Transcript Slide 1

Fishing nets
or safety nets
Does it really matter ?
Changing culture
‘What is taking place is not merely the
continued decline of organised
Christianity but the death of the culture
which formerly conferred Christian
identity upon the British people
as a whole.’
Callum Browne
Death of Christian Britain
2007 Tear Fund survey of 7000 adults in contact or not with church
Later intelligence … its worse
than we thought
Tear Fund 2006
statistics from
7 thousand home
interviews
DE
NON
CHURCHED CHURCHED
Open
[To attend church
as they know it]
5% down
from 20%
Closed
[to attend church
as they know it]
28% 32%
1%
“ this majority (66%) presents a major
challenge to churches. Most of them are
unreceptive and closed
to attending church; churchgoing is
simply not on their agenda.”
“ this research helps us to understand
that the further people are from church,
(in terms of churchgoing) the less likely
they are to attend in the future.
Mission opportunities are very different
when to step over the church
threshold is an unknown experience…..”
Percentage of people
with childhood experience of the church
60
50
%
40
Age in 2005
30
20
10
0
60-year-olds
40-year-olds
20-year-olds
How have we defined a ‘searcher’?
►
Someone who has had cause to reconsider their
core values, or think about the big issues like ‘the
meaning of life’, in the last year
2000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of UK adults,
conducted 24-27th April 09
Are People Searching and why?
► 73%
of people are searching
► All
ages, male and female, all but the lowest of
social grades
► 70%
of people are searching because of either
the credit crunch, concern about personal
finances or job insecurity
Are people considering prayer, the
church or the Bible?
►
►
►
►
►
YES … a third of those who say they are Christian at all
And, the research shows that it is the most helpful thing to
do (after turning to family and friends)
NO … if they do not belong to any religion
These do not even feature on the ‘spiritual search map’
It is not that they are being considered but people haven’t
got round to it yet, or that they have been tried and reject
For those without a religion,
where do they look? (after family and friends)
► Reflective
► Under
35s, Social grade C1, female
► Voluntary
► Under
► Artistic
► Under
time alone
or community work
45s (part. 35-44), Social grade ABC1
or musical hobby
45, Social Grade ABC1 (very C1)
7 principles for remodelling church
1
Public worship probably isn’t
the best starting point
Prayer and Support
Listening
and
Following
God’s call
Loving
Service
Forming
Community
Evangelism and
DiscipleMaking
Connection
Evolving
Worship
2
Modification of the existing
is not enough
Half the picture
Jerusalem
Judea
Samaria
Ends of the Earth
The eccentric effects…
Samaria
The ends
of the earth
Judea
The centre and the Acts story shift
Samaria is not a return ticket
story moves from a focus on Peter to Paul
the Church goes west
church is done differently among Gentiles
3
Mission shapes the church
‘The reality is that mainstream
culture no longer brings people to
the church door. We can no longer
assume that we can automatically
reproduce ourselves, because the
pool of people who regard church as
relevant or important is decreasing
with every generation’
Mission shaped church report p11
“ it is not the church of God
which has a mission
but the God of mission
who has a church.”
Tim Dearborn
“ we understood mission one
way and organised life to
accomplish it. We have
awakened to find out the
mission moved on us. To
keep focusing on mission, we
have to turn the furniture
around and face a different
direction. We may even have
to move into another room.”
Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church
4
This might change US
‘Are there structures and patterns which let that
basic event of encounter happen again and again?
Because if not , the church has become
something very different from where it started;
it’s become a community which says once there
was an encounter with Jesus and we like to
remember that.
We have to ask much more radically , how do
we structure a community in which it goes on
being possible ,even likely ,that people will
meet Jesus and in meeting Jesus will want more
people to meet Jesus.’
Dying to live
“ I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat
falls to the ground and dies, it remains only
a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds.”
John 13; 23-6
• ‘…do
not try to call them
to where
TOGETHER
TOback
GOD’S
they were, andFUTURE
do not try to call them to
where you are, beautiful as that place may
seem to you. You must have the courage
to go with them to a place that neither you
nor they have been before.’
• Vincent Donovan
5
Welcome the three eccentrics
The 3 eccentrics
• Who are the Philips?
– A Dangerous Deacon?
– Allow space for the unknowns
• Discover Cornelius
– who evangelizes who
• Pray for Pauls
– Eccentrics will do it differently
6
The challenge of discipleship
•Simple in its nature
•Relational in its emphasis
•Transformational in its outcomes
7
A Way Forward
Alan Roxburgh’s Five Steps
•
•
•
•
•
Awareness
Understanding
Evaluation
Experimentation
Commitment
The Missional Leader
http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/