• Completely committed to a God-given vision
• Cared for, equipped and empowered by Godly leaders for 24/7 ministry
• Enjoying God's presence so much that worship has become a way of life
• Happily enjoying a secure and loving Christian community
• Growing daily in their full potential for Christ and working within their spiritual gifts
• So overflowing with joy that others are irresistibly drawn to God

Is your church like this? Should it be? It is the vision of Healthy Church UK to see every church in the UK becoming like this.

But our vision for a healthy church is not limited to the UK and Ireland alone. We are called to go into the whole world and Healthy Church UK is part of a world-wide family seeking to work together for health and vitality in churches in their own locality. So when disaster strikes as it has done in South East Asia, we want to be involved with what is happening there too.

So What is Healthy Church UK?

Healthy Church UK was formed in 2003, and will constantly develop as we seek to meet the needs of the UK church for best practice in health and growth in a rapidly changing world.

It developed out of the work of the British Church Growth Association (BCGA) which was formed more than 20 years ago to consider the concepts coming from Donald McGavran and Peter Wagner in the United States, and to apply them with a distinct British flavour. The Trustees decided in 2003 that the work which had been faithfully carried through, had reached an end. This decision was first a financial one, but BCGA has completed its work with no debts.

The reality is that the world and the church has changed so much that we need a new concentration, a new method of working and a new organisation. As the former Executive Director of BCGA, and with great experience in Natural Church Development, I, Philip Walker, have formed this new organisation.

Why "healthy"?

Most Church Growth thinking and methods concentrate on the fruit, but forget the need for healthy roots before fruit can be formed. It is the Natural Church Development (NCD) process which has shown us this need, even though the term "healthy" never appears in the NCD books. Much of the work of Healthy Church UK will be with NCD, as we are the appointed UK and Ireland partners for the process, but we will always be interested in good practice in local churches wherever it can be found and will seek to report it in our quarterly magazine.