Diocese of Southwell

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Diocese of Southwell Nottingham

• How local churches grow

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New growth is possible

• We appear to have bottomed out
• A lot of our decline is our own fault we can
  put that right
• Many churches and some dioceses are now growing
  well
• We have identified the good practices that result
  in growth
• We can harness the needed financial and human
  resources
• The social climate gives us many opportunities

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Natural Church Growth

• We can grow by stopping doing the things that
  make us shrink
• We, not the social climate, are to blame for much
  of our own decline
• Some of the things that make us shrink are to do
  with the local church and some to do with
  diocesan policies and culture

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Some Hints for getting rid of congregations

• Make the teens do action songs in the Family
  Service
• Cling on to the traditional evensong
• In fact, never make changes of any sort
• To keep everyone happy make the service trad one
  week and contemporary the next
• Ensure the building is cold, the pews uncomfy and
  never serve coffee after they may get to know
  each other

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Some Hints for getting rid of congregations

• Have groups for junior children but not secondary
  they soon get the message they have to leave at
  11
• Keep a very narrow music and worship culture and
  keep it the same for all services
• Control the service and keep them busy never
  give them space to encounter God
• Ensure the church activities all suit pensioners

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Some Hints for getting rid of congregations

• Dont notice newcomers
• Or say you cant sit there, thats Mrs Joness
  pew
• Dont follow people up when they seem to be
  drifting away
• Never set up small groups they create dangerous
  relational glue
• Allow conflict to fester under the surface

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Some Hints for getting rid of congregations

• Create a Team Ministry and invest a lot of time
  hammering out your differences with the other
  members
• Tell the student enquiring about ordination to go
  away, get a proper job and come back when they
  have some experience of real life
• Never preach about giving encourage people to
  spend their time fund-raising

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Some Hints for getting rid of congregations

• Leave unexpectedly the best time for shrinking
  congregations is in vacancies that last longer
  than 6 months
• I could give you statistical evidence for all of
  these but if you want that youll have to buy
  my books!!

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The notice board can be used to put people off

• SACRED MYSTERIES SLEEPY HOLLOW
• SUNDAY SERVICES
• Starting 11th May 1948
• 8.3. Cmu_o.
• 45 Fa\.,y-----------
• .one welc

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Welcome to St Everywhere

• 1st Sunday Family Service with Sandpit
• 2nd Sunday Solemn High Mass
• 3rd Sunday Old Hymns Songs of Praise
• 4th Sunday Extra-loud Eucharist with rock band
  Terminal Explosion
• 5th Sunday Baptisms by the riverbank
• 
  whatever the weather!
• Come every week!

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Welcome to St Wooldyed

• Come to St Wooldyeds for reverence and
  tradition
• 8.00 Early Mass
• 10.30 Morning Mass
• 6.30 Evening Mass
• We always use the proper Prayer Book at St
  Wooldyed
• Three similar services one type of person

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THE UPPER CREEK GROUP OF PARISHES

• Our services are as follows
• St Withouts 9.30am alternate Sundays
• St Paddles 11am Family Service 1st 3rd
  Sundays, otherwise eucharist
• Little Snoring 8am Holy Communion (1st Sunday)
  6.30(2nd 4th Sundays)
• Great Creek 9am (summertime) 11am (wintertime)
  see church notice board for local variations
• Joint Services 5th Sundays and other feast days
  location varies
• Come and join us!

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Welcome to All Saints

• Our service every week are
• 9.30 Holy Eucharist with Choir
• 11.00 Family Service with groups for children
• 4.00 Service in Urdu
• 7.00 Contemporary Praise
• Four distinct services-four types of people

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Change and Growth

• As well as avoiding the negative things, what are
  the positive things churches can do in terms of
  evangelism and growth?
• These positive things tend to require change, and
  so are problematic to some Anglicans
• Individual churches need to choose between change
  and decay

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Eight 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

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Survey Results innovation electoral roll
change

• Churches number of change to
• Making churches ER
  1996-2002
• No innovation 17 -22
• Min one change 32 3

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Eight changes that lead to church growth

• Planting new congregations fresh expressions

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New 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

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New 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

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Eight changes that lead to church growth

• Planting new congregations fresh expressions
• Making worship music 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 (front door)
• Better small groups pastoral care (back door)
• Evangelism courses as part of a strategy
• More lay involvement in leadership
• Improvements to buildings

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Well, that wasnt rocket science

• was it?

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Group Discussion Questions

• 1.In your local churches what are the most
  important negative factors stopping numerical
  church growth?
• 2.What are the most important positive factors
  helping growth to happen?
• 3.How can the diocese best help, encourage and
  train local church leaders to lead their churches
  into growth?

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Diocese of Southwell Nottingham

• Setting a diocesan framework for growth

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Dioceses seem to have more power to do harm than
good

• First task is to stop doing the things that help
  generate the decline

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Self Inflicted Wounds

• Team Ministries
• Short Incumbencies
• Discouraging Young Ordinands
• Lengthy Vacancies

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But there are positive policies Growth
Strategies available

• They have worked in London and are starting to
  work in Lichfield

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Growth Strategy in London

• Leadership intentionality David Hope
• Mission Action Plans
• Leaders in Mission enablers of others
  ministries
• Appointments of key clergy
• Encouragement of young clergy
• Lots of young ordinands

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Growth Strategy in London

• Fewer occasional offices
• Fewer faithless church members
• People are desperate for community and belonging
• People are spiritually searching spiritually
  aware as never before
• Immigration of Christians

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Growth Strategy in London

• Planting and transplanting teams
• Alpha Emmaus
• Alliance of traditions
• Youthful congregations
• Parish Share not dependant on attendance not
  crippling to growing churches
• A healthy growth cycle

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Lichfield Growth Strategy encouraging churches
to grow

• MAPs and Cluster Visits building vision
• Offer resources (courses, books etc)
• Growth Officers for each area - consultancy
• Shorten the vacancies
• Set up network relational congregations
• Work with larger churches
• Change the Share formula

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Lichfield Growth Strategy equipping
people-growth agents

• Equip all church members to share their faith
  stories
• Provide 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

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Lichfield Growth Strategy nurturing CH and YP
in the faith

• Include on PCCs etc
• Train clergy others to work with YP eg taking
  assemblies
• Fresh Expressions for CH YP inc after-school
  worship, lunchtime/evening groups
• Admit children to communion pre confirm
• Provide funding for youth chs ministers
• See schools as centres for mission

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Lichfield Growth Strategy funding the growth

• Establish a Diocesan Growth Fund
• Encourage deaneries 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

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Lichfield 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

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Lichfield 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

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Lichfield Growth Fund

• Youth Ministers trainees
• Childrens Ministers
• Families Ministers
• Church planters eg young adults, workplace
• Fresh Expression start-up IT costs
• Missions
• Youth events

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Lichfield Growth Fund

• April 2006 meeting requests for grants totalled
  nearly 400,000 from about 25 different projects
• We were able to offer about 200,000
• Important to maintain the CCs mission funding and
  grow the diocesan contribution

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Lichfield attendance trends

• Usual Sunday attendance had been going down at 2
  to 3pa until 2003
• In 2004 it was more like 1
• And in 2005 it looks more like 0
• October Attendance has been rising for the last
  two or three years, especially weekday
• Its early days yet but the statistics so far
  look quite promising

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Discussion Questions

• Does Southwell have any self-inflicted wounds?
• What would be the most important elements of an
  intentional growth-strategy?
• What is the relationship between the current
  financial problems and the growth of the church?