Thinking about our overall aims,
priorities, strategy, tactics and next steps
TOWARDS UPDATING OUR MISSION ACTION
PLAN
Please can I ask you to make all this a matter
for prayer in advance of our meeting. Ask God to give us all wisdom and (eventually!)
a common mind.
Before we meet, it might be helpful to give
some thought to some of the following. We won’t necessarily go through all this
in detail when we meet, but I hope it might get us thinking. You might like to
jot down anything you think you’d particularly like to mention or discuss when
we get together.
I hope that we all basically agree on the big
picture of what a church ought to be about. It seems to me we ought to be
seeking to be disciples of the Lord Jesus and be seeking to make disciples of
the Lord Jesus. Prayer and the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit are
fundamental. Under God, we want to make disciples who will in turn be able to
make disciples. So we are aiming for mission and maturity, evangelism and
discipleship, conversions and nurture. And we want to encourage everyone to be
using their gifts in the service of others and growing in their own ministries.
We pray for growth in numbers and also in depth of commitment. Ideally, we want
to reach all sorts of people of all ages and backgrounds. But we might be limited
in what we can do. We need to keep in mind where we’d like to be, but start
from where we are, and think about what the next steps might be. We may need to
focus on some specific areas or activities or sorts of people rather than going
off in lots of different directions. What might be right for us in our context
at the moment might be very different from some other churches.
No doubt we won’t sort everything out in one
session. And our plans always need to be open to change. At least in the early stages
of our discussions, it is important for us to be open to any ideas or points of
view. It might help if we try to suspend judgement and think hopefully about
the possibilities. Depending on our personality and mood, some of us might see
problems and barriers or be resistant to change. And realism does need to come
in! But it can sometimes be all too easy to be defeatist, think something might
not work and therefore not try it etc. “We tried that a few years ago and it
didn’t work” etc.
It might be worth thinking about:
What are our:
(1) (Internal) Strengths
(1) (Internal) Strengths
(2) (Internal) Weaknesses / Limitations
(3) (External) Opportunities
(3) (External) Threats
Think about your friends, relatives,
neighbours, colleagues etc. who live locally. With whom do you have contact? How
might they be helped to move closer to Christ? How might the church help (or
hinder!)?
Could you list, “3 local people I am praying
will come to Christ, and to our church”:
(1)
(2)
(3)
What might help or hinder them? If the church
were aiming to reach them, what might it do / do differently?
We might think of local people as on a
spectrum from “no contact with Christians and no knowledge of the gospel” at
one end, to “being wholehearted church members engaged in fruitful ministries”
at the other. How can we help people to take the next step in the right
direction? What do we currently do as a church that might help with:
(1) Pre-evangelism
- Making contacts / building relationship with people
(2) Evangelism
– where there is some explicit deliberate exposure to the Christian message
(3) Christian
nurture / follow-up / discipleship / fellowship / pastoral care
(4) Training
in ministry, equipping others to serve and use / grow their gifts
(5) (Admin
/ governance / practical support of all the other stuff we’re really here for)
How effective are we in each of the above
areas? How can we be more effective? Are any of these weak / being neglected?
Given that time, energy and money are limited,
are there things we currently do which we should stop doing or do differently?
You
may recall Revd Richard Jackson (Diocesan Mission & Renewal Adviser)’s recent Deanery Synod presentation, from which
I circulated some jottings. He showed that over the last decade, some churches
in the Diocese have grown significantly and some have shrunk significantly. No
doubt there are all sorts of different factors affecting this and some places
are much harder / more "stony ground" (Mark 4:5) than others. Nevertheless,
with caveats and qualifications, he suggested that it is normally possible to
identify the following important characteristics:
Characteristics of shrinking churches:
(1) self-preservation and guarding "our" tradition is paramount. There is a disdain for spiritual enthusiasm and a lack of spiritual energy. The great concern is to keep the show on the road / building open.
(2) an institutional rather than a Kingdom focus. We want people to come to church but we are not so concerned to make Disciples.
(3) a failure to recognise cultural change
(4) predominately Sunday focused (which does not suit some people who are already involved in stuff on Sundays such as taking the kids off to the rugby club)
(5) poor spiritual understanding. Essential doctrines are regarded as optional. e.g. the bodily resurrection of Jesus is up for grabs.
(6) dependency on the clergy, especially for anything "spiritual" - a kind of vicarious spirituality where the clergy do that stuff on our behalf. Unrealistic expectations of the Vicar.
Characteristics of growing churches:
(1) informality / humanity, a warm, welcoming, accepting atmosphere - not pressured or frosty. Whilst not irreverent, not a crippling panic about getting the service just exactly "right". e.g. tolerance of toddler noise, not reproachful stares
(2) leadership. A strategic plan / sense of calling. A Mission Action Plan (MAP).
(3) addressing and removing structural barriers to growth - e.g. confusing pattern of or awkward service times
(4) shared ministry - gifts of individual members are identified, encouraged and used. (The opposite of Vicar dependency)
(5) fervent intercession / corporate prayer. Specific focussed prayer for the life of the church. A sense of spiritual battle dependent on the Lord.
(6) community engagement
(7) driven by children and youth work (willing to adapt for the sake of it)
Characteristics of shrinking churches:
(1) self-preservation and guarding "our" tradition is paramount. There is a disdain for spiritual enthusiasm and a lack of spiritual energy. The great concern is to keep the show on the road / building open.
(2) an institutional rather than a Kingdom focus. We want people to come to church but we are not so concerned to make Disciples.
(3) a failure to recognise cultural change
(4) predominately Sunday focused (which does not suit some people who are already involved in stuff on Sundays such as taking the kids off to the rugby club)
(5) poor spiritual understanding. Essential doctrines are regarded as optional. e.g. the bodily resurrection of Jesus is up for grabs.
(6) dependency on the clergy, especially for anything "spiritual" - a kind of vicarious spirituality where the clergy do that stuff on our behalf. Unrealistic expectations of the Vicar.
Characteristics of growing churches:
(1) informality / humanity, a warm, welcoming, accepting atmosphere - not pressured or frosty. Whilst not irreverent, not a crippling panic about getting the service just exactly "right". e.g. tolerance of toddler noise, not reproachful stares
(2) leadership. A strategic plan / sense of calling. A Mission Action Plan (MAP).
(3) addressing and removing structural barriers to growth - e.g. confusing pattern of or awkward service times
(4) shared ministry - gifts of individual members are identified, encouraged and used. (The opposite of Vicar dependency)
(5) fervent intercession / corporate prayer. Specific focussed prayer for the life of the church. A sense of spiritual battle dependent on the Lord.
(6) community engagement
(7) driven by children and youth work (willing to adapt for the sake of it)
(1) Energised by faith
(2) Outward looking focus
(3) Seeks to find out what God wants
(4) Faces the cost of change and growth
(5) Builds community
(6) Makes room for others
(7) Does a few things – and does them well.
There are apparently some people who are in to a thing they call “Natural Church Development”. I gather they reckon there are 8 things that determine this, and that church growth is likely to be limited by whichever is the weakest.
The eight criteria are:
(1) Empowering leadership
(2) Passionate spirituality
(3) Gift orientated ministry
(4) Need focussed evangelism
(5) Inspiring worship services
(6) Functional structures
(7) Holistic small groups
(8) Loving relationships
Do you think any of these are weaker in our
church and therefore holding us back? How could we improve in that area?
Are there things we should be doing as a
benefice of 3 parishes or with other churches / Christians?
Any other suggestions or ideas?
Ultimately, our goals / Mission Action Plan ought
to be SMART:
S - specific
M - measurable
A - achievable
R - resourced
T - time limited
Some resources:
http://www.diochi.org.uk/downloads/Resources/PCC/Mission%20on%20the%20MAP%202011.pdf
– some of the above is cut & pasted from here!
http://www.churchmaps.co.uk/
Peter Bolt, Mission Minded: A Tool for Growing Your
Ministry Around Christ’s Mission (St Matthias Press)
Colin Marshall & Tony
Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The
Ministry Mind-shift That Changes Everything (Matthias Media)
Mike Chew & Mark
Ireland, How To Do Mission Action
Planning: A Vision-Centred Approach (SPCK)
Paul Baynes & Tim
Sledge, Mission-Shaped Parish:
Traditional Church in a Changing Context (Church House Publishing)
Any other useful
resources?
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