Transcript http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/ My story Multiplying Church Seeing in a New Way Know how to see.

http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/
My story
Multiplying Church
Seeing in a New Way
Know how to see
“The real voyage of discovery consists
not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust
“ To look at something as though we
have never seen it before requires
great courage.”
Henri Matisse
“ Our whole business in
this life , is to restore to health
the eyes of the heart,
whereby God may be seen.”
Augustine
Seeing in Johns gospel
And the Word became flesh and lived among us
and we have seen his glory.
John 1: 14
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son……..
who has made him known.
John 1: 18
See, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world.
John 1: 29
John 4: 35
John 6: 36,40
John 12: 45
John 14: 9,19
Why does it matter ?
We want to see
a bigger and better church
Church Attendance in Scotland
8 % population attend church once a week
30% population attended church in last year
34% population have not been in over a year
31% practically never go.
Poll commissioned by Sunday Times & Real Radio Scotland, April 2013
1994 Church attendance in Aberdeen 9%
Lowest of any city in Scotland and has been declining since
1960
Peter Hail, Church and Society in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
“While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply
distressed to see that the city was full of idols.”
Acts 17 v 16
“ 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.”
Churchgoing in the UK.
A research report from Tearfund. April 2007
Playing Away
“ 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
So how do we respond ?
“From Safety nets
to
Fishing nets”
1
There is no return address
In working with young
people . . . do not try to call
them back to where they
were, and do not try to call
them to where you are, as
beautiful as that place might
seem to you.
You must have the courage
to go with them to a place
that neither you nor they
have ever been before.
Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle from the
Masai (1978)
Vincent Donovan
This is not only ‘Good
missionary advice’,
‘a beautiful description of the
unpredictable process of
evangelization, a process
leading to that new place where
none of us has ever been
before.’
Christianity Rediscovered
(1982)
Half the picture-concentric
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
2
The size of community
we are working in
is the most significant
factor for mission.
Multiplication rather than addition
Learning from the
work of David Wasdell
The Urban Church Project produced two
reports
Let my people grow
Divide and Conquer
DW in 2002
Oct. 1974
June 1975
‘We have become involved in the public re-enactment of
heresy. We believe and proclaim a gospel of grace available to
all but we operate a structure which takes the form of a club
with limited membership.’
D. Wasdell, Let My People Grow (London: UCP, 1974) p.7.
2
C of E Average Attendance - by parish size 1974
392
20000 plus
265
15000-19999
184
10000-14999
192
8000-9999
191
6000-7999
1 more cleric adds
90, a second adds 81
172
4000-5999
158
2000-3999
1000-1999
116
500-999
69
39
250-499
24
<250
0
50
Number of
Attenders
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
‘the single-clergy model church levels off at an average
congregation of 175, regardless of parish population.’
C of E Permeation of the Community 1974
1.6
20000 plus
15000-19999
1.8
10000-14999
1.8
Invisible
2.4
8000-9999
3.2
6000-7999
4.1
4000-5999
6.1
2000-3999
Visible and impact
10.6
1000-1999
12.8
500-999
17.4
250-499
21.4
<250
0
5
10
15
Percentage of the parish who are attending
20
25
C of E parish sizes 1974 and 2011
20000 plus
We have increased the number
of the least effective sizes
15000-19999
10000-14999
by size
2011
8000-9999
by size
1974
6000-7999
4000-5999
2000-3999
We have reduced the number
of the more effective sizes
1000-1999
500-999
250-499
<250
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Number at that size
3000
3500
C of E % Permeation of the Community - 2011
1974 %
0.9
20000 plus
15000-19999
1.1
10000-14999
1.3
8000-9999
1.8
6000-7999
1.9
2.4
4000-5999
3.2
2000-3999
4.0
1000-1999
5.1
500-999
6.8
250-499
11.9
<250
0
3
6
9
Percentage of the parish who are attending
12
1.6
1.8
1.8
2.4
3.2
4.1
6.1
10.6
12.8
17.4
21.4
Wasdell’s key messages
‘It has become crystal clear that the strategy of growth by addition
of new members to existing groups or congregations is selfdefeating. As numbers increase, so the quality of life which sustains
the group is destroyed. Opportunities for personal learning,
participation and maturation, pastoral care, taking of responsibility
and use of gifts, all begin to disappear.
Now there would appear to be only one alternative to growth by
addition, and that is growth by multiplication … then the most
important problem to be solved is the question of what that unit
looks like and what kind of leadership is required in the church to
enable multiplication to take off and be sustained’’[1]
[1]
D. Wasdell, Divide and Conquer (London: UCP, 1975) p. 16.
15
3
Public worship services probably
are not the best starting point
‘ we think we can reach them through church meetings’
Prayer
Love
Relate
Prayer
Create
4
Who is church for?
4.
Why are you here?
The church is Gods gift to the world.
‘ the church is missionary by it’s very
nature…….
the church does not have a mission
but the mission has a church.’
Prophetic Dialogue.
Bevans and Scroeder
"The church is not the sender but the
one sent. Its mission (its "being sent") is
not secondary to its being; the church
exists in being sent and in building up
itself for the sake of its mission.“
David Bosch, Transforming Mission.
Church as a place where
certain things take place
to
a body of people sent on a mission
‘ Either
we are defined by mission , or we reduce the
scope of the gospel and the mandate of the church.’ p6
Darrell Guder, Missional Church
By knowing and loving God
and each other,
we seek to enable non churched people
to develop a real and relevant relationship
with Jesus.
‘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.’
Rowan Williams
The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are
few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to
send out labourers into his harvest.
How might these principles
work out in your context?
1. There is no return address
2. Multiplication rather than addition
3. Public worship services
probably are not the best starting
point
4. Who is church for?
Some possible
processes
but remember there is
NO single right way
Learn from the
spider and the fridge
Learn from the spider
Find a suitable starting point
Bridge the gap
Create an anchor point
Learn from the fridge
Effectuation
Effectuation
Saras Sarasvathy
http://www.effectuation.org
Three key questions for creativity
Who am I ?
What do I know?
Who do I know ?
Visible
Communal
Purposeful
Mission dynamics
neighbourhood or network
same culture or cross culture
progression or pioneer
possible team sizes
mature church questions
6
Four good practice questions
• Who is the mission for?
mission goals questions
• Who is the mission by?
mission resource questions
• Who is the mission with?
mission partner questions
• What sort of resulting community?
mission outcome questions
7
Missional Map making
•Ancient paths
•Compass points
•Journey maps
EXPLORING POSSIBILITIES
• Where do we see change happening?
• In which groups do we recognise significant need?
• Which groups are we most and least connected to?
• What resources do we have to share?
• Which groups are we best able to serve?
• What can we learn from other groups and other
churches?
• What promptings do we feel as we read Scripture and
pray together?
• Where do we see gospel connections?
MH p.9
How do we start ?
1.
Build in mission-centred values - in cooperation with the Spirit
2.
Listen, pray, form vision – what calling emerges
3.
Prune a little – how do we travel light?
4.
Form a team – to learn the context & grow together
5.
Feed your imagination – go visit other examples
6.
Explore partnerships – and obtain permissions
7.
Form community – serving, speaking worshipping
8.
Allow growth to maturity – aim to raise further “adult” churches
9.
Maintain Connection – with the wider church
10. Share what you are doing – lets all learn
Each church planted is a unique story
Principle
Process
Place
People
Prayer
Church ?
5
We are making
disciples of Jesus
rather than doing
‘discipleship’
or simply increasing
attendance
‘Our theoretical knowledge based discipleship
is like a beautiful shirt which has shrunk in
the wash: created to turn us into giants, it has
become something which fits only midgets.
We have reduced discipleship from a life
changing journey marked by irruptions of the
Divine into something so limited and vague that
we can no longer define it.’
Alison Morgan
Following Jesus , p52.
•Volunteers or disciples?
•Students or apprentices?
•Individuals or community?
What kind of people are we called to be
in following Jesus?
What kind of community is capable of
raising people like that?
Dallas Willard
I am suggesting that the only
answer is
a congregation of
women and men
who believe the gospel
and live by it.
Leslie Newbiggin.
6
Church is multi level
Church as four sets of relationships.
up
of
out
in
Moynagh, Church for Every Context p 106.
‘ What then are the marks of the church in a
post modern culture, that is, of an emerging church’
‘The traditional church must recognise that much
of what we recognise as traditional today was itself
once revolutionary and even ‘emerging’ and
therefore to be open to today’s creative thinking.
The latter should be wary of loving newness for
newness’ sake.’
This is about
• Context
• Mission
• Disciple making
• church!
‘not leaving the tradition
but driving to it’s heart’
Gerald Arbuckle, Refounding the Church
Pablo Picasso
‘ If you want to preserve tradition
don’t wear your grandfathers hat,
have grandchildren.’
7
This might change US
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 12; 23-6
YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE
OUTCOME
Control to chaos
Answers to questions
Certainty to risk
8
What kind of leaders
Four enduring features?
• Dissatisfied
– Not grumbler but wanting change for the
better
• Visionary
– Looks beyond what is to what could be
• Hopeful
– Change is possible and this inspires others
• Risk takers
– Acts on convictions and out of comfort zones
Stuart Murray: Ch 7 Planting Churches: who?
This is not solo work
Pioneering teams
‘ one of the great myths of entrepreneurship has
been the notion if the leader as a lone hero…
The reality is that successful entrepreneurs either
built teams about them or were part of a team
throughout.’
Thomas Cooney, What is an Entrepreneurial Team
Values of a creative team
• creativity
• curiosity
• risk
• contextual
• prototypes
• serve
There is a spectrum of pioneering
Pioneer
Starter
Pioneer
Sustainer
Sustainer
Innovator
Sustainer
Developer
Stephen Bevans & Roger Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue
‘how did the Spirit lead them to
respond creatively & continually in
new and surprising situations
as they preached the gospel.’
How might these principles
work out in your context?
5. Making disciples of Jesus
rather than discipleship
or simply attendance
6. Church is multi level
7. This might change US
8. What kind of leaders?
Disturb us Lord,
when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
when our dreams have come true
because we have dreamed too little,
when we arrived safely
because we sailed too close to the shore.
Sir Francis Drake
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