St Davids Clergy Conference

Church is a changing community

Change or decay in all around I see

As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be for ever. Amen?????????

Changing culture Modernity to Postmodernity

I tell my story

I choose my beliefs

I buy my identity

The logic of consumerism

Changing Church – shrinking and marginalised

4

Changing Mission?• From: sharing the Gospel

in “come to us” mode• To: Exploring Church in

“go to them” mode

Church Missions

Courses

‘Seeker’ Services

To boldly go where no church has gone

before

The changing Anglican self-understanding

From a pastoral church for a Christian

nation

To a missionary church to a non-Christian

culture

Changing clergyjob description

•From parish pastor or congregational chaplain to leader in mission and enabler of other people’s ministries•From single church leadership to multiple church oversight eg Ministry Area Leaders•From an individual, personal ministry to being part of a team leading churches

We are living through big changes

• Changing context – christendom to secularism• Changing culture - modernism to post-modernism• Changing church – smaller, more on the edge, incarnational as well as

attractional, pastoral to missional• Changing clergy - chaplain to mission leader, single church leader to

multi-church overseer, personal ministry to developing others• Changing community – from ‘the flock of the pastor’ receiving the

ministry to ‘the whole people of God’ doing the ministry

Change or Decay in all around I see

•We can’t escape change – it happens to us•So can we become the masters of change rather than the victims? •Being passive in the face of change often leads to being a victim•Being pro-active in taking on the change agenda often leads to mastery of it

Does your church have a written Parish Development Strategy? •20 churches said ‘yes’• Their attendance grew 6% 2010-2013•Compared with a drop of 1% in other churches

•A process for developing a strategy – “What is God saying to us about the future?”

Change or Decay in all around I see

• “Oh Thou who changest not abide with me”• “When Revd Oldman was vicar and we had the Prayer

Book the church was full every week”• We can settle the argument about whether

intentional change is the cause of decline or the remedy for it by looking at real churches•And we can find out what sort of changes work

Change or decay?

Diocese of Monmouth – have you made significant changes to your service styles or patterns between

2002 & 2005?

•39 Churches making changes grew 10%•33 Churches with no changes shrank 3%

Survey Results – innovation & electoral roll change – Diocese of LichfieldChurches number of % change toMaking churches ER 1996-2002

No innovation 17 -22%

Min one change 32 + 3%

St Davids – What significant changes have been made to church life in the last three years?

No change: 92 churches attendance down 9%At least one change: 67 churches attendance up 16%

It is clear that where churches make changes the impact on church growth is the same as elsewhere. The difference is that in St Davids less than one third of churches reported a positive change to church life whereas in other dioceses it tends to be half or two thirds.

Types of change reported

• Negative changes (eg loss of church hall, fewer services) 12 churches• No changes 92 churches• Tiny changes (eg change to an annual service) 27 churches• Clergy changes (eg losing or gaining an incumbent) 26 churches• Church life changes (eg to services, welcome, leadership, children’s ministry, nurture courses) 67 churches

negative no tiny clergy church life

-10

-5

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5

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15

% change in adult attendance 2010-2013

negative no tiny clergy church life

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

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% change in child attendance 2010-2013

% change in adult and child attendance 2010-2013 adults children total• Negative -4% -44% -9%• No changes -9% -17% -9%• Tiny changes -9% -25% -11%• Clergy changes 0% 24% 2%• Church life changes 11% 64% 16%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations

Church attendance in London – a census one Sunday in October• 2005: 620,000• 2012 : 720,000• Number of churches 2005 4100• 2012 4800• The number of people per church has remained the same (about 150)

- attendance has gone up through there being more churches

Planting new congregations

• 33 churches reported starting something new, usually monthly, usually for families. Most were probably new events, some may have been radical style-changes: • 2010 attendance 898 adults & 72 children• 2013 attendance 1041 adults & 189 children• An increase of 16% among adults and 176% among children!• An all age attendance growth of 27%• Compared with an average drop in other churches of 6%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed – joy & laughter

Making worship less formal, more relaxed, more contemporary• 16 churches reported changing the style of at least some of their

services in this sort of way• 2010 attendance 335 adults & 23 children• 2013 attendance 419 adults & 58 children• An increase of 25% among adults & 152% among children!• An all-age attendance growth of 33%• Compared with an average drop in other churches of 3%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)

Better provision for children & young people• 12 churches reported improving their provision in their ‘changes’ and

‘growth forces’ answers, though answers to other questions suggested they were by no means the only ones!• 2010 attendance 219 adults & 19 children• 2013 attendance 255 adults & 69 children• An increase of 16% among adults and 263% among children!!• An all-age attendance growth of 36%• Compared with an average drop in other churches of 2%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)• Improving welcome & integration

Improving welcome & integration

• 10 churches reported that better invitation & welcome was a growth factor – too small a sample to be confident but the result are:• 2010 attendance 308 adults & 36 children• 2013 attendance 335 adults & 45 children• An increase of 9% among adults and 25% among children• An all-age attendance growth of 11%• Compared with an average drop in other churches of 1%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)• Improving welcome & integration• Better quality, more varied, contemporary music

Better quality, more varied, contemporary music• Four churches reported an improvement in the music – too small a

sample. But, for what it is worth, attendance rose from 105 in 2010 to 118 in 2013

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)• Improving welcome & integration• Better quality, more varied, contemporary music• More lay involvement in leadership

More lay involvement in leadership

• Six churches reported developments in lay leadership - too small a sample. But, for what it is worth, attendance dropped from 121 to 113

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)• Improving welcome & integration• Better quality, more varied, contemporary music• More lay involvement in leadership• Better small groups & pastoral care

Better small groups and pastoral care• Very few churches reported improvements in regular small groups• However, 45 churches reported that they held a nurture course (Alpha

was most commonly mentioned) at least annually• 2010 attendance 1296 adults & 144 children• 2013 attendance 1369 adults & 213 children • An increase of 6% among adults & 48% among children• An all-age attendance growth of 10%• Compared with an average drop in other churches of 3%

Eight changes that lead to church growth• Planting new congregations• Making worship less formal, more relaxed• Better provision for children and young people (Family Services,

Sunday Schools, Youth provision)• Improving welcome & integration• Better quality, more varied, contemporary music• More lay involvement in leadership• Better small groups & pastoral care• Improvements to buildings

Improvement to buildings

• Nine churches reported improvements to their buildings, though some seemed simply to be about repairing dodgy bits of the structure, others about taking out a few pews. • So we do not have a usable sample. For what it is worth, attendance

rose from 366 to 368, 1%

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• Put an ‘out of order’ sign outside the church toilet

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations• Have groups for junior children but not secondary – they soon get the

message they should leave at 11• Keep a very narrow music and worship culture and keep it the same

for all services• Make every service a formal eucharist – its really inaccessible to

strangers & they feel excluded• Control the service and keep them busy – never give them space to

encounter God• Ensure the church activities all suit pensioners

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations• Don’t notice newcomers• Or say ‘you can’t sit there, that’s Mrs Jones’s pew’• Don’t 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

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations• Create a Rectorial Benefice and invest a lot of time hammering out

your differences with the other team 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

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 you’ll have to buy my books!!

The Notice Board can be used

to put people off

The notice board can be used to put people off SACRED MYSTERIES SLEEPY HOLLOW

SUNDAY SERVICESStarting 11th May 1948

8.3:. C…mu_o.1 45 Fa\’.,y-----------

…….one welc……

Welcome to St Isosceles and All Angles • 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!

Welcome to St Wooldyed

Come to St Wooldyed’s for reverence and tradition:8.00 Early Mass 10.30 Morning Mass6.30 Evening Mass

We always use the proper Prayer Book at St Wooldyed

Three similar services – one type of person

THE UPPER CREEK GROUP OF PARISHES

Our services are as follows:St Without’s 9.30am alternate SundaysSt Paddle’s 11am Family Service 1st & 3rd Sundays, otherwise eucharistLittle Snoring 8am Holy Communion (1st Sunday) 6.30(2nd & 4th Sundays)Great Creek 9am (summertime) 11am (wintertime) – see church notice

board for local variationsJoint Services 5th Sundays and other feast days – location varies

Come and join us!

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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Diocese of St Davids numbers of congregations

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Diocese of St Davids numbers of congregations 2010-2013

grow shrink

Church is a changing community

•What sorts of changes help grow the church where you are? •What changes might grow the churches in the future?