Christian A. Schwarz, Three Colors Series, Natural Church Development
Referenced in: Ministry Involvement and Gift-Based Ministry
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
The foundational piece of this approach is Christian A. Schwarz, The Three Colors of Ministry: A Trinitarian Approach to Identifying and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts. It is based on the popular Natural Church Development (NCD) process used by over 50,000 churches in 60 different countries (translated into 40 different languages), which highlights eight characteristics of healthy churches, including “gift-oriented ministry.” It is designed for use with four companion volumes.
- First is Color Your World With Natural Church Development: Experiencing All God Has Designed for You, which inisists that the biblically-based principles used by NCD for developing congregations may also be effective in the spiritual development of the individual believer. It introduces the Trinitarian Compass (detailed in The Threefold Art of Experiencing God, see below) and presents a process for charting a personal growth path in light of the eight characteristics of healthy churches.
- The second volume, The Threefold Art of Experiencing God: The Liberating Power of a Trinitarian Faith, suggests each person of the trinity expresses distinct and important aspects of God’s nature, that different wings of the church have overemphasized one aspect over the others, and that a balanced faith integrates each person.
- The third, The Three Colors of Love, helps one identify the character traits (each identified with a person of the trinity) that may hinder efforts to love others more effectively.
- The fourth, The Three Colors of Ministry, contains two inventories. The first, Change Compass, helps readers to assess which aspect(s) of God’s nature one tends to emphasize or minimize, with suggestions for balance. The second identifies a person’s gift profile among 30 spiritual gifts, with discussion on how the gifts are connected with a person of the trinity. It is designed for use with assistance from a NCD certified spiritual gifts counselor who is trained to interpret the results of the inventory.
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