Natural Church Development and Anabaptism: An integration

The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast Natural Church Development and Anabaptism and to use Prairie Rose EMC as a model for applying NCD to an Anabaptist congregation. NCD is an interdenominational approach to measuring and improving the quality of local churches. An integration of NCD and Anabaptism suggests that, despite some divergences, the two systems are highly compatible. This study also proposes that an Anabaptist vision of the church could be enhanced by a theoretical framework that articulates this vision in ecclesiological and structural terms, i.e. the bipolar paradigm of NCD. Further, an analysis of Anabaptism, the EMC, and PR lends support to Schwarz's thesis of the need for a structural reformation on the congregational, conference, and denominational levels of Anabaptism. A structural reformation could facilitate the development of the functional structures that are necessary in order to help Anabaptists to reconceive of and to actualize their vision of a bipolar church. Thus, NCD could be a creative catalyst that facilitates both positive renewal and faithfulness to the Anabaptist spiritual heritage, as Anabaptist churches face continual contextual change. This study also confirms the reformation principle ecclesia semper reformanda, since the global Christian church as well as each individual denomination and congregation must go through a process of continual renewal and reform in order to remain true to its calling. Diverse denominations and congregations may find that the structural changes proposed by NCD could be an invaluable tool for actualizing this principle within their unique ecclesial context. This may lead to a third reformation within the Christian church.