| New Church Development10 Best Development Practices
By Dr. Montfort C. Duncan Jr.,
Executive Director, New Church Development
 In
the fall of 2001 Percept conducted a nationwide survey of their
judicatory clients regarding what each region was doing in church
transformation and new church development. At its recent client
conference in San Diego in February, it revealed the 10 Best Practices
of a Robust Congregational Development Effort. These best practices
helped to determine if a denomination or conference (judicatory body)
was focused, unfocused or distracted in its efforts. The United
Methodist Church led all denominations responding to the survey. A
separate report was compiled just for the United Methodist Church.
Below is listed the first five of these 10 practices and the
commentary for The United Methodist Church by Percept. The last five
will be shared in my next article.
 GROWING
COMMITMENT – A growing commitment to Congregational Development at
the regional level. This is the foundation upon which a robust effort
is built, as was indicated in the primary report. The fact that this
commitment is high across the United Methodist conferences suggests
there is a solid foundation upon which to build. Continue to build
commitment and the research suggests the other practices are more
likely to follow.
STRATEGIC PLAN – An adopted strategic plan for congregational
development that provides overall vision and direction. The second
most significant practice for a robust effort is the development of a
strategic plan to provide vision and guidance to the effort. In
reality, these [first] two work closely together, each feeding the
other. A commitment will drive efforts to build a plan, but a powerful
plan will further raise enthusiasm and commitment to the effort. A
second insight that may drastically impact the work of congregational
development throughout United Methodist conferences would be the
creation of a strategic plan.
SPECIFIC TARGETS – Specific targets or goals set for new church
development, redevelopment and racial/ethnic development. Without a
target, there is nothing at which to shoot. The analysis of this
practice within United Methodist conferences suggests that relative to
other denominational groups, they are more likely to set specific
targets. Remember, however, that this practice must work in
conjunction with the others. Any targets must be the logical
particularization of the larger strategic plan. Targets must be set in
context. The strategic plan based upon good information is the
context. Without this, the targets or goals are meaningless and most
likely will not be met.
MEASURABLE ACTION – Evidence of focused action toward meeting goals.
At the end of the day it is accomplishments that are the measure of a
robust effort. Commitment and plans are critical and foundational, but
they must translate into real accomplishments. Most people know this.
So, what is the insight here? We believe it ties back to the prior
practices as much as it points out a need for greater accomplishment.
Commitment, plan and targets become real through measurable action.
Nearly 70 percent of all United Methodist conferences could benefit
from efforts to insure that targets are translated into
accomplishments.
INTEGRATED PLANNING – Annual plan evaluation, goal-setting and
budgeting are integrated into the rhythm of the regional agency.
Annual planning, goal setting and budgeting appear to be somewhat more
integrated, but it is against the total score of 10 that everything
must be judged. The good news is that the conferences are a bit ahead
of the other denominations on this practice, but the difficult news is
there is still some distance from a score of 10 (6.1). An integrated
planning process would work well with a strategic plan, targets and
measurable action, for it would provide the basis for assessing
accomplishment and then feeding back into the system the necessary
emphases to keep the effort going forward in a positive fashion.
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