Liverpool diocese day Reflect learn change adapt 1 Church Army’s Research unit Seeing and sharing what God is doing in mission With lessons from 2 parishes and the diocese’s young churches the fresh expressions of Church

An ongoing process Reflect 2 Learn Change Adapt Reflect Etcetera

I like watching 3

The process can happen two ways 1.Start with reflection 1.Analyse the now – and have an idea 2.Change behaviour/ practice to fit with it 3.Some say it’s a Greek [theory first] view 2.Start because of an event 1.Which leads to change of mind and practice 2.Some say it’s a more Hebrew [whole life] view 4

two examples Idea first – Reflection: I’m getting older – better plan retirement Event first – Spouse suddenly dies – what shall I do now? 5 Old Testament – Exodus event: – Exile event: New Testament – Incarnation – a novel event – Resurrection – equally novel

Event led view: We can’t go on as we are Saying so provokes resistance as well as desire for change Fred [the penguin who sees the problem], presents it to a council Stunned silence follows No-No a senior penguin, who does their weather forecasting, angrily dismisses the evidence as temporary seasonal melt Kotter, Our Iceberg is melting p

-15% -10% -5% C of E dioceses: mission & financial strength + + Mission: 5 yr attend change Sustainable Static Strategic Unsustainable - - 5% 10% 15% +2.5 million -2.5 million Income vs ministry costs Each dot is one diocese 7

Diocesan Population 2012: 1,567,000 Population : +2.5% Average Weekly Attendance : -2.7% % population attending CE 1.82% 8

An event view: The mission time bomb De-churched: Approx 30% Non-churched: Approx 60% Attending: approx 10% ___ = % Pop Attended <15 yrs ____ = Attended In 1998 The % of people furthest away from living contact with or effective knowledge of the church is growing. Age of population % of population Most churches don’t know this, nor shaped to meet it 76% of ‘converts’ came from the dechurched – the shrinking pond 9

The Big [tidal] Change “Going” to those beyond the church is flooding in 10 “Come” to church is flowing away

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V C St Agatha’s Anywhere = attender V = vicar C = curate = Parish 12 Place of worship

= Railway line Add features that shape how the area works And it changes the perceptions of what is possible 13

V C St Agatha’s Anywhere = attender V = vicar C = curate = Parish Place of worship = Railway line 14

= Local Authority Housing And some social / historical factors And fresh choices appear 15

V C St Agatha’s Anywhere = attender V = vicar C = curate = Parish = state housing = railway 16

Basic Choices in ‘go to them’ mode Progression – means building on strength Should something start based around where the curate and some people already live? Pioneer – means responding to weakness What might be the way forward on the local authority housing estate? 17

18 Liverpool’s 78 fresh expressions of Church as of 2012:

Reflect … then Learn There are many things and ways to learn 19

1066 and all that 20

Key elements in every fresh expression of church [fxC] 21 ‘Fresh expression’ = contextualised & missional ‘of Church’ = the identity is ecclesial H 2 O Hydrogen with Oxygen = water Leave either out and it isn’t water fxC = M 2 E?

56 cases excluded from 135 examined – 42% A- Arch on from fxC or towards an fxC I- Infrequent [< monthly] N- Not an fxC 2- Duplicate record NY- Not Yet: planned not started L- Left C of E Liverpool Not an fxC included: 16 rebadged existing services, small groups or social events 7 outreach projects to bring people back to existing churches [M not E] 9 new events for Christians [E not M]

Water exists as 23 liquid ice steam Just because its Missional & Ecclesial - doesn’t tell you what form the fxC will take – just like with water

What kinds of fxC 24 Messy Church only 12% [Average Dioc %] For older shut-ins 8% Adults only 32% Those aiming to be for all ages 55% KindNos % Liverpool Alternative Worship86% Base Ecclesial Community00% Café Church65% Cell Plant - scratch or parallel32% Children Focussed Church129% Cluster based Church97% Community Development Plant75% Messy Church1612% Mid Week Service54% Multiple Congregation43% Network Church86% New Monastic Community22% New Traditional Service11% Older Peoples Church108% School based Church75% Seeker Church22% Special Interest Group119% Traditional Church Plant75% Under Fives Church75% Youth Church43% Choose what’s right for your context Nearly all kinds listed proved to be needed [Many double classify]

25 Liverpool fxC: Networks = 35% of the picture - the average we’ve found elsewhere Both neighbourhood/parish and wider networks matter in our mission

26 Liverpool fxC: 79% of examples have been taking some steps in discipleship

FormalSocialisation Non Formal Intentional Practical Traditional Types of Learning Features They share … 27

FormalSocialisation Non Formal Intentional Practical Traditional Teacher Mentor/Craftsman Parent What are the sources of learning? 28

FormalSocialisation Non Formal Jesus & discipleship Intentional Practical Traditional a disciple is like his teacher Matt 10:24 Mk 3.14a … to be with him Mk 3.14b … he could send them How many courses did the disciples take? 29

Tradition involved in fxC 30 NB Many cases cited > 1 tradition EvangelicalCharismaticCentralA/Catholic Liverpool: Average Dioc %31.6%42.3%10.2% All traditions are able to start something further if they want to Liverpool72%23%24%9%

Time for an interview 31 George Lings talks with Janet Roberts From St Nicholas, Blundellsands

“Questions To ponder” ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? What are your main reflections on what challenges and opportunities you face locally? What are you discovering about how ‘learning’ happens better? 32

Reflect, Learn … Change 33

Maybe churches are like this Some variety but lots of similarity 34

Maybe fxC are like this 35

36 Liverpool fxC: Adults1693 Children1240 Total2933 Liverpool AWA (2012) fxC attendance 2933 % of whole 10.3%

37 Number of fxC 78 Number of churches256 fxC percentage 30.5% A large collection of small churches Liverpool: Average fxC size 38.1 Average dioc. Church size 114.9

38 Liverpool fxC: How does that compare with who is in the older churches?

39 What was the Status of the Leader? Liverpool fxC: Incumbents and Priest-in-Charge25% Assistant clergy19% Readers and Church Army (3%)11% The ‘lay-lay’ 39%

Examining differences: lay-lay led fxC & the rest TypeFull timePart timeSpare time Lay-lay9.1%22.5%68.1% All others74.0%15.1%10.9% TypeStipendiaryLocally paidVoluntary Lay-lay1.4%17.0%81.2% All others67.9%6.7%25.3% 40

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Leader types & frequency of meeting 42

A rough indication of comparable church size 43 This is not exact as a significant minority of fxC have had >1 leader over time

44 How well do they grow?

45 NB In reality these are but rough proportions – not precise percentages Leader’s view of attenders’ background

Growth patterns over time 46 NB 37% of lay-lay e.g.s and 33% of all others are less than two years old so no calculation was made in those cases.

One measure of maturing 47

3 self as taking responsibility 48

Sacrament of Communion 49

Sacrament of Baptism 50

Overall The Lay-lay are different in respect of: – Gender, employment [hence cost] and time given They do pretty much as well in terms of: – Mission effectiveness – Seeking ecclesial maturity 51

Sacramental life may take time 52 Liverpool fxC: Average dioc %

Reflect, learn, change … Adapt 53

54 Frequency: Weekly54% Fortnightly11% Monthly35% Liverpool: 70.6% are non Sunday e.g.s Average dioc1-11 is only 58.3% Key message Be flexible in face of variety

55 Liverpool fxC: Key message Be flexible in face of variety Church building not used as venue = 61.3%

56 Motivations for fxC Liverpool: Grow Cultural Geography Full up Key message Be flexible in face of variety

Time for an interview 57 George Lings talks with Andrew Stott From the 4 Saints Team, L14

Reflect, learn, change, adapt – reflect … 58 I wish

59 A sharply rising trend since the Mission shaped Church report in 2004 Liverpool: Look how far the diocese has come

Ratio sent to attending now 60 SentNowRatio Adults Children TOTALS Liverpool fxC: The ratio means 390% growth, over time Look who’s come, nearly 4 for every 1 sent

61 Liverpool fxC: 2 open questions: Is 30% reaching a plateau a cause of concern or celebration? What’s best to do, if a young church reaches its natural unit size?

62 Liverpool fxC: The classic small team size chosen [73%] means Many more parish churches could do this Small is possible

Well done on the progress so far 63

“Questions To ponder” ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? What signs of a response to a wake up call do you see? What do you attribute it to: desperation, realism, seeing opportunities, hard- nosed finance, God, … other? 64

65 Liverpool fxC:

66 Liverpool fxC:

67 Gender and Work Status of the Leader Liverpool fxC:

Pursing sacramental life 68 Liverpool fxC: