Resources for Parish Ministry Published by St. Alban's School of Ministry with the encouragement of EFAC
In the face of a declining and greying church where shall we put our energies? Here are some thoughts on our most urgent question.
1. PRIORITIES
Our major priority is the 15-35 year age group.
This group comprises
which have different interests and needs and present different opportunities.
We have two major priorities with this age group.
1. To help the young people who are already in church:
2. To draw to Christ and into the church young people who do not yet believe or belong.
The second priority is the most important and sets the urgency for the first. The first priority is a stripped down urgent vision for a missionary church that exists to multiply itself.
2. IMPLICATIONS
The implications of these priorities include:
This could include establishing new congregations especially designed to reach non-church young people. Such congregations will have different forms - reaching young families will require a different approach to reaching young adults.
Around these congregations would cluster a variety of outreach ministries. My assumption is that young people must be connected to a worshipping congregation.
3. PARISH BASED MINISTRY
The urgency of our circumstances means that we should concentrate our efforts in demographic areas which are likely to show the best response.
In some cases new congregations could be established to reach a particular group. In other cases existing congregations may be helped to reach out (eg to young families). However even then it still may be better to plant a new church suited to young families if existing congregations will not cope with the inevitable change.
4. SUPPORT
The kind of support and initiative which could come from outside the parish might include:
There are four groups represented by this age range.
11-14yo: The period between grade 6 or 7 and grade 10 is a crucial drop out zone. Discovering ways of making church a place where young teens feel at home is the task.
15-17yo: These young people are still dependent on parental (or older friends) transport. They are still likely to be part of their home parish but like the younger group may not exist in sufficient quantities to make church feel like their place.
18-28yo: Young adults single or married without children. This group will travel and belong to a church they feel part of. They can be fickle and transitory members.
Young Families: Have quite different needs to childless young people. They and the young adults represent the crucial cohort which needs to be brought in to the church.
A significant factor is that after marriage many move away from home and church. This is another drop out zone. Equally the arrival of children can be the time for re-entry into a young families church.
It is possible that none of these groups has sufficient numbers in a parish either to make it attractive to stay, or to make it attractive for others to join. So it may be a matter of focussing on one group a parish could reach and working well at that. Most parishes won't cover all these age groups equally well. It may be that some parishes will work well with the 11-18's while others are better with the young adults. A different group of parishes may be more able to work with young families.
Nevertheless it is an urgent priority that young adults and young families are drawn in and evangelised. Specialised strategies are needed.
Tom Sine is a Christian futurist. In this book he comes to grips with the impact of globalisation on society and especially its impact on Christian life and the church. In the face of universal decline in western English speaking denominations he outlines strategies and changes of mind set which might see the trend reversed.
This is a crucial book for all clergy and other church leaders. It is written to address three serious crises:
1 a crisis of foresight (a failure to take the future seriously)2. a crisis of vision (a failure to take the future of God seriously)
3. a crisis of creativity (a failure to take our God-given imagination seriously).
Sine analyses the current trends in globalisation: free market economies, the change from stakeholder economies to shareholder economies (why the banks don't care for customers only profits), what he calls the great job auction (moving your manufacturing to the country with the cheapest labour costs) and so on. His analysis is clear, frightening and up to date.
Each chapter includes a section called Opportunities for Christian leaders. In these he suggests ways we could act in the light of the matters he describes. This is a very valuable part of the book since it grounds the issues in practical action.
Some of the book will read like the 70's "enough is enough" movement. This is because some of the issues are the same or more so. Globalisation is making a drastic impact on the poor not only in the third world but also in the western world. New economic realities are already affecting our people and our parishes. Longer working hours are reducing the time people have for family and church. McWorld doesn't just advertise goods, it teaches us to adopt a different set of values to those of the gospel. A new life-style is needed to cope.
Sine deals accurately with the decline of the western church. His insights are directly relevant to Australia. As elsewhere the under 35's are the missing generation. He suggests six strategies:
1. Strategically target our evangelistic efforts to reach the under 35's - to be done by the under 35's.2. To do this we must create a new spectrum of church plants, mentoring programs and bring the young into real leadership.
3. To call Christians of all ages into a much more radical form of discipleship.
4. Reinvent our lives and communities of faith so as to share resources for mission.
5. We need a new critique of how we got off the tracks and how we were seduced by modern culture.
6. We need to help Christians find in scripture an alternative vision for their lives to the one offered by McWorld.
Sine has a final section in which he suggests a variety of strategies which churches and individuals could pursue to make a change to the sorry state we are in now.
One of his recurring pleas is for "Christian organisations that have done the hard biblical work of defining why we do what we do in mission...where they have actually drafted an operational theology of mission." (p325).
He relates this to what he calls "chronic randomness". The tendency for different groups in a parish to run their own events without any sense of heading in the same direction or of striving to meet the same mission goals. This chronic randomness is because people haven't worked out a biblical and mission reason for why they are doing what they are doing.
I commend the book. It is interesting, exciting, scary and practically helpful and should be read by all parish leaders.
Starting a new congregation is an excellent way to make it possible for new people to join church and find out about Christ. New congregations are easier to join than established ones. New congregations also allow greater flexibility for new styles and forms that may be more friendly to new people or to specific target groups.
New congregations also give opportunity for new ministries by people who have not had the space to have a go before.
So why would a parish start a new congregation? Because they can identify a group of people who might more readily join the new than the old. Obvious groups are young families and young adults. Two quite different styles of services are possible for these two groups. A teen church is also possible as is a traditional baby-boomer retro-church (if you don't already have one).
But won't this divide the congregation into separate homogeneous groups? It might but it is more likely that the new congregation will be more mixed than the target group. The advantage is that a new congregation is like multiplying what you have at present not dividing it. However preparation is necessary. A team of at least 20 will be needed. Grieving will happen, and the sending congregation must be helped to focus on its own mission.
A helpful book is Planting Tomorrow's Churches Today by Robinson & Christine.
Ideas to help grow the church and proclaim the gospel
Simply Christianity is an evangelistic tool designed for one-to-one or small group work. It is a five-part course explaining the life, death and resurrection of Jesus based entirely on the Gospel of Luke. The goal of the course is to surprise and challenge ordinary people ('churched' or 'unchurched') with the unique story of Jesus Christ.
It works on a simple but helpful principle: let the Gospel tell the gospel. It therefore attempts to present Jesus in Luke's own way. Guests read through Luke over the 5 weeks and the sessions draw from stories in the Gospel, giving Simply Christianity a more narrative approach than other courses. It also takes advantage of the popular Jesus video based on Luke. The course emphasises the need for a personal response to Jesus.
It promotes the context of good relationships in the group and seeks to be non-threatening, for example, by not asking guests religious questions. Typically, guests arrive, share in supper and coffee for 30 minutes. The leader then presents the next unit, reading the relevant sections of Luke and taking questions (about 30-40 minutes). The groups then watch the next section of the Jesus video (about 20 minutes), and the session finishes with more food. The last session finishes with a gentle invitation to turn to Christ.
The course material comes in a guest pack ($5) with one-page summaries of each session and supplementary notes on the topic of that session, as well as a feedback sheet. The leader's pack ($13) also includes full notes for each presentation and a manual on how to run the course. Simply Christianity is short, Biblical, relational, non-threatening and well suited to post-modern Australia; it is definitely worth a look at.
Available direct from Matthias Media, www.gospelnet.com.au/matmedia
For a more detailed review, e-mail . Neil.Cavanagh@moore.edu.au
ITC is four unit course explaining the basics of being a Christian. Topics are: What is God Like?; What a Mess We're In; Does God Really Love Us?; Can God Make a Difference to Me?
The course is suitable for one-to-one discussion, or small group work. It is ideal as a preparation course before baptism or marriage.
Samples available from St. Alban's School of Ministry (Contact Us).
Being a Disciple is an integrated program for new Christians. Bible reading, belonging to a small group, involvement in Sunday services, private reading and working through a 12 week course with a helper form the structure of the course.
The twelve unit course with a helper is designed to help the new Christian understand the basics of living as a Christian as well as providing a mentor with they can talk and pray each week. Topics include:Can I be sure I am a Christian; Winning over sin; Prayer and Bible reading; Obedience and faith; Living under the rule of the Holy Spirit; Being part of the church; Worshipping the Lord; Ministry and Service; Love in Relationships; The gospel message; Disciples making disciples.
Samples available from St. Alban's School of Ministry (Contact Us).
From time to time it is useful to give attenders the opportunity to respond to a service. Christmas, Easter and special services such as an Invite a Friend service or other occasion when visitors have been especially invited. A response card could also be used when the congregation is asked to make a specific response to the sermon.
We use a Let Us Know Card which includes space for name and address as well as the following responses
I would like...
I want...
Today
Other comments, requests, questions, or needs:
This is the latest adaptation of the solid follow-up course "Just for Starters".
It contains the same "Seven Basic Bible Studies", dealing with Justification, Faith, Godliness, Bible reading, Prayer, Church and Evangelism. But it adds to these studies other material that makes them more useful in small group settings. Each study has illustrations, songs, and historical as well as contemporary testimonies. It makes Just for Starters very user friendly. And because of the nature of the material, it would be valuable for all small groups to work through it at some stage.
We used it as the basis for a 10 week Youth course aimed at making sure our teenagers were converted and grounded in the faith. The leaders used Back to Basics as the basis, and added some appropriate games/activities, used songs more familiar to our context, and included a supper each week. It generated very pointed discussion and helped some people decide or realise where they stood before God, one member realising they were not really a Christian, and though they have not yet been converted, they are not under any illusions! Contact me if you would like to know more about how our leaders adapted Back to Basics. But the book itself stands alone and is useful for all ages.
Two new leaflets are worth giving to people who are interested in finding out about the Christian faith. Two Ways to Live is in a new coloured version with good graphics and clear simple explanations.
Christianity A Pocket Guide is a credit card sized fold which opens up into a larger than A4 spread. It contains a simple graphic explanation of the gospel, a more detailed version and simple introductions to five common questions.
I plan to give everyone in the congregation a copy - so they know what is available, and so they can give it away.
The Jesus video is available in a long (120min) or short (84min) version and in many languages. It follows Luke's gospel quite accurately. It is excellent for anyone who does not know the story very well. It can be used in homes, over meals, serialised over a few weeks, incorporated into study groups or baptism preparation or used as a give away. Worth using. More info at www.jesus.net.au
The bi-monthly breakfasts at St. Alban's began about three years ago. Following a buffet-style meal, the guest speaker speaks for about 20-30 minutes. Initially we chose Christians prominent in their profession or field of interest, and asked them to speak about some aspect of their work. Paediatrician Trevor Parry, Director of the Family Court Counseling Service, Andy Stout and Senator Christabel Chamarette are among those who have been guest speakers.
More recently there has been a shift towards speakers who have chosen to describe how they became Christians.
The breakfasts take surprisingly little effort to organize. The team of three people decides on a speaker (with alternatives in case they are unavailable) and plans the menu for the breakfast. The meal usually includes cereals, fresh fruit and yoghurts, some sort of hot dish, toast, muffins, tea and coffee.
One person makes contact with the speaker, publicity is circulated through the church and people are encouraged to bring their non-Christian friends. We sell tickets for $6, which covers the cost of the breakfast.
This four week course aims to tell the gospel by telling the whole story of the Bible - from Creation, to the Nation of Israel, to Jesus Christ, to Christians, the new People of God. Each major theme is taken up in successive weeks.
The course aims to tell a story rather than state propositions, a strength for our culture. The narrative quality of the course is definitely one of its strengths. Another is its focus on the corporate nature of Christianity - God calls a people, not just individuals. One of the common problems of courses like Christianity Explained has been to show that belonging to the rest of God's people is part of being a Christian. Being involved in a church flows more naturally out of this course.
It is especially good for people who have had some exposure to Christianity in the past (eg religious school background) but have not seen how the pieces fit together. But the course also claims to be aimed at rank outsiders.
Like Christianity Explained, the People of God uses flash cards and diagrams. I found the diagrams particularly helpful but the flash cards an annoyance at times. I also found the material required a good knowledge of Biblical Theology to present it well. Thus I would be reluctant to ask someone to lead it who was not well familiar with the Old Testament and how it flowed into the New.
Overall a helpful way of doing evangelism, another good tool to have on hand.
More information at
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~timothyf
After Alpha Michael Green Kingsway 1998 $16.95
The Archbishop of Canterbury's consultant on evangelism writes this book to help people put into practice the principles underlying Alpha. It is not meant to be a sequel to Alpha, rather for those who have been through an Alpha course "I invite them to attempt to isolate the principles lying behind it and to carry them into home, work and church."
In 8 chapters he deals with the real encounter with Jesus Christ; Christian confidence; the accompanied journey; personal development and growth in Christ; every member ministry; sacraments; Christian discipleship and lifestyle; and the Holy Spirit. A final tailpiece for the culture vultures about post-modernism and why Alpha seems to work concludes the book.
It looks terrific for those who have done Alpha, for clergy who want some pointers to help their people, and for any new Christian for that matter.
A new Australian evangelistic Internet site - www.christianity.net.au - is now on-line. It aims to assist individuals and churches in their evangelistic outreach by giving them an interesting and credible site to which they can refer people who want to find out more about the Christian message.
The site is divided up into eight sections: