Title: THE ROAD TO GROWTH
1THE ROAD TO GROWTH
2Part 1
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5C of E growth indicators 2003-4
- 2003 2004
change - Oct adults Sunday 853th 846th -1
- Oct adult Weekday 104th 105th 1
- Oct child Sunday 164th 164th
0 - Oct child Weekday 85th 92th 8
- USA adult Sunday 757th 760th 0
- USA child Sunday 145th 143th -1
6C of E growth indicators 2003-4
- 2003 2004
change - Easter Attend 1504th 1513th 1
- Christmas Attend 2653th 2639th -1
- Baps Thanks 144th 144th 0
- Confirmations 31,800 30,400 -4
- Marriages 56,100 57,000 2
- Funerals 227th 212th
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10Diocese of Derby October Count Sunday attendance
- Adults Children Total
- 2001 15,100 2,900 18,000
- 2002 14,700 2,800 17,500
- 2003 15,200 2,500 17,700
- 2004 15,000 2,500 17,500
11Diocese of Derby October Count Weekday
attendance
- Adult Child Total
- 2001 1,000 500 1,500
- 2002 1,300 700 2,000
- 2003 1,300 500 1,800
- 1,500 1,200 2,700
- All Age 2001-2004
- Sunday down 500 Weekday up 1,200
12Self Inflicted Wounds
- Team Ministries
- Short Incumbencies
- Discouraging Young Ordinands
- Lengthy Vacancies
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14Problems with Team Rector Vicar Parishes
- Extra administration meetings
- Internal focus relationships organisation
- Conflict personality clashes
- Who is in charge and who has pastoral care
- Problems in one church infect the others
- Short stay team vicars (V 9.5/TV 5.9)
- Easy for the diocese to cut a post
15Strengths of teams working well
- Clergy support and fellowship
- Creation of senior posts for clergy to progress
to - Sharing of lay clergy gifts abilities
- Strengths of the large as well as the small
eg youth ministry, range of service types - Can think act strategically across area
- MMAs must aim at acquiring the strengths of teams
not the weaknesses
16Length of stay in a midlands diocese
- 26 Rectors average 11.1 years
- 90 Vicars average 9.5 years
- 21 Team Rectors average 8.4 years
- 39 Team Vicars average 5.9 years
- 45 Priests in Charge 4.6 years
- 221 Clergy 8.0
years - Church growth happens best between the 5th and
12th years of an incumbency
17Recommendations for training for stipendiary
ministry
- Age Group 1983 1993 2003
- 20-29 200 102 78
- 30-39 74 108 109
- 40-49 27 37 109
- 50-59 2 2
28 - Total 303 249 324
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21THE ROAD TO GROWTH
22Part 2
- Change or decay in all around I see
23Eight changes that lead to church growth
- Usually, churches only grow when they change
- Surveys show that churches that dont change are
shrinking, churches that do change are not
shrinking - Not every change is associated with growth new
prayer or hymn books cause no ripple - But usually the choice is change or decay
24Survey Results innovation electoral roll
change
- Churches number of change to
- Making churches ER
1996-2002 - No innovation 17 -22
- Min one change 32 3
25Eight changes that lead to church growth
- Planting new congregations fresh expressions
26New Worship Events stimulated in Walsall
Archdeaconry in 2005
- Monthly Youth Services
- Weekly Pub Service Sunday night
- Monthly services in Care Homes
- Sunday morning doubled up to 9.30/11am
- All age service in shop premises
- Café Church
- Monthly Memorial Services
27New Worship Events stimulated in Walsall
Archdeaconry in 2005
- Nursery Praise
- Sat evening for migrant workers families
- Healing Services
- Monthly Taize or Iona style
- Tues lunchtime Bible exposition
- Young families Sunday 4.30pm
- So far found 33 new events in c90 churches
28Eight changes that lead to church growth
- Planting new congregations fresh expressions
- Making worship less stiff, more relaxed, varied
(Joy and laughter only growth universal) - Better provision for children and young people
(Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth) - Improving welcome integration
- Better quality, more varied, contemporary music
- More lay involvement in leadership
- Better small groups pastoral care
- Improvements to buildings
29THE ROAD TO GROWTH
30Part 3
- Resourcing a Growth Strategy
31 Lichfield Growth Strategy encouraging churches
to grow
- MAPs and Cluster Visits building vision
- Offering resources (courses, books etc)
- Growth Officers for each area - consultancy
- Keeping vacancies short
- Set up network relational congregations
- Work with larger churches
- Change the Share formula
32Lichfield Growth Strategy equipping
people-growth agents
- Equip all church members to share their faith
stories - Provision of right nos of different ministries
OLM, NSM, youth worker, lay ministers etc - Training to emphasise mission-evangelism
- Encourage clergy to stay 10-12 years
- Train recruit clergy as missional leaders and
enablers of other peoples ministries
33Lichfield Growth Strategy nurturing CH and YP
in the faith
- Include on PCCs etc
- Training clergy others to work with YP eg
taking assemblies - Set up Fresh Expressions for CH YP inc
after-school worship, lunchtime groups - Admit children to communion pre confirm
- Provide funding for youth chs ministers
- See schools as centres for mission
34Lichfield Growth Strategy funding the growth
- Establish a Diocesan Growth Fund
- Encourage deaneries (MMAs?) to do the same
- And churches to have a development budget
- Re-format diocesan budget to move funds towards
growth - Identify new funding sources (partners, house
sales, legacies etc) - A growth-friendly Share system, without any
formula-link from attendance or income to Share
35Retrenchment v Investment
- Strained finances often mean retrenchment fewer
clergy, cuts in diocesan staff grants - Have to avoid the insolvency precipice
- Finance people can see investing in the future as
a threat to this years financial stability - The trouble is if you dont invest in the future
you wont have one! - Numerical declinemain enemy of sound finances
- If we dont invest money in future forms of
church ministry we will keep shrinking until we
die - We must avoid the no investment precipice
36Retrenchment v Investment
- So we have to find ways of investing in our
future while staying financially solvent today - This means being smarter with our money eg
selling the spare houses - And not spending all our available money simply
keeping going as many posts from the past as
possible
37Lichfield Growth Fund
- 250-300,000 pa mid 2005 to mid 2008
- From Commissioners mission funding and diocesan
capital - Grant-making group of seven one bishop, one
archdeacon, one pioneer, one missioner, one
vicar, two youth/childrens workers with
post-modern outlook - Meets four times a year to make grants
- For initiatives that will grow the church
38Lichfield Growth Fund
- All parishes have an application form guidance
notes - Up to half the cost up to 15,000pa up to 3 years
salaries or other costs (not blds) - Seed corn money to start new initiatives, fresh
expressions for the under 40s - First grants made July 2005 now offered
c400,000
39Lichfield Growth Fund
- Youth Ministers trainees
- Childrens Ministers
- Families Ministers
- Church planters eg young adults, workplace
- Fresh Expression start-up IT costs
- Missions
- Youth events
40Lichfield Growth Fund
- January 2006 meeting requests for grants
totalled nearly 400,000 from about 25 different
projects - We were able to offer about 100,000
- Important to maintain the CCs mission funding and
grow the diocesan contribution
41Derby Local Mission Fund
- Approved by Synod last week
- Lichfield was a helpful model
- 100,000pa to be available in grants
- To parishes, MMAs, etc
- Hallelujah! Well done Synod!!
- Start thinking about your mission initiative
42THE ROAD TO GROWTH
43Part 4
- Human resources for future growth
44Human resources for church growth
45Human resources for church growth
- Pro-active recruitment of young ordinands
- To give new hope energy in the short term
- To lead growing churches in the medium term
- And to be the experienced diocesan leaders in the
longer term
46Human resources for Church Growth
- Investing in the older clergy
- Space to re-charge batteries
- Professional human resources managers
- Better medical care
- Training input on how post-moderns tick
- Younger colleagues MMA leadership teams should
be a mix of ages
47Future shapes of ministry
- Pastor to the flock Leader in Mission
- Church curator Church planter
- Chaplain Missionary
- Settler Pioneer
- Conformist Entrepreneur
- Being safe Taking risks
- Maintaining existing forms pioneering fresh
expressions
48Future Shapes of Ministry
- Doing the ministry - Ensuring it is done
- Father Cork Enabler of others ministries
- Multi-competent dog collar Specialist team
- Single-church leader Oversight of churches
- High-cost operation Unpaid leadership
- Lone Ranger Collaboration in the team
- Middle-aged The young
49Future shapes of ministry
- Manager of decline Inspirer for growth
- Building-centred Relationship-centred
- Rock of stability Manager of change
- Authority figure Authenticity advert
- Establishment figure - Counter-cultural leader
- Independent operators working together
50Human resources for church growth
- We have fewer vicars so we must train a group of
lay people to fill the gaps - Instead of the minister we will have the
ministry team - To become a recognised ministry team the group
must go through a three year diocesan training
course
51Human resources for church growth
- The evidence suggests that churches actually
shrink as a result of developing a ministry team,
at least during the three years of training. In
one diocese churches developing lay ministry
teams shrank 25 while other churches stayed the
same - Now why should that be when they are apparently
doing the right thing in growing lay leadership?
52Human resources for church growth
- Instead of declericalising church life they were
just clericalising a few of the laity - And keeping the structures the same as before
- But taking some key members from their existing
roles to re-train them for something else - The rest of the congregation was still denied
recognition as ministers - Focus is turned inwards as the team trains
- And the ministries are often internal
53Features of Mission Ministry Areas
- 255 parishes into 57 MMAs
- 150 down to 120 incumbents in five years
- Currently c7 posts over the plan
- 12 months vacancy policy internal recruit
- Area Vicar is not Team Rector more RD
- MMA council includes lay leaders
- For vision, strategic direction, mission focus
54Cutting posts does not inevitably mean attendance
decline
55Lessons from Team Rector parishes Lay Ministry
Teams
- No ambiguous authority structures
- Keep focus on individual churches with their own
clear leadership - Evangelism not internal ecumenism
- Ministry is for all not just a ministry team
- Keep vacancies short advertise for best leader
in mission enabler of other peoples ministries - Creative, strategic thinking across area eg for
new lay posts, or planting fresh expressions
56Churches as missionary communities
- Whole churches need to be trained together as
missionary congregations - Recognising everyones gift and ability, not just
the chosen few the ministry of all believers - And they should be trained in outward-focussed
ministries - Not to maintain the institution but to share the
faith
57Churches as missionary communities
- The commonest question now is not Is
Christianity true? but Does it work? - This is best answered not by an evangelist but by
testimony it works for me! - The most direct way to turn a church into a
missionary congregation is to help every member
tell their own God-story
58Learning to tell our story
- First in the safety of the church one to one,
small groups, church services - Use dvd and websites get the teens to do the
technical stuff - Then with friends, family and colleagues in the
outside world - When we can all tell our stories there will be no
stopping us!
59The Road to Growth in Derby
- May be narrow winding but it is open in front
of us if we choose to walk it
60Flip Chart Headings
- Changes we are making to help us grow
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- Todays most important insights for us
- 1.
- 2.