Last blog I looked at the aims of transforming Wigan, in this I'll talk about how they plan on doing it.
First of all the mathsy bit. They are going to use the Fresh Expressions Pioneer measurements system to keep track of those who begin attending their new schemes rather than relying solely on head counts. This will let them know once they reach the 10% attendees target.
So what will lead to this 10% figure? Rev. Tim believes that if you let people explore Jesus on their own terms and at a pace suitable for them it will lead to engaged people who will go on to become enrolled disciples - bringing new people in and becoming more involved in the running.
This leads to another 2 aims that all fresh expressions should have:
This is what we want to do but how? Look in the area around you. Who needs you? Where do they naturally gather? What activities are already in place you can become part of? How could you harness that to spread the Good News?
The first place to go for these questions is your parishioners, what hobbies do they have? Do they know of activities out in the area? Where do they meet? How can you get involved? After that think what would Jesus do? And follow your instincts guided through prayer.
Next you deal with the suspicion that church and religion as a whole is regarded with these days. Find positive ways to work with people through loving service - be good to people just for the sake of being good - breach the suspicions you have an ulterior motive and show what Christianity is really about. For instance throw a coffee morning where its all free, no money asked for - just wanting to spread the good news. Too often the general public see us as grabbing for money so that's all they see. It should be that we are about Christ first and we need to get back to this!
Next you need to audit your Church honestly and harshly. Where is the church going? Are we trying to move onwards and expand or is all the focus on maintaining the status quo - solely on fixing buildings and massaging people's egos? If its the latter your church will die. That's guarenteed, and it's time to change.
Is the capacity for change there? Do you have enough people to support moving on and creating new opportunities? Do you have the funding? Is it all being used to fix a building that in a few years will just be empty and sold if nothing changes?
Finally have you got the courage as Gideon did to go through with a major change even as people jeer on?!
Its all around the potentially uncomfoprofessprocess of coming out of well established comfort zones of existing church families and those who aren't involved in church at all to fi d a middle ground and create a new comfort zone for both.
Once you've gone through these questions and got a firm idea in your head about what it is you want to do you need to get the parishioners supporting you. This doesn't mean making them become all singing all dancing leaders of new things. Not everyone is cut out for that, but you can have then help with whichever skills they possess even if that is only being able to pray for your success! If they say 'I can't do that!' Then remind them that Moses, Gideon and Jonah all thought they couldn't do it either and look what came of them!
Its important that those not involved with the direct running don't feel left behind, they are just as important as newcomers. We can't adopt a telephone company approach of new members at the cost of current.
Rev. Tim then gave us some examples of successful ideas already happening in Wigan. There's a café called the Junk Food Café which started with a question. What happens to children with free school meals (FSM) during holiday time? FSM is provided to children whose families may not be able to provide a hot meal every day. This led to them offering a free meal once a week to families on the FSM register during term time and more frequently during holidays. It was set up by Christians but also attracts local humanists as we!l who see it is a good cause, giving them a chance to see what Christianity is really about. Over Christmas they held a big dinner for the families in the area and had arranged for Santa to give presents out. However, many more people than predicted turned up and whilst thee food was sufficient there weren't enough presents! Just before it was set to begin one of the social workers for the council Turner's up to check everything was OK, and the present issue was brought up to them and it turned out that the social services had presents left over from another Christmas meal they held earlier in the week so every child got a gift from Santa! If that isn't God's will at work I don't know what is!
He also told us about an idea for small groups, where it aids with discipleship and that's by creating a CORE group
The idea behind the group being to read a passage from the bible and reflect on 4 questions
This simple concept helps people develop in their knowledge and understanding of Christ at their own pace and in their own way without the strict structures of a bible study group. It makes the bible accessible.
The end of the talk focussed on what happens once you've set up. Current church runs on 3 B's Believe, Behave, Belong. If you believe in Jesus and behave the way we expect you to then you can belong in our church. This needs swapping around as people nowadays don't know how church works!
You need to cultivate a sense of belonging, which will help them find belief and finally construct the behaviour around the pattern of worship you've created through the other two.
Once you've achieved this you can make the group autonomous and send people out to create new groups. We bring people from the community together to create a congregation, there are people within the congregation who are regular committed members who will eventually come to the core. Current church keeps them there, the new way is to send them back out to the community to create new churches. By doing this we aren't seeking addition to a singular churche we are seekinbgg multiplication of expressions of church which will always bring more in.
He left us with 5 bullet points summarizing the whole process:
First of all the mathsy bit. They are going to use the Fresh Expressions Pioneer measurements system to keep track of those who begin attending their new schemes rather than relying solely on head counts. This will let them know once they reach the 10% attendees target.
So what will lead to this 10% figure? Rev. Tim believes that if you let people explore Jesus on their own terms and at a pace suitable for them it will lead to engaged people who will go on to become enrolled disciples - bringing new people in and becoming more involved in the running.
This leads to another 2 aims that all fresh expressions should have:
- Making disciples of Jesus - sowing the seed of faith and curiosity which leads to encounters with God.
- Growing disciples of Jesus - taking that initial sprouting seed and growing it into a strong tree allowing other seeds to be planted.
This is what we want to do but how? Look in the area around you. Who needs you? Where do they naturally gather? What activities are already in place you can become part of? How could you harness that to spread the Good News?
The first place to go for these questions is your parishioners, what hobbies do they have? Do they know of activities out in the area? Where do they meet? How can you get involved? After that think what would Jesus do? And follow your instincts guided through prayer.
Next you deal with the suspicion that church and religion as a whole is regarded with these days. Find positive ways to work with people through loving service - be good to people just for the sake of being good - breach the suspicions you have an ulterior motive and show what Christianity is really about. For instance throw a coffee morning where its all free, no money asked for - just wanting to spread the good news. Too often the general public see us as grabbing for money so that's all they see. It should be that we are about Christ first and we need to get back to this!
Next you need to audit your Church honestly and harshly. Where is the church going? Are we trying to move onwards and expand or is all the focus on maintaining the status quo - solely on fixing buildings and massaging people's egos? If its the latter your church will die. That's guarenteed, and it's time to change.
Is the capacity for change there? Do you have enough people to support moving on and creating new opportunities? Do you have the funding? Is it all being used to fix a building that in a few years will just be empty and sold if nothing changes?
Finally have you got the courage as Gideon did to go through with a major change even as people jeer on?!
Its all around the potentially uncomfoprofessprocess of coming out of well established comfort zones of existing church families and those who aren't involved in church at all to fi d a middle ground and create a new comfort zone for both.
Once you've gone through these questions and got a firm idea in your head about what it is you want to do you need to get the parishioners supporting you. This doesn't mean making them become all singing all dancing leaders of new things. Not everyone is cut out for that, but you can have then help with whichever skills they possess even if that is only being able to pray for your success! If they say 'I can't do that!' Then remind them that Moses, Gideon and Jonah all thought they couldn't do it either and look what came of them!
Its important that those not involved with the direct running don't feel left behind, they are just as important as newcomers. We can't adopt a telephone company approach of new members at the cost of current.
Rev. Tim then gave us some examples of successful ideas already happening in Wigan. There's a café called the Junk Food Café which started with a question. What happens to children with free school meals (FSM) during holiday time? FSM is provided to children whose families may not be able to provide a hot meal every day. This led to them offering a free meal once a week to families on the FSM register during term time and more frequently during holidays. It was set up by Christians but also attracts local humanists as we!l who see it is a good cause, giving them a chance to see what Christianity is really about. Over Christmas they held a big dinner for the families in the area and had arranged for Santa to give presents out. However, many more people than predicted turned up and whilst thee food was sufficient there weren't enough presents! Just before it was set to begin one of the social workers for the council Turner's up to check everything was OK, and the present issue was brought up to them and it turned out that the social services had presents left over from another Christmas meal they held earlier in the week so every child got a gift from Santa! If that isn't God's will at work I don't know what is!
He also told us about an idea for small groups, where it aids with discipleship and that's by creating a CORE group
- Christ at the centre
- Obedient listening to Christ's will
- Responsible for doing something about that will
- Expectant looking forward for more guidance
The idea behind the group being to read a passage from the bible and reflect on 4 questions
- What leaps out to you?
- What are you going to do about it?
- How are we getting on with what Jesus is saying to us?
- How do we move on from here?
This simple concept helps people develop in their knowledge and understanding of Christ at their own pace and in their own way without the strict structures of a bible study group. It makes the bible accessible.
The end of the talk focussed on what happens once you've set up. Current church runs on 3 B's Believe, Behave, Belong. If you believe in Jesus and behave the way we expect you to then you can belong in our church. This needs swapping around as people nowadays don't know how church works!
You need to cultivate a sense of belonging, which will help them find belief and finally construct the behaviour around the pattern of worship you've created through the other two.
Once you've achieved this you can make the group autonomous and send people out to create new groups. We bring people from the community together to create a congregation, there are people within the congregation who are regular committed members who will eventually come to the core. Current church keeps them there, the new way is to send them back out to the community to create new churches. By doing this we aren't seeking addition to a singular churche we are seekinbgg multiplication of expressions of church which will always bring more in.
He left us with 5 bullet points summarizing the whole process:
- Gather passionate disciples
- Generate prayer
- Grow leaders
- Give love and care
- And don't forget all change happens on the ground not at the top!
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