowest “minimum factor.” Usually, it's the minimum factor which limits church growth.  He then shows how a congregation, working with a coach, can use its strengths to improve its weakness area. The action steps help congregations set goals, identify obstacles, monitor effectiveness and continually address minimum factors.