The Institute for Natural Church Development International, based in Germany under the leader-ship of Christian A. Schwarz, undertook worldwide research in the early 1990s. 1,000 churches in 32 countries were surveyed to determine if there were principles producing healthy church growth independent of

• denomination or theology
• country or culture
• leadership style
• size
• ministry model

The key question was: "What church growth principles are true, regardless of culture and theological persuasion?" As of the end of June 2009, over 60,000 Surveys have now been completed worldwide, confirming the reliability and accuracy of the original research and that there are indeed universal God-given principles that can be applied to the unique issues in every local church.

The research revealed a framework of eight quality characteristics that were critical components of the life of healthy, growing churches. All were present and none could be missing. They were:

• Empowering Leadership
• Gift Oriented Ministry
• Passionate Spirituality
• Effective Structures
• Inspiring Worship 
• Holistic Small Groups
• Need Oriented Evangelism
• Loving Relationships

The most significant finding was that the vital ingredient of each quality characteristic was the adjective. For instance, take leadership. It was not visionary leadership, or pastoral leadership, or decisive leadership which was the chief contributor to long term healthy growth but empowering leadership. That is, the principal contributor to healthy growth by leadership was the degree to which leaders empowered their people to keep growing toward greater spiritual maturity and contributing to Kingdom growth. The same emphasis applies for the other seven quality characteristics.

For more information and resources regarding each of these characteristics, follow the links above.