Session 1: Setting the Healthy Church Scene
Who am I? or Who has God created me to be?
It is no accident that we are located where we are. God wants Disciples not church members.
What can I do in Mission?
‘The church is called to be the sign, witness and foretaste to God’s purposes in the World. It’s not the church of God that has a Mission, it’s the God of Mission that has a Church.’
What is God up to in our community?
We dealt with Church Questions; programs we are running, strategies for growth, fixing what is broken, a map of what? and how?’
Do we spend enough time discerning the unique things that we have to offer?
Signs of Life
Describe your congregation…. We did a very beneficial exercise in groups – If your church was an animal, what would it look like?
Movement – how does your animal get around?
Respiration – what does your animal breathe?
Sensitivity – how touchy-feely is it? Or does it have armour plating?
Growth – is it big or small, growing or shrinking?
Reproduction – does it produce offspring? Or is that a thing of the past?
Nutrition – what does it eat?
Excretion – what does it leave behind?
Our animal was a rather small adult Elephant! Long past reproducing! It has four large feet, solid and assured. It moves deliberately, not slowly, taking time to consider its environment. Our animal absorbs the breath of those around him, loving and strengthening him. Our animal loves and cares for its family, community and species. It has large ears for listening and a soft, subtle trunk for reaching out and caressing. Our animal is small now, but elephants live a long, long, time. Our animal eats all that God has created for him, carefully, slowly and graciously. It is not surprising he leaves a lot behind…. Goodness, kindness, forgiveness and a strong foundation!
This is something I would like to do with our congregation, maybe at Memory Lane, as it was fun and got everyone thinking about the good parts and the not so good parts of our congregation.
12 Keys to an Effective Church
One Mission outreach One major program
Shepherding visitation Open accessibility
Stirring, helpful worship High visibility
Significant relational groupings Land, landscape and parking
Strong leadership team Adequate space and facilities
Solid decision process Generous giving
I underlined the first two, as in my group, these were agreed on as the most significant.
We were asked to focus on what we do. Mobilise our church in Mission by doing what we could do best. Look at what might be broken, find new ways of doing things, do not fear the unknown.
This is very important: Mission of a congregation is the sum of the members’ capabilities. It is not simply meeting community needs.
And keep in mind….. Change can’t go faster than the oldest member can move.
We were asked some difficult questions…..
If our church closed, would the community notice?
Is our worship inspiring and uplifting?
Are our relationships in the church underscored by love?
Can we recognise our weaknesses?
Do we focus on our strengths? Because this is the best starting point for moving forward!
Fruitful Congregations
- Radical hospitality
- Passionate worship
- Intentional faith development
- Risk taking Mission and Service
- Extravagant generosity
Healthy Congregations Framework
The health of a congregation is demonstrated in four sets of relationships;
- With God
- Worship honouring God
- Lively and transformative faith
- Names
- With Others
- Sense of direction and purpose
- Leaders with clear vision
- Respect for others
- Strong sense of community
- With local Community
- Understands context
- Will discuss faith
- Works for justice and peace
- With the wider Church
- Seek and sustain connections
- Involved in Mission at each level
Thoughts in summing up this session; we need to be REACTIVE, PROACTIVE, WELCOMING, INCLUSIVE, ACCEPTING, PEOPLE FOCUSSED, OPEN TO CHANGE, INVOLVED (Social Justice & Environment)
2: Healthy Churches; Choosing Our Future
Nine Essential Elements
- Genuine, intentional friendliness
- Sincere, passionate worship and prayer
- A building that’s been painted in the last decade
- A building that’s been cleaned within the last year
- Services that start on time
- Accurate up to date ministry information
- Obvious signage
- A clear, practical presentation of the Gospel
- Opportunities to serve – inside and outside the Church
Consensus not Compromise
One key Ministry – done well!
Six Lessons About Health
- It’s not about numbers
- It’s not about programs or events
- It’s not Minister dependent
- A church can be healthy with limited resources
- Health looks the same in a church of any size
- The list is do-able
The church is NAMES not Numbers (Rev Mark Faulkner).
Numbers are not an essential element as long as we are contributing to the wider church. Big enough to serve, small enough to know you.
Filling a calendar isn’t important or possible.
Most of the congregation leaders we engaged with over the four days were from lay-led congregations; Broken Hill, Junee, Moree and so many more around NSW/ACT
Recognise the power of small; no act is too small. No such thing as great deeds; just small things done with great love….Mother Theresa
Change is a journey not a destination.
Understanding Ourselves
Are we invisible to our community?
How can we make ourselves more visible?
Do our leaders canvas the community – find out their needs and work with them on these.
Understand the community, and don’t expect they will come to us.
Discerning our Vision
Identify most essential elements – choose one key Mission.
Lisa reinforced our own congregation’s belief that a young families worker is not necessarily the way forward for a small or dwindling congregation, if you have no young families to work with. In her Presbytery role in New Zealand, Lisa has many years’ experience in Grant funding. She often receives requests from congregations with no young families. She was finding these positions were being taken up and the people worked frantically until they were burnt out. She now pushes back on these applications.
Out of this develop a Vision/Mission Statement The process of getting there is more important than the Statement.
Being a Missional Church
How would an outsider describe your church?
What is your culture like midweek?
Do we willingly bring the gospel into our daily lives?
Is our hospitality genuine rather than institutional?
How tightly do you hold to your preferred style of music, prayer, leadership, pastoral care?
Are you open to mentoring a young person or new Christian?
Have you ever been prompted to ‘do something’ for those who don’t know Jesus, or those who are living lives of disadvantage, isolation or poverty?
Do you have a heart for what breaks the heart of our Saviour?
What risks are we willing to take?
What about failure?
Lasting missional transformation cannot be done by large scale plans imposed upon people. It is done by initiating all manner of experiments around the edges where people are given permission to try out what they are learning. These experiments are not about creating permanent change. They are about retesting and discovering along the way. The beauty of such experiments is that, like the wind of the spirit in our sails, there is no telling where they’ll take a congregation.
3: Culture Change & Healthy Churches
Barriers to Change – My favourites
All we need to do is:
Get more children We can’t afford it
Have more contemporary music I don’t want it
Get Messy church Over my dead body
Get a ‘fresh expression’ Not until I’m gone
Get back to ‘the good old days’ God is unchanging
Pray about it Get a bigger building, better coffee, etc.
Why is change so hard
- People assume the worst
- People fill knowledge gaps with fear
Culture eats strategy for breakfast!
If we fill our calendar and days with activities we enjoy and are only for our own people we are not reaching out to the needs of others.
People naturally assume the worst – our brains are hard-wired that way. Doing things differently, or doing different things, is difficult.
People usually fill knowledge gaps with fear instead of faith – communicate early, be sure everyone is heard and understood.
No second chance to make a first good impression – start off on a positive footing, what we are doing well.
Emotions influence receptivity to change – fear of change is real and natural, don’t let it be an obstacle to change.
The brain can only handle so much change at once, Old habits die hard, Resistance to change increases the closer you get to the change and the brain interprets change as a threat which in turn increases resistance.
And be aware of APATHY – We are all so busy, we must be doing well! Our church has lots of money, we’re not really needed!
How can we better connect with families and children? – Go to where they are – church beside a skate park?
Build trust and confidence – Volunteer at local schools – how can we help?
When you have no children, it is not the time to engage a family worker.
Become a foster carer/respite care for weekends
Ongoing support outside church after baptism
Provide English language classes for new citizens
Raise Discontent
Paint a picture of a better future. There is more to do, more people to reach – We are not there yet. And we can’t stay here.
Our focus will probably remain the same, our strategy may be different. Keep calling people back to what we do and how we do it….and continue to remind them of why!
Vision – a picture of the future that produces passion in the hearts of the people
Mission – your unique role in achieving vision
A Plan – HOW, WHO, WHEN….
What is the change you would like to see in your church?
Tony and I came back with so many ideas for community involvement, born of listening to our hosts, sharing with others and our prayers and reflection on the day. We need time to explore the possibilities, how we could implement the best of what we learned and we look forward to discussing new opportunities after services, at the Mission Action meetings or other informal gatherings.
In the Meantime: One step at a time
- Soak in prayer/discernment process (God will put it in your heart)
- Sense of urgency
- Buy-in (make sure everyone is on board and not just tagging along)
- Mission/Vision clarity (mission is a dream, action without vision is a nightmare)
- Communicate (early and clearly)
- Confront obstacles (look out for snakes)
- Pick short-term wins
- Don’t declare victory too soon
- You have arrived when the change is part of the culture
- Stick around to see it through
Discernment is a spiritual discipline. We must align ourselves with what God is doing. Have the courage to ask God what he would have you do. He put you in this place, He gave you the skills and gifts. Pursue God’s will.
Lord, teach us to become imitators of you, and encourage us who learn slowly! Romans 12:2
Mission Action Planning
- What does Christ want us to do?
- Who are we called to serve?
- What strengths do we have which can be built on?
- What opportunities are in our community?
- What have I been given to show Christ’s love to my community?
(Not what do I want to do, what does Christ want me to do?)
Mission starts when the people of God join God in their neighbourhood.
Have you ever said, “I’m too old, too tired, or let the young ones take over?”
We can all contribute to the Missional Imagination of our church. No-one loses the gifts God has given them we might just be slower in getting things done. What are your interests, what do you know a lot about, chat, dream and explore.
Thoughts in summing up this session; Inspire me! There are so many wonderful things happening in churches all over the world, things that people are talking about, things that are bringing people to church, things that remind us all who is in charge and why we are here!
4: Bringing it all together
After 4 days of listening, learning and sharing we were asked “what makes a healthy church”?
This is what we came up with…..
Community Strong Pastoral Care Loving Ourselves
Not Clergy Centred Engaged (God, Congregation, Community)
Attitudes/Passion Communication Balance
Faith, Hope, Love Acceptance of Differences Nurturing & Empowering
Humility Inclusive & Caring Leadership Ability to Work through Conflict
Process of getting from here to there?
What we say, we believe plus How we spend our time and money equals What we really believe
Lisa asked us to love God, your neighbours, yourself, those who love us, your enemies….doesn’t leave much wriggle room. That’s the point.
Churches that are dying
The ex-bible church – has abandoned the scriptures, no longer includes bible readings in services, does not study the bible
The Country Club church – there for the perks and privileges; music, sermons, nice building
The Bad Words church – no time for good news, full of gossips and back-stabbers, hostile meetings
The ex-Community church – does not represent the community, it’s them and us, doesn’t attempt bridge building
The good news for Peel Valley Uniting Church is, it does not have any of the above signs and is not dying! We are not sitting back and waiting to die! We have a vibrant church community. And we are identifying what is broken, building on what we do well and seeking to reach out to our wider community. It will take time. But more good news…. God’s time is very different to ours. He has given us time to learn.
And I must include the following because it concludes the four day journey.
If you want to Change, you have to be Willing to be Uncomfortable
When a church dies it is painful, but it can leave a legacy and die with dignity. We must remain open to all possibilities.
- Sell property and give funds to another church
- Gift building to another church
- Turn over leadership to community; indigenous, migrants
- Merge with another church
- Establish house church
Change
In summing up, we were asked, “what type of change makes you uncomfortable?” For me, it was ‘imposed’ change. Change that I have no control over, no input into and no forewarning.
Change that is introduced slowly, given careful deliberation and is communicated well is often fearful but the challenge and opportunities will overcome the uncomfortable.
We were also asked, “what will you take back to your congregation after this conference?”
This is what Tony and I want to communicate –
We are a vibrant, healthy church. We know what we are; our numbers are small, our Mission is real and viable, we know and care for each other, we study the gospel, we pray, we listen for God’s direction and live by the doctrines of the Uniting Church in Australia.
We came away from the Field Days in Dubbo, reinvigorated, knowing we are not alone. There are so many wonderful people in the Uniting Church facing the same challenges. So many people being the heart, hands and feet of Jesus in our country. We came away even more determined to work toward linking with our wider communities, strengthen our lay-preacher base and continue the wonderful work we do. We are faithful, we are good, we are important!