Let Us Talk

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Let Us Talk A First Response You are Gods
people proclaiming the mighty acts of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light.
1 Peter 2.9

• Bishop Nicholas Holtam
• SALISBURY DIOCESAN SYNOD
• 13TH JUNE 2013

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Let Us Talk

• Responses from
• 61 benefices and 29 parishes,
• 236 parishes in total,
• 2 deaneries
• and 7 individuals.

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Let Us Talk First Impressions

• Impressive, exciting, honest and diverse.
• Responses reflect great thought and effort.
• Working together, sharing ideas.
• Hours of prayer and transformed lives.
• Nurture the young and value the aged.
• Good work with children and young people.
• Value of Diocesan resources.
• Deeply committed to our communities.
• This material will underpin our thinking and our
  work for a long time.

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Let Us Talk Big Challenges

• Survival.
• Too much to do. Its difficult to prioritise.
• How do we evaluate?
• Lack of confidence we need to build it.
• Emphasis on worship, community, buildings,
  finance. Discipleship is not high on agendas.
• Sometimes we have to ask what is the core purpose
  of the church.
• Whatever we do, we should do it well.

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What is the personality and character of
yourlocal church?
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What is the personality and character of your
local church?

• A typical parish church.
• People who want to have fun.
• Continuous Christian worship since the 9th
  Century.
• Congregations predominantly over 65.
• Long tradition of social responsibility.
• Embrace most innovations readily.

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What is the personality and character of your
local church?

• BCP meets many peoples needs.
• Trying to reach scattered communities.
• Church as the focus of village life.
• Perception is we are welcoming, warm, inclusive
  but can be difficult to break in. People can feel
  unwelcome if they rock the boat.
• We wish to see Jesus (John 12.21)

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What are the prioritiesof your local church?
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What are the priorities of your local church?

• Worship regular, different, good.
• Be attractive to young people and families.
• Be an active part of the community.
• Increasing the congregation.
• Going out to where young people are.
• Maintaining the church buildings.
• Starting a café.
• Developing our giving, overseas and at home.

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One thing to take on or develop in the
currentyear?
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One thing to take on or develop in the current
year

• Keep the church open.
• Welcome pack, events for those new to the area.
• Sustain and grow fellowship.
• Carols in the pub.
• Stewardship campaign.

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One thing to take on or develop in the current
year

• Improve our local communications.
• Encourage those exploring their faith.
• No we have enough going on already!
• Do one thing well.

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How can we work together to achieve more?
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How can we work together to achieve more?

• Build on the work with other denominations.
• Hold team services.
• Continue partnerships with schools and community
  projects.
• Strengthen the Messy Church Network.
• Create smaller deaneries as units of mission.
• We already do work together.
• Anything outside the parish is a task too far.

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How can we best measure the quality and impact of
church life?
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How can we best measure the quality and impact of
church life?

• Growth in numbers
• Congregation as a percentage of population.
• Number of people involved in church projects and
  roles.
• How many new members?
• Baptisms, confirmations, marriages, funerals.
• Age profile in congregation reflects age profile
  of the surrounding community.
• A small church is not a failing church.
• Numbers at big services.

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How can we best measure the quality and impact of
church life?

• Growth in numbers (contd.)
• Electoral Roll.
• Number of vocations realised - lay and ordained.
• Hours of prayer. What who do you pray for?
• Finances
• If your finances dont add up you spend your life
  talking about it.
• Fairer Share members.
• Amount given to other charities.
• Dont just use money and numbers!

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How else can we measure?

• Stories of transformed lives.
• Presence felt in community and reputation.
• Deepening faith.
• Quality of Church.
• Environmental awareness.
• Work in schools and youth centres.
• Use of church by others and length of time open.
• Time spent on internal and external business on
  PCC agendas.
• Time given to overseas initiatives.

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What next?

• All respondents will receive an individual reply.
  
• We dont want to cut across local or deanery
  plans.
• We shouldnt impose uniformity. We want to
  encourage diversity.
• What are the core purposes of the Church?
• The Bishops will articulate the core purposes of
  the Diocese.
• The Bishops staff are identifying and agreeing
  our core values.

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Conclusion

• Let Us Talk is a resource which will be useful
  for some time.
• Responses are on the web-site.
• I am looking for excellence, energy and
  engagement.
• Keep the conversation going.
• If you do something you want to share make sure
  your Rural Dean and Archdeacon know.