About me and Healthy Churches (NCD)

Morris Rodham - Healthy Churches (NCD) Mentor

 

I am passionate about healthy, growing churches! 

 

Christian communities who follow and serve Jesus Christ and who serve their local communities, in His love and power, really make a huge, positive difference to our world!  The more of these there are....the better it is for everyone!

 

I came to faith in Christ at school when I was 15 years old.  I wasn't from a religious family and was shocked to discover what Jesus had done for me - that He had died for me, had risen again, was alive now, wanted to forgive me and have a living relationship with me!  Why had no-one told me this before?!

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I started an interest in church growth almost as soon as I joined my local church back then as a teenager.  They were a church committed to growing new disciples, and church growth was part of their DNA.  I have been in growing churches, in various denominations, and in both urban and rural settings, most of my life ever since.    

 

After serving in the Army and then 5 years teaching, I was called to ordination in the Anglican church in 1993.  I studied church growth as a special subject at theological college.  In 1997 I became Vicar of a multi-cultural parish which was in the 10% most deprived in England.  Starting with about 40 committed members, the church grew to about 150, and giving increased from £40,000 a year to £150,000 per year.  We formed a charity and created a new £1.2 million multi-cultural community centre, and the church ran a number of community initiatives including drug and alcohol recovery schemes.  We applied the NCD principles of the 8 Essential Qualities across our church life soon after they were first published, from about 1999.  They definitely work!  And a church living them out in the lives of congregation members is a wonderful place to be!

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I was appointed as Archdeacon Missioner for the Diocese of Coventry in 2010 (hence the title 'Ven' for 'Venerable' that's in front of my name), responsible for developing the church growth strategy for over 200 Anglican churches in Coventry and Warwickshire.  I scrutinised NCD principles, including lengthy (3 days in one case!) face-to-face conversations with all of the major international NCD leaders, and visiting various denominational leaders in Canada and Germany who were applying the principles.  There was also increasing take-up within the Diocese, so much so that after a couple of years the values of NCD were proposed and accepted by our Diocesan Synod, and it became the primary strategy for the Diocese.  Subsequently I was also asked by the bishop to run the recruitment process for the whole Diocese based on NCD and church growth principles.  If churches were to grow, they needed leaders who understood and could apply these proven principles.  After a few years we had a great team of NCD mentors and were infomed by NCD that we had the most integrated strategy in the world, helping churches of all traditions, sizes and contexts to grow.  We also developed NCD principles across a 20s-30s age range, and achieved all the numerical growth targets of funded projects. 

 

After about 7 years of application, with churches supported by NCD mentors, we found exactly what the NCD research worldwide had already proved...... that those churches which applied the principles properly started to grow, and those that didn't, didn't.  

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In 2019, at 60 years of age, and beginning to think about scaling down before retirement, a unique opportunity arose to become a part-time, unpaid Vicar of a single small parish church in a village in the Lake District.  I have always loved being in the mountains (an avid mountain walker, climber and ice-climber) and, with a full team of NCD mentors etc to carry on the work in Coventry, I didn't want to lose such a rare opportunity to live in a mountain environment.  As the post was unpaid, I re-trained as an electrical PAT tester and started my own business as a sole trader to gain an income.  Within 6 months, COVID struck, with all of the agonies and pressures this brought to small, elderly, isolated, rural congregations.  Because of COVID and a range of other factors, including deciding to wait until all other vicars in the Mission Community were in post so that we could work on it together with other churches, we postponed completing any NCD surveys.     

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However, nearing 65 years of age, and after some unexpected financial provision from parents, my wife and I took the opportunity to buy a house in Penrith and take early retirement from parish ministry in 2023.  I still PAT test, am a member of my local (growing!) church, as well as assisting Anglican and Methodist churches occasionally with services, and the wider Diocese of Carlisle with NCD.  

   

So.... I am still passionate about helping churches grow!  Having successfully applied NCD church growth principles at both local church and wider strategic levels,  and been involved with Anglican, Methodist, and independent churches, in both rural and urban contexts, small and big, and without the responsibility of running a church as a leader myself any more, I am at this stage of my life offering to use that experience in supporting churches who wish to explore and/or apply NCD principles.      

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On a personal level, I am married with 4 grown up children, and 5 grand-children.  Hobbies include mountain walking (I've climbed all the Munros in Scotland), climbing, mountain-biking, ice-climbing (my favourite!), and volunteering as a Team Member of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team.  My wife and I are also keen dancers, and I DJ and organise dance events.  ​​​​​​​​​​​​

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I hope that gives you a flavour of who I am and what experience I bring to help support you. 

 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you want to explore more about NCD and how the principles can help your church grow!

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